Being Consistent with Upromise Savings

I guess I am a little slow, but I just realized last week that funds earned in a Upromise account can be invested into an online savings account, CD or 529 plan. The thing that is nice about the savings account is that you have control over the account now and not just when a child is going off to college. You can use the money anyway you wish and can request a withdrawal of the money directly from UPromise. You do not have to designate a beneficiary of the money. You can also transfer money into the account yourself in addition to the Upromise funds going into it.

Upromise will invest the money in your account for you monthly, as long as the dollar amount is at least $10.00. I was very excited to discover this and have opened up an online Sallie Mae savings account, which is easy to do by going to the Upromise website. The interest rate on the account is 1.5%. In addition to the Upromise money going into the new account, You can link the Sally Mae Savings account to a local bank account and set up a small monthly transfer, which would be a great way of investing for a child or grandchild's future.

One small way to add funds to this account is by taking advantage of Upromise's Grocery Ecoupons. Each month a new group of Ecoupons is available on the Upromise website. Just go through the selection of Ecoupons and choose the ones you want to take advantage of. When you buy these items using your CVS card, Food Lion MVP card or other card that you have registered with Upromise, the amount of the Ecoupon will be deposited in your UPromise account. It would probably be advantageous to just choose all of the Ecoupons, and then if you buy any of those items, you will be covered.

The good thing about using the Ecoupons is that you can also use manufacturer's coupons on the items! I try to catch the items on sale, use a mfg coupon AND use the Upromise ECoupon.

For example: In December Charmin Basic was available as a Upromise Ecoupon. If you purchase Charmin basic, $1.00 would be deposited into your Upromise account. There was a $1.00 off Charmin Basic coupon in the December P&G coupon insert. This week the 12 packs of Charmin Basic are on sale at CVS for $4.99 and you would earn a $1.00extra buck. So that's $4.99, less the $1.00 mfg coupon, less the $1.00 CVS EB and $1.00 would be deposited into your UPromise account.

Now, I know the amounts that go into the Upromise account are small. But if earned CONSISTENTLY over time, this will add up. The ECoupon money would definitely add up faster than the 1.5% interest rate!

These are examples of the Upromise Ecoupons that I have taken advantage of during the month of December:

Fleischmann's yeast strip on sale for $1.50, less .40 mfg coupon, earned .40 in Upromise account.

Sister Schubert yeast rolls on sale for $2.99, less .50 mfg coupon, earned .75 in Upromise account

Charmin Basic Mega Roll on sale for $4.99, less $1.00 mfg coupon, less $1.00 extra buck and $1.00 earned in Upromise account

2 jars of Ragu Pasta Sauce on sale for $1.67 each, earned $1.00 in Upromise account.

1 large tub of Country Crock Spread, on sale for $2.50, less $1.25 mfg coupon, earned .40 in Upromise account

These are items that I would normally buy anyway. There are many more Ecoupons available on the site. The ones you might use would probably be different than the ones I use.

So remember that the current month's Upromise Ecoupons are only good through December 31st, so if you want to take advantage of them, you must do it soon. But, new ones will be available January 1st, and the first of each month thereafter, so it's never to late to start saving this way.