Reward Cards Galore!

In order to be a successful couponer or smarter shopper, you have got to get your hands on as many rewards cards as possible! Now I just don't mean the basic couponers cards such as the ExtraCare card, Wellness card, MVP card, Kroger card, etc; I mean to have so many cards that you have to get someone to make you a custom wallet so you enough slots to hold them all.

Most stores have some sort of reward or loyalty card, you just have to ask. I have cards for Ace Hardware, Hot Topic, Aeropostale, Office Max (which is a point in itself, because the closest store is two hours away from me) and I even lug around a loyalty card for a local kettlecorn and pork rind stand. More and more stores are getting their hands into giving their customers rewards cards to keep them store loyal.

If you already have a lot of store cards, you probably already have picked up on the difference between clothing and grocery stores. In grocery stores you have to use the card to get sale prices and to double your coupons, but in clothing stores one of two things happens: 1) you get an additional percentage off the sale price or 2) you earn points to redeem for percentages off. And in addition at clothing stores, you usually get the heads up for hot sales and coupons no one else gets.

Although most reward cards are from grocery and department stores, there are a couple that would be a good idea to get your hands on; these are hardware stores, book stores, coffee shops and local stores that offer incentives. You heard me mention Ace Hardware, but Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and Sheetz offer reward cards. Most of these get you percentages off items, but some are like "stamp cards" where you buy 10 of some item and get one free. For example:

If you buy a $2 cup of coffee everyday and use the card that works like a buy 10, get one free, at the end of the year you would have gotten 33 free cups of coffee or saved $66 - a months' worth of coffee. At the end of 5 years time you would have saved $330. I know that seems small to some people, but if you were using rewards cards for everything simple like that think of the money you'd be saving yearly. Let's do another scenario:

Say you're a coffee-drinkin', cookie-eatin' bookworm. You buy a $2 cup of coffee everyday, eat two raspberry cheesecake Subway cookies (we're gonna put a $2 tag on this as well) a week and buy a book a month at Barnes and Noble (with a $25 shelf price). If you use that same card as mentioned above for coffee, fill out your Subway surveys on the receipt for a free cookie and use your Barnes and Noble card taking 40% off each bestseller you buy, in a years' time you will have saved $378. Does that hit home a little harder?

You know we all like treats. What's a $2 coffee everyday or a $2 cookie twice a week or a monthly book? I'm not saying forget it, I'm simply saying "get what you want for cheaper" and it's completely do-able as you just saw. I'm not asking you to reroute your life and hire a finacial advisor, I'm asking that you do the math on what you buy and see if you can find ways to reduce what you spend. Try it and you'll love me. Promise!