Upromise - Getting Money for School

Yesterday I wrote about how I often pick up tips from fellow bloggers. It happened again today. J. Money over at Budgets are Sexy had a post about Upromise. Are you guys familiar with this? Because I sure wasn't. I think I had heard it mentioned a time or two, but I had no idea what it was about. Basically, the idea is that when you make purchases they credit your account for college classes or student loans. You can get money through registering credit cards for dining, grocery store cards or shopping online. I also found that you can get money by completing surveys. J. Money has a good breakdown of the pros and cons over on his site, so if you are interested, check it out.

Although poor J. doesn't seem to be having a lot of success with it, I thought I would check it out. I do have plans to return to school for my Masters Degree in a few years, so anything I can do towards that goal is a good thing. Especially if it is free!

While on the site I found something that simultaneously made me happy and made me cringe...

Several of my favorite (and most frequented) bars and restaurants are on the list and some of them pay up to 8% back!! Upromise has been around for a long, long time - do you have any idea how much money I could have been putting aside? I think of all those pints of beer, glasses of wine and dishes of potato nachos (you didn't think I ate healthy all the time did you?) and I shudder to think what it could have added up to.

However, rather than grumbling over the glass half empty, I'll raise my glass half full in a toast to J. Money on Saturday night when I have plans that will be earning me a bit of college funds!

Note: If any of you all know me, you have already figured out where I am talking about. The other place that I'm thinking of will give you Upromise dollars on your half priced wine on Sunday nights. If you are thinking of going back to school or have a niece or nephew who might be, go sign up! Or you can always feel free to sign up on my account and help me get my degree.