Are You Making the Most of Your Online Purchases?

So, I recently discovered an amazing website, thanks to my aunt.  It's called My Points and the site is www.mypoints.com.  If you make purchases online, you definitely need to check this out, because it will give you points for every purchase you make as long as it is with an affiliated merchant and you click through to their site from the My Points site.  There is no fee to be enrolled in this and it really helps you be a good steward with your money.  Let me tell you specifically how it has benefited our family recently:

We are currently building a large home addition to make room for our growing family.  Yeah!  So, I had to order some things like toilets, flooring etc. and I found some on sale for a great price on Black Friday sales last November.  Well, I ordered these things and got 8 points per dollar credit on my My Points account.  From these points, I was able to get $220 in gift cards to great stores, like T.J. Maxx, Wal-mart, Amazon.com and Cracker Barrel.  All this, by just clicking through to the merchant's site from My Points.  How great is that?  Here are some highlights of how it works:

1. Log into your account at My Points.
2. Click through from their site to the merchant of your choice to do your online shopping.
3. Shop!
4. Points are credited to your account automatically, as long as you entered the merchant's site from your My Points account.
5. When your points are eligible for redemption, go pick out what great gift cards you'd like to get for free!
6. Wait for gift cards to arrive in the mail.  

Step six is where we are right now.  It was disappointing when I chose my gift cards that they did not tell me how long they would take to arrive, but, even if it takes awhile, they are still free money, so I can wait!  

Something that's really great is the selection of merchants from which to choose your gift cards.  Check out this sample list of some of the stores listed right now:

• Kohl's
• Subway
• Applebee's
• Olive Garden/Red Lobster
• T.J. Maxx
• Wal-mart
• Old Navy
• Home Depot
• Lowe's 
• GameStop
• BP gas stations
• Hyatt
• Bath & Body Works

As you can see, there's quite a selection!  You can choose from merchants that carry things you need or stores which might have things you want, but can't usually get on your regular budget since you're getting some "free money" from your regular purchases.

Now, I do have to point out that we did get quite a large amount of gift cards and this isn't going to be your typical experience.  There are two reasons for this: 1) we made a large online purchase and 2) the merchant with whom we purchased had 8 points credit per dollar to your account.  Oh, and here's something else you might want to know.  About how many points does it take to get an average gift card?

• $10 gift card - about 1,600-1,700 points
• $25 gift card - about 3,600-3,800 points
• $50 gift card - about 6,500-7,500 points (points required vary by merchant)

So, if you make purchases online, I totally recommend setting up a My Points account and earning free gift cards from the purchases you regularly make!