One of the silly, easy things I do to save money is saving "points" from different companies. A lot of big corporations try to instill loyalty in their consumers with a points program. Coca-Cola has "My Coke Rewards", Pampers has "Pampers Village", etc. It may seem pointless to save these codes, but they do add up in a couple of different ways.
1. Double Points Promotions- I save codes from Coca-Cola and Kellogg products. I usually only get name-brand products when coupons make it even cheaper than generic brands. Several times a year, these companies will set double-points weeks. I save my codes until one of the promotions, and then I will get double the points for the same amount of codes. They usually cap it at around 100 points per week (or 200 during the doubles week), but since I usually have less than that anyway, it really works out for me.
2. Holiday Promotions- I always wait for Christmas to spend my Coca-Cola rewards points. The last couple of years, there has been a holiday program where there are daily prizes that are at least half-off the normal points price. Last year, I redeemed a couple of McDonald's, Home Depot and Best Buy gift cards. I remember that the $5 McDonald's gift cards came in handy when Benji was pleading for a Happy Meal, and it only set me back 30 points. (The equivalent of 5 bottle caps during the doubles week.)
3. School Funding- While it doesn't help save me money personally, I also save the Box Tops for a friend's school. They receive 10 cents per box top, and it makes no sense to just throw that away. Again, my small stack of box tops is not going to make a huge difference, but I would save a found dime, so why not a found box top?
Offhand, I know that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg, Pampers and Huggies all have these programs, because I have personally used them all. I am saving my Pamper's points to redeem towards a ticket to Sesame Place. Saving $50 using codes I already have makes me a happy frugalista.
