upromise - Stuff Parents Need

This post brought to you by Upromise by Sallie Mae. All opinions are 100% mine.

Generally speaking, I do my online shopping at two distinct times each week. I love to shop on Fridays because so many of my favorite brands offer great deals to kick off the weekend. I also love to shop REALLY early in the morning, when the house is quiet and I can actually have an uninterrupted thought. I don’t have to get dressed or fix my hair. I can just sit in my office, in my jammies, and shop at the most convenient hour of the day for me: 4am. I don’t know about you, but my local mall isn’t open at that hour!

I seriously doubt that I need to convince you of how awesome online shopping is. But did you know that in many cases, you could be earning cash back for your child’s college when you make those purchases? Upromise by Sallie Mae is a FREE service to help you save for college expenses (your own or your child’s!). It has been around for several years and I’ve had an account for quite a long time.

But in truth, I ALWAYS forget to go to the UPromise website and see if the online retailer where I’m shopping offers cash back. And as I result, my grand total of college savings with the program is just shy of $9. I mean, I’ll take it, but that’s pretty lame. But it is all my fault, because I never utilize the program!

UPromise knows that many of its members struggle to remember to use it, so they created RewardsU, which is a toolbar you can very easily download and then use when you are searching for something you want to buy. I went to UPromise.com, got myself logged in (signing up is also easy if you don’t have an account!) and then clicked on the big orange button to get the toolbar installed.

For those of you who love to keep a ton of tabs open, just be aware that all of your tabs need to be closed before you can install the toolbar. Once I had it installed, I looked for the icon on my toolbar list. There it is in the right corner!

I clicked on the icon, and a simple search bar pulled up. I then searched for an item that Kayla from KaylaAimee.com taught me about: the beauty blender. Evidently it is the makeup applicator tool unlike any other, and I have been wanting to treat myself to it. If you are like me, you rarely treat yourself to things like this that are nice to have to totally unneccessary, so I have to say that the sell was made easier when I realized I could earn a portion of my purchase back in funds for college. Win/win!

I thought the search results were SO COOL! It showed me several different places where I could find the coveted beauty blender, and it also highlighted the places that were UPromise rewards partners so I could easily see where my purchase could result in college savings.

Once I decided where I wanted to shop, I just clicked on the UPromise button in the search results and my ability to save was activated. See the note at the top of the screen letting me know that I’m good to go? It stays up there for about 10 seconds before going away, just FYI. I then went on my way, made my purchase, and felt good about knowing that 5% of what I spent was coming straight back to my kiddos.

As a longtime UPromise member who never actually remembers to use the service, I’m absolutely thrilled with RewardsU. It is right there on my toolbar now, which makes it SO much easier to think of when I’m doing my shopping. I’m looking forward to watching my college savings for the girls increase with UPromise, because goodness knows I’m going to keep shopping online! 🙂

Special thanks to UPromise by Sallie Mae for partnering with Stuff Parents Need to help us all make saving for college easier than ever! If you aren’t signed up for Upromise yet, I strongly encourage that you do so. Those savings add up surprisingly fast!

With a new school year around the corner, approximately 86 million students from pre-kindergarten to college are about to begin the next chapter of their academic careers. As they gear up, families with children of all ages can earn cash back to save for their kids’ future education by making back-to-school purchases via Upromise by Sallie Mae.

From notebooks, to jeans, to backpacks and colored pencils, Upromise is a free rewards program that harnesses the purchasing power of parents, extended family, and students to earn rewards to pay for college when you shop at hundreds of popular retailers such as Target.com, Staples, Bed, Bath & Beyond and more. Even if you’re ordering a new computer or dorm essentials, you can earn 5% or more back towards Sallie Mae savings accounts, 529 plans, student loan repayment or even returned in CASH.

To date, Upromise members have earned more than $750 million in cash back for college, simply by spending money on the things they need.

Back to school is the second busiest shopping season of the year, with the average American family spending $634 on school supplies, according to the National Retail Federation.

Before hitting the mall or making online purchases, here are tips from Upromise on shopping smart this upcoming school year:

Plan ahead – before you begin shopping for back to school, gather your school supply lists and take an inventory of items you already have.
Create a budget – monitor your spending and involve your children so they know the boundaries and benefits of budgeting.
Research sales and deals – scope out online sales and deals to get the best bang for your buck. Download RewardU, a free toolbar that reminds you of cash back opportunities from Upromise and alerts you to additional coupons and deals.
Create a family calendar – post a calendar in the kitchen or family room to keep track of extracurricular activities and school project deadlines.
Reach out to new roommates – as the approximately two thirds of the high school class of 2013 become college freshmen, they can save by coordinating with their new roommates before heading off to campus. There is no need for two dorm refrigerators, microwaves or televisions in a tight space.

For more information on saving and planning for college, visit Upromise.com and CollegeAnswer.com, or visit us at Facebook.com/Upromise.