How to save and earn the most?

With so many great deals and promotions constantly going on, how can you save the most money and earn the best rewards?

There are 2 schools of thought.

The first is that you should do it all. Sign up for every affiliate program, get your name (and email address) out there and be involved with every program. Sign up for special credit cards to earn airline miles, points, etc.

There is an up and down side to this approach. The up side it that you may find out about more deals and rewards this way, however, the down side is that you may spend more time reading email and sifting through junk mail to get the good deals and to save money. How valuable is your time? Will you spend 5 hours online researching a deal to save a few dollars? It that worth it to you? Remember to look closely at credit cards that offer points, cash back, or airlines miles. Is there annual fee? A fee to “cash in” you rewards? a penalty if you don’t use rewards each year? Does the card have a higher APR than the same “brand” of card without rewards? Will you actually be saving the same amount of money or more than the rewards that you receive from the card? Be a savvy consumer!

Something to consider: Many programs do not overlap and do not let you “double dip”. For example- United Airlines Miles programs allows you to register your credit cards and when you dine at certain establishments, you earn airline points- a very small amount of airline points. Upromise has a similar program, however, you earn actual CASH BACK in your Upromise account. You cannot do both at the same time. So you must weight the options- are the airline miles or the cash back more valuable to you?

The second school of thought is that being a choosy consumer is the better path. Take a look at the affiliate programs and see which one fits your lifestyle. There are hundreds of affiliate programs, survey companies, WOM programs. There is bound to be one for you. What works for one consumer may not work for you. Many of my friends love Swagbucks, but I love Mypoints.

Whichever path you chose, remember that there will always be a sale or deal that you will miss, but it will come back around again.

At first, you may choose to sign up for as many affiliate programs, WOM and survey companies as you can and see which one works for you. Then as time goes on, you may chose to drop the companies that do not fit your lifestyle or offer incentives that meet your needs.