The C Word

Yes, Christmas is just over two months away. Using your frequent point programs to supplement your Christmas giving is an excellent way to reduce the cost of Christmas - but many of these programs must be redeemed now so that you receive your gifts in time for Christmas. This year is our tightest year financially in the last ten as we are paying expenses on two homes, child support on three children and both work out of the home for hubbys new company which after ten months is just now paying our bills. As my mother says, "every little bit counts" and anything I can get at reduced cost or by freebie for Christmas is one less dollar that comes out of our pocket.



Swagbucks (click the link if you wish to join)
I like swagbucks because you can take a poll a day to earn a buck, find secret codes, watch videos, do surveys or by far the easiest - use their searchbar for your every day internet searches. I really don't enjoy surveys so mainly use the searchbar and take the polls. So far this year I am up to $45 in amazon.ca gift certificates (each country has access to different gift cards, Canada is more limited than USA) and generally earn $5 per month or more. They rarely email you so are not spammers and are extremely easy to use. After three years they have my loyalty. My stepdaughter is a big kindle reader so she is getting some giftcards for her to buy books from Amazon.ca as part of her presents this year.

We belong to airline programs and although we use all of those points ourselves to see family and for business if you don't need your points many of these programs offer gift cards apart from airline tickets.

I belong to five different grocery store point programs and intend to redeem those points for goodies for stockings and to reduce our grocery requirement in the month of december.

Planning saves money so get out your point cards and have a browse - I guarantee you will save money this way!