Grocery & drug stores

[#1]

If you have a debit card, you should be able to use it anyplace that accepts credit cards.  You just say it is a credit card and then you don't have to enter a pin number.  It will still come out of your checking account as normal, but then you can get some of the upromise savings on a registered card.  Since you have little ones, I will mention one site that I noticed had great prices on name brand diapers.  If you use namebrand disposable diapers - Diapers.com has just about the best everyday price on a case of diapers - and you can even mail in coupons to use towards your purchase.  I beleive they have also added automatic coupons for pampers on the site so you don't have to mail them in.

I do have the Upromise Credit Card, and pay it in full each month - and this is probably my biggest contribution to the upromise rebates.  But you really do need to have a lot of self control to manage your money this way.  There are some months I get the bill and think - what did we spend!  And I wonder if the CC is really worth it.  I  have heard a lot about the Dave Ramsey program lately regarding financial security and money management - perhaps you are wise to listen to the program and God and not get the credit card.  But you can still benefit from other rebates in the program.

[#2]

Thanks Rosalyn!  The only problem is I don't shop online very much, so I am thinking that the Upromise sign up was a waste of my time.  Plus there are only two stores that I can "earn" contributions at, so I don't know what to do really.  I might just call it quits.  I seriously thought that as long as the store had Upromise labeled items on the shelves I would earn points (Walmart has all the Beechnut food I use w/ Upromise labels), but after signing up I came to find out you only earn at certain stores.  Oh well. 

Thanks so much though!

[#3]

I'm so glad I found your post..you asked all the questions I was wondering about.  We're in the same boat. Dillions is the only place on their list I can go to apperently. I signed up thinking this was great, now it's not gonna do any good for us. We also did the Dave Ramsey Class. CC=bad, cash=good. I guess well just stick to the savings accounts!

[#4]

Yeah, that is basically what I'm doing.  I do go to Harris Teeter and Farm Fresh occasionally.  I've been a member for 3 or 4 months and have only earned like $6.  I do think this is designed more for those who shop online.  Which I tend to not do so often.  But oh well.  Probably better off sticking to anything Dave Ramsey tells us anyway.  Did you go to the Town Hall for Hope thing he did.  We did, it was pretty cool. 

[#5]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using credit cards... as long as you pay them off in full every month.  In fact, for me, it is better to use credit because then my money can sit in my savings account for longer and earn me more interest.

My credit card gives me money back AND allows me to continue earning money on my money.  Cash just gets dirty, wrinkled, and is full of germs.

[#6]

I was never able to get it to work for me.... the APR on the credit cards (4, 5, 6%) are generally higher than the interest I was getting with my savings account (2 maybe 3%). So, in turn, all the interest I was incuring in my savings account was going to pay for the APR of the credit card, and then some. But, just 'cause I could'nt make it work don't mean it can't.  Sorry if I came accross that way.

[#7]

It didn't work because you didn't pay off your credit card statement in full every month.  I don't know who this Dave Ramsey guy is, but I assume he talks about not spending over your means.  That's very good advice and it can be accomplished with using credit cards, particularly ones that give you rewards.

There is absolutely NO interest or fees charged unless you do not pay off your balance in full (in other words, if you carry part of your balance over to the next statement).

If you typically spend $1000/month in cash for things like bills, groceries, clothing, household items, etc, put that money "to the side" (in your savings account) and at the end of the month when your statement comes in, that money will still be there to pay all of the charges on the credit card.

[#8]

RammsteinNicCag's advice is great for anyone using the UPromise credit cards. We think those credit cards are great for building up the funds in our UPromise account.  The secret is to pay your bill in full and on time every month.  For every $100 you spend, you get $1 for your UPromise account.  It really adds up fast if you're buying big-ticket items but even every day spending for anything you buy in a grocery store, drug store, discount store, department store, etc. gets you that 1% from the card.  Plus there are extra percentages from the card for participating groceries and for participating restaurants or Exxon/Mobil gas depending on which card you have.

Another way you can earn that 1% from the UPromise credit card besides shopping is to put your reoccurring monthly bills on it.  We put our cell phone, alarm system & Internet server bills on ours.  We're thinking about adding our land-line phone, insurance and utility bills on there also.  Hey, you don't have to write a check or spend $.44 in postage.  It looks like small amounts but when you add them all together you'll see that your UPromise account will grow.

[#9]

Other ways to save without using credit cards are with eCoupons, the McDonald's Arch card, & by sharing your Personalized Guest Shopping Link (which you can find in your account profile) with everyone. Some people even post their guest links on their social networking sites. Then there are the occasional bonus promotions that Upromise comes out with every so often, which provide extra savings, too. These are just a few ideas to try if you want to avoid the credit card route.

[#10]

With online banking these days, I end up paying my card either weekly or even more often, depending on how much I use my card. You could technically pay daily.