<p>Good plan, SS!! It is easy money! Maybe we should revivive the "coupons, and bargains" thread?? I love deals!!!</p>
<p>I just looked at the site, and Lands' End is now offering 5% Upromise contributions. Overstock is offering 3% contributions, plus free shipping, or 5% off the entire order for new customers. My balance is now $1350 - it's taken a number of years, but that money has been growing (most of the time!) in the 529 all that time. So by the time my son goes to college there will probably be an extra $5000 or so.</p>
<p>I probably wouldn't have bothered with UPromise, but I won an essay contest a few years ago that gave us $1000 in UPromise money for my son's college education. His account is now about $1060, so you can see our shopping habits haven't helped it grow much. We'll be closing it out about a year from now. It's been pretty easy, but certainly won't make much of a dent in college expenses.</p>
<p>I remember when LLBean gave 2.00 a purchase and I used to order my kids backpacks, etc. They stopped that when too many customers were breaking up their orders, but it was generous at the time.
I have about 500.00 over the years, we get the most through Stop and Shop and CVS but made a few larger purchases through their links. (computer/camera)
If I'm going to buy something anyway, why not get a few dollars?</p>
<p>I've been a member for over five years and only registered my grocery discount card; I think I can only transfer to a 529 account when I have $25.00 and I have only about $21.50. At one point I understood that the upromise $$$ was taxable; didn't want to deal with that. I think I make seven cents a month or something. Maybe I don't buy the right stuff.</p>
<p>We've participated in UPromise for maybe 4-5 years. I'm sure we've made a couple thousand dollars - which paid for books and then some. Of course you have to follow their instructions, but so what? If you tend to charge everything (as we do), it's completely painless.</p>
<p>I just got an email from them asking me to update my account. I've been a member for six years. I have all three major credit cards registered. These are cards that also give me monetary rewards and most of them are in the hundreds yearly. Last year, my american express card gave me a cash reward of over $1000. My husband travels for business and we get reimbursed. Just so you get an idea of how much we charge yearly.</p>
<p>After six years of having these cards registered, as well as our grocery store and drug store savings cards, we have a grand total of $60.85. I figured there was no way my kids were going to get any benefit from this, so I have it registered in the names of my brother's five children. They each get slightly over $12. Certainly not worth much.</p>
<p>I've been a member for about 4 years, and have accumulated over $1200 in an account. It does take a little bit of effort to get the maximum out of it. We use the linked gas station (4 drivers so it adds up), and I usually check UPromise before purchasing anything on line. For ex., I got $8 from Apple with free engraving for purchasing an IPOD for a kid this Christmas (with free shipping). When I book travel or hotels, I check out the Upromise links to hotel chains, Expedia and Travelocity. I got a $250 rebate from GM a few years ago, which was a nice chunk. You do have to monitor purchases, since I found that rates through the links for a car rental were actually higher than rates quoted elsewhere by the same rental agency, but using UPromise becomes a habit after awhile. The $1200 is great.</p>
<p>We've been Upromise members since they started out I believe about 4 or 5 years ago. We have withdrawn $2200 so far and have about $400 in the account again. I do a lot of shopping online particularly overstock (many of my S course books for his second major in history were available at Overstock which gives anywhere from 3%-5% depending on the month). We also have a Citibank upromise card which we tend to use to the max of their reimbursement each year.</p>
<p>To get the money out you send them a letter (notarized if requesting more than $500) and the check is mailed. The funds have come in tax free as well. While this isn't a ton of money it helps. My advice is not to rely on their search engine however since it is not very good. Find the companies that are likely to have the products you want and go directly to them thru the upromise link to determine if they have what u want for sale. There are some companies who belong that have particularly well priced goods. Overstock and BUY.COM for books, Overstock for household, BUY.COM and Circuitcity for electronics, J&R for audio and other electronic goods, and Dell if you're going to buy a Dell computer anyway. They also have special free shipping offers sometimes that are different than those offered to the general public.</p>
<p>Anyway, we buy the items we would buy normally just look a little harder to see whom to buy them from. The extra money back which we have used for college for my son (but which you can use for ANYTHING) is helpful.</p>
<p>I've had similar results after about five years as Muffy and 3bm. Maybe the rest of you are smart shoppers...</p>
<p>We have been members of Upromise since the middle of 2002. To date, we have accummulated almost $1800 in savings. I do not buy alot on line but have used the Citi Upromise credit card for most everything, including paying our car and household insurance. I don't carry a balance on the card, so I am indifferent to its interest rate. The 1% savings for using the credit card is probably lower than what some other credit cards offer (in terms of points), but I have been happy with the card.</p>
<p>Recently, I have begun buying more online through its links and have found that several partners will give savings for the online purchase of gift cards (with no charges for shipping). I then use these gift cards for my normal purchases at the 'in store' retailers. I also have my grocery and drug store cards registered but see only a small amount of savings. Also, when I use my Upromise credit card at stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond and Staples, I receive savings. </p>
<p>We withdrew some of the funds last year when S started college and had no difficulty with the process. To date, we have been very happy with the program.</p>