Favorite ways to earn

[cweekly]

Hi, I'm Chris Weekly, I was one of the first ten Upromise members (back in 2000) as I was the lead web developer for the site before we first went live. I've got a couple thousand dollars in my Upromise account now and thought I'd share a few tips for maximizing your contributions.

Note over the years my spending habits have changed quite a bit. Before I had kids, most of my contributions came from restaurants. I'd simply check the website for the current list of  restaurants near me in the Upromise dining program -- e.g. http://www.upromise.com/dining -- and eat there. Earning 5-10% (including tax + tip) on the bill added up quickly. I also have had the Upromise credit card for years, which gets me an additional 1% on everything I buy.

Nowadays, it's the use of the Upromise card plus my grocery shopping that earns me most of my contributions. By registering my Stop & Shop card and paying w/ my Upromise card, I get contributions from the manufacturers at the grocery store and from the credit card.

Finally, when I shop online I always go through http://shop.upromise.com first, to make sure my purchases at online retailers are rewarded by Upromise. (There's a browser add-on called "Upromise TurboSaver" which you can use to automatically remind you to go through our shopping site instead of going straight to online merchants, ensuring you get your contributions.)  These simple steps to save for my daughters' education have put me in a better position, and help me keep my eye on my long-term goal of paying for their education. 

In summary:

- start early (now)

- get the Upromise credit card and use it for all expenses

- register grocery card w/ upromise.com

- eat at restaurants in the program 

- do all online shopping through shop.upromise.com (w/ the help of the "TurboSaver" browser tool)

If this sounds familiar to what other high-earning Upromise members recommend, it's probably not a coincidence.

Note this message came from me individually in my capacity as a Upromise member, and is not any kind of official company statement. I hope it helps folks out there looking to save more for college.

Good luck!

[commo2]

All of these are things I currently do also, In addition to using my grocery card for Winn Dixie I am also using my Upromise credit card to purchase the groceries (unless Discover is having 5% back during that quarter). I did not do this in the past but with less grocery products available for Upromise credit I have decided to maximize my purchases, so now I earn the grocery price on qualified items, 1% for my total grocery bill (which is always around $100) and 10% back on qualified items purchased with my credit card.

Whenever I purchase items I try to go online rather than the store, it saves me on gas, not finding what I want, the hassle of dealing with others, and I get money back.  When others who are not upromise member need something I try to help them find it and give them my guest link to purchase the items or I do it for them if they are not familiar.

There are many ways to save, it just takes a little imagination to combine them.

[willamay1966]

hi. i was just wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. i entered my kroger card and i use it all the time but i dont see where there is anything on my upromise account for me using it. is there a trick to you it or what. please help me willa from ohio

[RammsteinNicCag]

Are you buying products that participate in the UPromise program?  Click the following link for a list of participating products.  Click on the category headers to get specific info (item size) and for add'l items.

https://lty.s.upromise.com/displayServlet?su=8251

[jksmith]

I just made a reservation for and paid deposit on a vacation from Beaches?sandals. I went through the Upromise site, but somehow in the clicking back and forth on the Beaches web site, it doe not seem ot have given me credit on my account. Can you fix this, and if not can I click through and at least get credit for the amount when I pay the rest of the trip off?

[Jeff]

jksmith, unfortunately clicking back and forth usually means the credit will not go through and it's not something we're able to adjust.  But one thing to note is that college savings on travel transactions usually don't post until after you've completed your travels.  So you might want to check your account when you vacation is completed to see if the transaction went through properly.