Rebates.....To Do or Not to Do? And How to Stay Organized

Since it is coming up on the end of October I sat down yesterday and got a boatload of rebates finished before some of the rebate periods ended.

This is a chore I don't enjoy....you know, the filling out forms, gathering receipts, circling purchase prices, taking UPCs off of packages, photocopying the submissions & addressing all those envelopes.
Though I don't enjoy the hoops companies make you jump through to qualify for a rebate, I DO enjoy receiving those checks and freebies in the mail!
Oh, what I endure for a buck..... 8-))

So I finished up yesterday and sent off for 13 separate rebates this morning.  I have 2 more all ready to mail and 2 more to finish and my October submissions will be complete.  17 Rebates(not counting the Rite-Aid ones done online)that I am hopeful I'll see fullfilled and in my hand before the year is out.
Not like that Natural Dentist no show!  DO NOT send for any Natural Dentist Rebate!! ugh

My October submissions(besides the Rite-Aid online SCR) break down to $100 in cash & $45 in coupons and premiums.  Once I get the last 4 finished that makes 28 outstanding MIRs I am waiting on to arrive.

Rebates coupled with using coupons to purchase the items with rebates are a nice little moneymaker if you have the time and patience to fill out all the forms, etc. to qualify for them.

Be cautious however because some rebates are worth the time involved and some are not.  A high value rebate like the recent Pantene/Olay one is worth the time & expense to get back $20 on your purchase.

Even better than the high value Rebates are the items that qualify you for more than one Rebate, the double dips or triple dips!  Recently, that Pantene/Olay purchase, when completed during a certain week at Rite-Aid and paired with another $5 Proctor & Gamble purchase at Rite-Aid that week, got you a $10 Gift Card to Rite-Aid besides the $20 rebate from the company.  In addition, making a copy of that Pantene/Olay receipt before sending it off for the $20 MIR and pairing it with a certain form could qualify you for another MIR for a $40 valued set of Pink Cookware.  A very fine Triple Dip Rebate situation!

On the other hand, a rebate like the $1 on the BeeMD Cough Drops that Rite-Aid recently had on sale may not be worth your time and effort.  Rite-Aid had a SCRebate for the full purchase price of $2.49 for these Drops, which was awesome. You could do the rebate online by just entering your receipt information on the SCR website.  The company that makes the Drops also has a $1 mail-in rebate on them.  After paying the .44¢, the stamp will cost you to mail away for the $1, plus the time invested in submitting this rebate, you are about breaking even on that rebate.

For me, rebate money that comes in each month is added to the Food/Toiletries Budget.  Last month, I "spent" $456.49 cash on these budgeted items.  But I had rebates come in totaling $285.56 that month.  Therefore, my "spending" for the month was only $170.93.
Using the Rebate money this way helps offset spending whenever I have an expensive month.

The key to successful Rebating is organization.  There is nothing worse than buying something that has a rebate available only to miss out on it because you didn't save a receipt/a qualifier/a UPC/a form &/or ran out of time to submit it.
I have a pretty simple, lowkey system.  I keep 2 folders & a ledger for my rebating.
The first folder holds the materials I need to do the rebate....the forms, the receipts, and the UPCs/qualifiers.  I also have a list in that folder of the rebates I am actively working on.  Next to each item on the list is the date is has to be postmarked/mailed so I don't let any deadlines get past me.
As I gather everything I need to submit the particular rebate, I address the envelope, stamp and return address it and put all the paperwork inside the envelope and I cross that item off my list in the folder.

At this point, I take the envelope upstairs to hubby's printer, which is also a copier, and copy the paperwork.  I can't stress enough how important it is to keep a copy of your paperwork for every rebate!  If the company claims they did not receive your submission or it was not complete, you can copy your copy and resend it to them.  It's your proof that you did submit for a rebate &/or you did send all the asked for paperwork.

After the rebate paperwork is copied, the information for the rebate goes into my ledger.  I have two sections in this ledger.

I keep a log of every rebate that leaves the house.  It's just a list of each rebate, the mailing address it was sent to, the date it was mailed, who it was mailed from(some rebates I'll have one sent to me and one sent to another family member) and what form of payment is expected back(cash, coupons, freebies, etc.).

The other place in my ledger is were I record the rebates as they arrive.  I just list the date it came and what it was.  I will also put a check mark next to a rebate that has arrived on the Outgoing Rebate List section.  This check mark on the Outgoing List just let's me quickly see which Rebates I am still waiting on and if they seem late I can then check with the company on whether they are "in process" or if they were lost in the mail.

This system is enough to keep me organized.  Do you have a Rebate System?  Please leave a comment and let us know what works for you.

I was considering setting up a MIR page that lists worthwhile Rebates....sort of a REBATE CENTRAL to consult for possible rebate opportunities that are currently available.  This page would be accessible from my main page sidebar and each rebate listed would be hyperlinked to the online information for it.  What do you dear readers think about this?  Would it be something useful for your needs?  Let me know in the comment section.

Do you do rebates?  Which kind--mail in ones, online submission ones or both?  What do you do with the rebate money when it comes in?  Do you have a dollar amount threshold where you won't do a rebate?  Are you organized with your rebate work?  Tell us! ;-)

Sluggy