Cash Back When You Shop!

I'm sure many of you have already started thinking about your holiday shopping this year and some of you may already be done (definitely not me)!  Last year we learned about a great program that gives you cash back for shopping and we were able to get a portion of what we paid on holiday gifts back in a check!  Not only did we get money back, we saved ourselves the annoyance of standing in lines and searching through shelves in crowded stores.  I know some of you are totally into this chaos, but I'm kind of done with it after one trip and would be just fine doing the rest of my holiday shopping from home!

Ebates is a website that connects you with the website of the store you want to shop and if you make your purchase through their link, you will get a percentage back.  These percentages fluctuate.  Sometimes it might be 1% or 2%, sometimes there will be a promotion where you will get double cash back, etc.  They also show you any coupon codes available (such as a percentage off or free shipping). You can make your purchase online by connecting to your store through their website and either have the items shipped to you or pick up in the store.  We did online purchases through Ebates and in-store pick-up for most of our gifts last year and were very pleased to get a portion of the money we spent back in our pockets at the end of the season!

Ebates works with tons of stores including Sears, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Amazon, Sephora, JC Penny, Kohl's, Home Depot, Overstock.com, Groupon, Walmart, you name it, so you are sure to find your favorites.  Membership is totally free.  You simply get paid cash back for shopping (by check or paypal).  You will also each get a $5 bonus from when you make your first purchase.

There is nothing to lose with this program.  Anytime I am making a purchase I try to remember to check Ebates first to see if the store has an account with them and go through them to earn a little extra back.  We're not talking millions of dollars here (unless you are spending millions of dollars I suppose) but every little bit makes a difference.

Click here to sign up for Ebates today!

As an aside, I would give the following recommendations regarding in-store pick-up...

• Check your items before you leave.  I had to go back to Sears twice last year due to a broken item and a missing piece to another item that I would have noticed right away if I had checked them out before I left.  That was kind of a hassle but probably no worse than standing in long lines.  
• Make your Toys R Us purchases ASAP!  Do not wait until the middle of December!  We stood in line for AGES and then had to wait for the guys to bring our stuff up from the back.  Now granted, it was also a weekend if I remember correctly - very poor planning on my part.  I suppose we would have stood in line for a while and had to weed through other crazy parents if we were browsing the store as well but this was nuts.  Probably like 2 hours waiting.  If you order through Toys R Us / Babies R Us and are given the option to pick up at one or the other, definitely choose Babies R Us.