My Christmas budget continues to shrink. The less I work, the less I make, and the
less I have to spend on the holidays.
While it seems like my daughter will have a lot under the tree, we’ve
bought a lot of things that were between $5 and $7. My hope is that her “big gift” will cost me around $20
pre-tax. This doesn’t account for the
thirty-odd other people I have to shop for.
How do I pay for it?
Rewards! I love to earn
them! It’s kind of like clearance
shopping: The thrill of the hunt. Here are the many, many reward programs I
participate in.
Discover Card. I’ve used my Discover cards for their Cashback Bonus program for years. Each quarter they have a specific category to earn 5% cash back towards partner gift cards. Some categories are perfect – gas – and others, like amusement parks, are worthless. I still manage to earn 2-3 gift cards each year, usually $50 to Kohl’s or JCPenney.
Meijer mPerks. This
basically rewards you for shopping at Meijer.
They have an ongoing Baby rewards program, with a point for every dollar
spent in the baby department (food, diapers, etc.) This is a rolling program, and you can earn $10 at a time, or
wait until you reach up to $50 off your next purchase. Likewise, there are monthly goals that
rotate; this month I have chosen to earn $10 for every $300 spent. This sounds like a lot, but since I buy most
of my groceries here, it adds up quickly.
And it’s free!
Gap Visa.
When I signed up for this card, I had no idea that it would become my
primary credit card! Their bonus points
are outrageous; for example, from now to the end of the year, there are 5x
points on gas, groceries, and dining.
Granted, you have to be a shopper of one of their stores, but I buy most
of my clothes, as well as my daughter’s clothes, at Old Navy, and buy a lot of
gifts for the kids there as well.
Swagbucks.
This is time-consuming, but has a great payoff. Swagbucks is a site in which you earn
“bucks” through many different processes, from watching quick adverts, to
Internet searches, to taking high-value surveys. I've been doing this for a couple of years, and look forward to
finally cashing in for an Amazon gift card!
Target gift cards. I talk about this all the time – I buy most of my diapers at Target to earn gift cards. We also earned them when Bebe was on formula, as well as on paper and laundry products. The $110 I have now will go a long way!
My Coke Rewards.
Yep, I’m a “Coke Head.” We’ve
been collecting codes forever (with help from family members and work friends),
and around the holidays they do some great deals on gift cards; year-round,
they have low-point-value offers from Shutterfly. It’s only 250 points for a coffee mug, and I have more than 2,500
to use!
Diaper Rewards.
Both Huggies and Pampers have reward programs. I have earned a $10 Amazon gift card through Huggies; I haven’t
redeemed anything from Pampers, as Bebe hasn’t worn them in about a year and a
half. It’s just another opportunity to
earn gift cards.
Menards rebates.
In the past, I have used my Menards rebate checks to buy Christmas
gifts. Here’s a tip: We buy our batteries here. Their prices are the best for quality
batteries.
This is just some of what I do. Every little bit helps. I
admit that I don’t spend a lot of money per person, but we do our best. Since it’s the thought that counts, I put
enough thought into my budget to equal $100 gifts! J
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