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Patience is a Virtue

In my previous posts, I mentioned some rewards cash I had earned and how I set reminders for myself to give these programs a try. I had rewards with The Children's Place and could not find a discount gift card for to stack with the rewards.

But, patience is a virtue! I noted that my reward is valid until January 31st and I've kept checking periodically for a discount gift card and today there were some posted at CardCash.com!!

Now, my reward is $10 off of a $40 purchase. That is 25% off...not good enough. The gift card I bought was 15% off of it's face value. Now, I'm up to 40% off. Still not good enough. Once my card arrives, I will access the online store via Upromise, a site for 5% cash back, on my purchase and I will only buy items that are on sale.

Once my gift card arrives, I'll make this happen and break it down for you with the real numbers.

You Don't Have to Buy

In my last post I mentioned having some rewards money from a couple of stores and how I strategized getting even more of a discount. Well, here's another thought. Just because you have a coupon or rewards dollars doesn't mean you have to use it. This is about being smart, savvy and saving money wherever you can. Buying things 'just 'cuz' you have a discount is not smart or savvy.

So I was ready to use my rewards from The Children's Place which was $10 off a $40 purchase. Now that's only 25% off. I also accessed their website via Upromise for an additional 5% cash back. I wasn't able to find a discount gift card so to get my preferred 70% off, I was going to need to find some hot sales too.

I did find some things I liked and we could use. In the end I only had $30 worth of items in my shopping cart. I was going to need to spend another $10 on something I didn't really need in order to use my $10 rewards. That doesn't make any sense. It's not savvy or smart. So I just let it go.

That reward expires on 1/31 so I can check back in a couple of weeks. But what if I can't use it then? Just leave $10??? Nope...coupon karma. There are countless couponing forums where you can sell or share codes that you're not going to use. If you're not familiar with those, use www.retailmenot.com. Give it to someone who can use it and one day when you're looking for a code you'll find someone else who is sharing one they don't need.

Make the Most of Rewards - Plan Ahead

A popular feature of many rewards programs is to offer some sort of cash or bucks. I shop online a lot so the emails I get with promos are really overwhelming, but I do watch for the special rewards. Even when you've weeded out the sales ads, it can still be overwhelming.

Here is how it typically goes... you spent a certain amount of money so you've earned a certain amount that you can redeem only during a particular time period if you spend a certain amount in that transaction. Once you have a few of these, your eyes start to cross.

I have Gymbucks at Gymboree mastered. I know how it works to earn and redeem and the rules associated with them. Easy for me and I recommend getting very comfortable with one or two rewards programs from your favorite stores.

Right now on my phone I have $30 in Super Cash from Old Navy and $10 in a birthday promo from The Children's Place. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of these programs, but I'm going to take 5 minutes to plan and give it a shot.

First, I check the redemption dates. The Children's Place code I can use now, but it expires on 1/31. Old Navy can only be used 1/21-1/29. Ok, with Siri's help, I have a reminder on my phone for 1/21.

Now, is there anything else I can do for a deeper discount? Yes! My favorite discount gift cards where I pay less than face value for a gift card. Favorite sites are CardCash.com and MonsterGiftCard.com. With Old Navy, I'm required to spend $75 for my $30 discount. I bought a $75 gift card for 8% off which was $69, but I was foiled on The Children's Place. They are sold at 15% off face value, but the only one in stock was for $140 and I only need to spend $40 to redeem my $10. If I shopped at TCP regularly, I would go for it, but this time I'll pass.

For Old Navy, I just need to wait for my gift card and reminder from Siri (and think about what I might need). Never buy anything, just because you have a coupon. For The Children's Place, I might as well go for it and see if there is anything I want now.

Of course, the next step is to access the website via a cash back site. My favorites are Upromise and Ebates. Simply by accessing Old Navy or The Children's Place via a cash back site, I can earn another discount.

Here's the initial breakdown:

Old Navy:
$30 off a & $75 purchase is 40% off
Cash back at 5% of $45 is $2.25 a total of 43% off
Purchase of a discount gift card is another 8% off the original purchase for a total savings of 51% off!

Now consider that I will also see if I can combine another promo code with this, but regardless, I will be only buying items that are on sale to start with. What started as 40% is now at least 51%. I'll let you know how it actually plays out.

I will browse The Children's Place site and keep you posted on how I work this. Right now the $10 off a $40 purchase is 25% off and I can get an additional cash back of 5%. Typically I consider a great deal to be at least 70% off. We'll see what I can manage :)

What if you can't use your rewards? Take a few minutes to earn some coupon karma. I'll tell you about it in my next blog.