Making the Most of Gift Cards

We have 2 grocery store chains that offer reward points towards XX cents off gas.  This started several years ago, and over time the program has been refined.  As it currently stands:

Stop and Shop offers 10 cents off per gallon for every $100 spent in the store.  They have their own gas station (not every store, but there are 2 that near us), which you must use to redeem the gas points.

Price Chopper offers 10 cents off per gallon for  every $50 spent in the store (WAY better deal!).  They have a deal with participating Sunoco stations. 

Both stations let you build points, which allows for more cents off at your fill up.  Once you redeem the points, the balance (over the round numbers of 100, 150, etc) is left to build upon.  Now....if you are an extreme couponer, this deal will mean little to you.  I mean, if you are only going to spend 19 cents total....it would take forever to earn gas rewards.  Plus, they expire (30 days at Stop and Shop, and the end of the month, two months from date of earning).

What does this have to do with Gift Cards???

Well....purchasing gift cards (and both stores have a large selection) counts towards your total purchase.  Around Christmas last year, Price Chopper even offered DOUBLE points for buying gift cards!!!

When we have a planned purchase (for example, when we bought a new sink for $199 at Home Depot), we buy a gift card for that store.  We were going to spend the money anyway....so in the case of the sink, we bought a $200 gift card from Price Chopper.  That card translated to $.40 off per gallon ($.10 per $50 spent).  We got $.40 off of gas for a purchase we were going to make anyway.

Unfortunately, the stores do not sell Walmart, Target, etc. cards.  They do sell Bed, Bath and Beyond, restaurants, and Lowes and Home Depot.  This has worked out terrific for our planned purchases!!  Again, the key to the plan is PLANNED PURCHASE.  Don't go and buy $500 of gift cards for the sake of doing it, just to get gas points.

But when you know you are getting something specific, why not get a little extra?

Oh, and for us....just to sweeten the pot....when we bought the sink....we used my credit card with rewards to buy the gift card.  We had the cash, so immediately we paid for that purchase.  We earned rewards, plus $.40 off per gas.  All for a planned purchase.

If your store has a similar program....try it.  Especially with home improvement.....it is a good thing!

How do you save for it ALL?

Let's just put the saving while in debt debate aside for a minute.  We all know there are things we WANT and if you save for them...then great, have at it.  But what about things that you NEED, and you need to save for it ALL????

Home maintenance is pricey.  I think the statistic is something like 5% of your home's value per year.  For us, that would be about $9,500.  I think that is a little on the high side yearly.  But I would say that $3-4,000 isn't totally off the mark at times.

All of the things that need replacement aren't dead and broken....YET.  They are all senior citizens, who aren't quite at round the clock care, but definitely in an assisted living situation.  Legitimately, they all have lived out their lifespan.  It isn't unreasonable to think that they need to be replaced.

The problem...trying to save for it all at once!!!

I sooooo wish I was more money savvy when we bought the house 10 years ago.  There are so many things that I would have done differently as a whole.  But one HUGE thing would have been starting a home maintenance fund.  And then when things wore out, I would have a cushion.  But no...we couldn't afford to save (how can you afford to NOT SAVE......ugh, lessons learned).

Things that need work around here (in no particular order):

1. Pool liner (in process....the current liner was placed in 1993)
2. Deck boards (also circa 1993)
3. Stove/Oven (circa 1998)
4. Refrigerator (circa 1998)
5. Carpeting in Bossy's room (um, no idea on age, but I am guessing that you aren't supposed to see the floor boards underneath through the worn holes)
6. Carpeting in Sassy's room (eh....it is really ok, but if we have an Adventure in Carpeting (starring 80's teen star Elisabeth Shue!), we might as well replace hers)
7. Furnace (circa 1950's....still works but is highly inefficient)
8. Windows (circa 1911...original to the house....again, works, but is inefficient)

Additionally, there are household items that are also worn out, or getting there.  These have moved way down on the priority list, but at some point will need to be addressed.

1. Living room couches (circa 1997)
2. TV in our bedroom (circa 1994)
3. Closet system (for the larger of the 2 closets we have...where 3 of us share it for all our clothes, and it just isn't working)
4. Digital camera (circa 2004; we did get a newer one, and it doesn't work right and we hate it)

It is completely overwhelming.  Where do you even start to save???  What if you aren't able to do it one thing at a time, and multiple things go at the same time?  What if a larger ticket item goes sooner than expected??  ARGH!!!

Back to the saving while in debt.  Yes, we have an emergency fund, and the majority of things on the list aren't emergencies (kitchen appliances and furnace really are the only true emergency items).  But I don't want to deplete the EF, and then struggle to rebuild, all the while with debt and other things looming.

Right now, the I call the plan the $115 plan.   This is the amount that gets transferred from our checking account to ING savings per paycheck.  It is the go-to money for larger savings goals.  Camp was funded this way.  The kids' birthday party (almost funded!) and Christmas will be funded this way.   Once each of these accounts is funded, then the $115 will go towards saving for the extra stuff, until it is time to start saving again for Camp and Christmas.

Piggy back this with gift cards and such from other savings programs (My Points, Swagbucks), and we are cobbling it together.  Not a great plan...but it is the only one I have at the moment.  If we can make some MAJOR headway in the debt snowball, maybe I will slow that down a little to allow for more savings for the items.

And maybe in Fantasy World...we will get to take a vacation someday.

Swagbucks Reset

I know many of you use Swagbucks as a way of earning free stuff.  I do too!

I got this idea how cool it would be to buy a dining room set using JUST Swagbucks.  I know that it would take forever and a day, but it was a long term goal.  The plan was to exchange Swagbucks for the $5 PayPal cards, and when I had enough....buy this set.

Well, I still have this idea.....albeit not the greatest idea given current circumstances.  But I have to start over.  I had about $45 in my PayPal account....and I used it in a panic during the early stages of my mess.  Is it the worst thing in the world.....nope.  Am I annoyed.....not really.  It is what it is.

So I will start again.  I haven't been on the computer much lately, but I am starting to get back to things.  And Swagbucks is included in that.  Today is Mega Swagbucks day, so maybe I will luck out and hit some big money!!!

New Swagbucks Gift card!

Do you use Swagbucks?  If you don't, you need to start!  Just for using them as your search engine, you randomly earn Swagbucks, which you can redeem for cool gift cards, like Starbucks, Target, or even for PayPal.

But oh.....they now have one for Overstock.com!  I have been wanting a dining room set from there.  How freaking cool would it be to save up enough to get a whole dining room set!!  I have a LONG way to go.  Like, I need 114,000 to get what I want...and I have 4,300.  

You can only redeem up to 5 of the same cards per month, so I will need to factor that in.  Maybe my challenge will be to try and earn it by next Christmas!  Let's see....14 months for 110k points.  That is about 7900 points a month.....hmmmm.....this might be tough.  ;)

It would take 18 months to be able to redeem all the cards anyway....so if I shoot for 18 months to get the table....that's about 6100 points a month, or just over 200 points a day.  I better get searching.