The Marc House Orchids

Today is Shop Local Saturday.  It's meant to promote shopping at local smaller establishments.   I took advantage of a promotion by American Express.  By registering my card ahead of time they offered a $25 account credit for spending $25 or more in a single transaction at one of the local merchants listed. 

I decided to take advantage of this by shopping at the Marc Plant Store.  The Marc House is a local nonprofit designed to help mentally challenged individuals lead independent lives.  Marc stands for Monroe Association for ReMARCable Citizens.  Residents work at the plant store and are able to learn a marketable trade.  It's a great organization that does a great service. 

I purchased two orchids today.

This one:

 

 

And this one:

 

Two beautiful flowers that will be a beautiful addition to the Casual Shack garden.

                               Here's how the deal worked:

                           2 Orchids @ $15.00 each = $30.00
                                 7.5% sales tax              = $ 2.25
                                 Total                               $32.25
                  Rebate from American Express   - $25.00
                           1.25% Blue Cash reward   -       .37      
                         Actual Cost of 2 Orchids         $ 6.88         

All profit from the $30.00 sale goes to the Marc House and I got an amazing deal on Orchids!  Does it get any better than that?         

 

Making the most of Holiday shopping on the internet

Black Friday is not what it used to be.  More and more shoppers are opting to sit in their jammies shopping online as opposed to waiting in line for hours and fighting for one of a limited supply of the hottest toy or electronics item.  Online stores have responded with huge discounts referring to the Monday after Thanksgiving as Cyber Monday.  Last year I picked up some awesome bargains on Thanksgiving Day.

You can optimize your online holiday savings by shopping through a portal such as ShopatHome.com and Ebates.com.  Simply register with them, search the list for the store you want and click on the “coupon”.  You will then be redirected to the store you have chosen.   After completing your purchase you will be credited for the percentage offered in the deal you chose.   I’ve gotten rebates ranging from 3% to 8%.  We purchased a riding lawn mower last year through ShopatHome.com, we received a check for $120.00 and we got free freight delivery directly to our door.  In addition, we used our cash rewards credit card and received an additional 1.25% cash back on top of that. 

Check with your bank and major credit card, they may also offer a shopping portal with a cash rebate. 

Whichever way you choose to do your holiday shopping remember to gift from the heart and keep to your budget!

When your credit card puts money in your pocket

Several years ago I realized that carrying a balance on my credit cards was detrimental to my financial health.   Over the course of two years I paid off over $20,000 in credit card and auto loan debt.  Since then I have not carried a balance on a credit card.  I cut up most of those credit cards believing that cash was the only way to go.   I worked out a budget and a spending/savings plan and attempted to make the transition to a cash only lifestyle.  This didn’t work out so well for me.  You see, if I have money in my wallet, I’ll spend it.  It’s a mind game for me, if I don’t see it, I don’t have it to spend, simple as that.  So in order for me to stick to a budget I needed a credit card because I knew that I had to pay it off each month and I could be disciplined enough to not go over my set spending limit.  If you are the opposite of me, and are more disciplined using cash, then please do not attempt this.

My favorite credit card is Blue from American Express.  There are many cash rewards out there, go to a site such as bankrate.com to find one that has reward levels suited to your spending.  Look for a card that has no annual fee and gives a percentage of cash back for all purchases.  Some cards require that you register for that quarters’ deals.  I tried one of those and invariably would forget to re-register each quarter.

We use this card for all of our budgeted monthly purchases and pay the balance in full each month.  Our electric, water, cell phone and television services are all automatically billed to this card.  We use it at the grocery store, gas station, pharmacy and even put Doctor and Veterinarian visits on it. The important thing to remember is if it’s not in the budget, it doesn’t go on the card.

By using the credit card in this way we have been able to redeem cash rewards which we can apply to our current savings goals.

 

If you want to be rewarded remember these three points:

1.        Get a card with NO ANNUAL FEE

2.       Use the card ONLY FOR BUDGETED PURCHASES

3.       Pay in full each month, NEVER CARRY A BALANCE