My shopping strategy is really taking shape and rebates are starting to become a part of it. I have a $10 rebate form to fill out for Kellog's products and I began to wonder how to handle the small amounts that I get back.

Do you put this money back into the food funds for budget padding, save it to add to the Christmas fund or something else?

 

The only rebates I get fairly often come from Rite Aid. They look like a check and you have to spend it at Rite Aid.

I have a rebate form for a brand of pasta sauce---buy 3 jars, send in the labels, and get a coupon for a free jar of sauce. It's for a brand I don't use.

So yours goes back into your food funds.

 

Actually, I use the Rite Aid rebates on my monthly prescription costs.

Ah ok. That works.

 

I'm just starting to get into register rewards and rebates -- mostly Walgreens, but I have 2 others from this week.  Right now I'm waiting on my Walgreens giftcard with my first rebate to come in so I can submit my August rebate and get the extra 10% on my card.  I have one for 2.99 for nivea lip stuff; it was in the sunday paper and I bought the lip stuff for only 2.49 so I'll make money on that one.  The other is for Sure deo., also found in the sunday paper a couple or 3 weeks ago.  If you buy two Sure deo's, you get 1 free.  Mine all rang up as $2; I bought 5 and also used 5 $1 off coupons.  My rebate will be for $2 -- also a money maker.  I'll just drop the checks in my savings account to build the emergency fund; not much but every little bit counts.  Walgreens giftcard money will go towards whatever we want/need.  DH needed his Fish Oil, which was BOGO this week.  We stopped and got two and used my register rewards to pay for the bulk of it.  Of course, we also picked up $5 worth of stuff on clearance for later use as well.

Dear All, Whenever I cash a check in solid dollars ($1, $2, $3, etc), I put the dollar bills in my tzedakah/charity bank/pushke.  When I get $18, I send in to a charity.  Yours in Him, Deb

Dear Virginia NeedleWoman, I get Rite-Aid rebates, too, but I can cash them at the bank.  Did you ever try that?  Maybe it's different in different parts of the country ....  Yours in Him, Deb

If the rebate is in the form of a check, I either deposit it in a bank account or use it at the store.

The Walgreens gift cards are nice.  If you don't write in a gift card # that you already have established, they will send you a new gift card that you can either use or give as a little gift, or just give to someone you know is temporarily having a tough time.  They can always "pay it forward" when they are on their feet somewhere down the line.  I don't try to wait for a card to come before submitting the next month's rebate since the rebate deadline will pass before I ever get it.  I could do an every-other-month refill on rebate cards, though, I guess.

Dear Deb,

I hadn't tried cashing them at my bank. I'll try that next time I get one.