Laura's Thought Provoking Thursdays

Laura, whose blog is here:

www.sharpenyourscissors.net was nice enough to offer me this guest post on rebates. Enjoy!

My thought provoking Thursday's goal is to offer a new- ish perspective to saving on necessary items aside from our grocery and household needs. Each week I will bring an idea to the table to share how I personally tackle area's of my own family's spending. I am hopeful that my faithful readers will feel the freedom to offer more advice through comments below each post.

Today's provoking thought is rebates. Rebates....hmm. Purchase the item, clip the UPC and send that along with purchasing receipt and later receive a dumpy little check in the mail.... hardly worth your time and postage?

Think again!

I used to think the exact same way...until I decided to give 'rebating' a try. (Have you ever noticed that every word turns into a verb with coupon spenders?)

At first I started small. I looked for rebatable products within the coupon insert sections of my Sunday newspapers. Often times the rebate form was accompanied by a coupon (yipee) and all I had to do was wait for a sale to come along.

Rebate checks are written for the purchase price BEFORE coupons......so if I spent my coupons strategically (in a store that would double my coupon) I would not only receive a FREE product but I would actually make a bit of money as well ( my husband would call this "passive income"!).

I found myself very eager to peek in my mailbox each day - knowing that I could possibly be receiving my small salary for being a savvy consumer.

After a while I began to branch out from just purchasing rebatables that came to me (via my Sunday paper) and I began to prowl around for more moneymakers for myself.

I learned to keep my eyes open in the stores as I shopped - especially the drugstores. Many health and beauty items like shampoos and vitamins offer money back rebates. I actually honed my drugstore rebating skills by spending my store reward money on items that I in return would receive a check in the mail for. SWEET!

The grocery store is littered with rebatable items......think cereal, yogurt and even cleaning supplies! The more you actively pay attention while shopping, the more money you can keep in your pockets!

So far this year, I have collected $ 579. back in rebates!

My family has decided to keep adding each rebate check into a special savings account to pay for Christmas or on other various gifts throughout the year. We could just blow each check as we receive them, but it makes far more financial sense for us to lump the checks together to gain purchasing power later on. Your family may want to save your rebate checks for a new washing machine or for spending money on your annual trip to Disney!

You have the choice of becoming one of three different kinds of rebaters:

1. The Recycling Rebater: the recycling rebater will set aside maybe $25. or so per year to purchase rebatable items and when the checks come in (s)he will recycle that money into purchasing another rebatable item. Thus, recycling the $25. over and over while scoring some FREEBIES!

2. The Loaning Rebater: The loaning rebater allows stores or companies to borrow their money for a short while in return for their money being returned in a few weeks + FREE ITEMS. This rebater is willing to shell out all sorts of cash upfront.

3. The Budgeted Rebater: the rebater on a budget will look for ways to include rebatable items into their weekly/monthly shopping adventures. Scoring some FREE products while maintaining enough funds for the rest of the items necessary for their household.

I am sure that you probably guessed that I am a Budgeted Rebater!

What kind of rebater are you/ or do you aspire to become?

My posts at www.sharpenyourscissors.net are geared towards groceries and items necessary to run a household. I teach classes in the Metro Detroit area to raise funds for Raincatchers.org, a non-profit that brings the means to clean drinking water to some of the poorest villages in Haiti - my husband volunteers on these trips annually.

This post is part of my Thought Provoking Thursday series, in case you are interested in other posts.

This is me, Precious, again. Laura's post brought back fond memories. I was an avid rebater back in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I saved my rebate money and bought a dining room table and 6 chairs to match a hutch that we had inherited. Without that rebate money, we would not have been able to purchase it. We used that dining room table for 32 years. Since I plan on replacing,as rapidly as possible, the money spent to buy our new home, I think I will concentrate a little harder on rebating after the move.

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment or ask Laura a question. I am sure that she would be glad to answer any.