Cheddarblog

When the Swiss_Mouse heads out to the store, it’s for the necessities in life: Cigarettes, booze, toilet paper and cheese.

Mrs. Swiss_Mouse takes a different approach.  She’s into buying “staples” like milk, cereal, bread etc. B-o-r-i-n-g

Either way, the Swiss_Mice are “making” cheddar on the deal thanks to UPromise . 

UPromise is a way to “Earn college savings through eligible everyday spending”.  Granted the Swiss_Mouse was very skeptical at first, but he has grown to trust and really like UPromise.   Basically after signing up with UPromise, you can earn money towards your mouse-lings college fund.  This money can go directly into a 529 plan that you have set up outside of UPromise or you can set up one that is integrated with UPromise and the funds that you have earned are automatically transferred into the 529.

Simply register with UPromise, then shop.

If you shop online via their links with participating well-known vendors, a certain percentage, usually 1% to 4%, is added back from the purchase into your savings fund for the 529.  The percentage is sometimes much larger and the sometimes there are “specials” where a percentage for a company might be doubled during a certain time period.

You can also register a credit card and when you purchase specific items, like a meal at a particular restaurant, a certain percentage will come back to you.

You can also register grocery cards, like Krogers or Meijers and whenever you buy certain items, say “Cottenelle Tissue” or Florida’s Natural OJ (OJ the fruit juice, not the alleged killer/break-in artist) you get back a certain percentage.

GRANTED, this amount is never huge.  Usually just a few cents, but over time it adds up.

A few years ago Waldenbooks and ToysRUs were participating.  The Swiss_Mice made out like bandits in those years.  Over the 5+ years the Swiss_Mouse has participated, he has probably racked up  $500 for the mouse-lings.  Granted, small potatoes, but by the time they head off to college, they will at least be able to buy one book with the proceeds.  And it’s painless and free.

Here is a sample of the Swiss_Mouse’s recent transactions.

  09/19/07  Details  Groceries at XXXX  on 09/07/07  $0.11 
  09/13/07  Pending  Upromise� Card transaction on 09/12/07   $5.00 
  09/12/07  Details  Groceries at XXXX 08/31/07   $0.15 
  09/12/07  Details  Groceries at XXXX on 08/25/07   $0.11 
  09/11/07  Pending  Dining by Rewards Network transaction on 09/06/07
“RESTAURANT NAME”  $1.07 

And an example of a specific grocery shopping expedition:

Company Item Qty Total Amount Paid  Contributions* Pending Funded
COTTONELLE�  ULTRA TOILET PAPER DOUBLE ROLL 12-PACK WHITE  1     $0.08  
Florida’s Natural  FLA-N GFTJC U RR C R 64 OZ  1    $0.03 

UPromise also offers a credit card that gives back 1% on all purchases regardless of whether they participate in the UPromise program or not.  BUT BE WARNED, if you MISS A PAYMENT deadline, the finances will completely wipe out MONTHS of free UPromise dollars.

In conclusion, one major advantage of UPromise is that relatives and friends and sign up their grocery cards or credit cards and contribute to YOUR mouse-lings fund.  You might even save enough for 2 books!!!!  A disadvantage, particularly in the dining program is that not all of the charges make it to the point that your get credit for them.   And it’s not worth the hassle to actually track receipts and apply for a distribution.

But you know, free cheddar is free cheddar.