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I was originally going to
hop on today and post about our financial situation since I quit my job, but as
I started typing that post, I realized that I never shared with you one of our
favorite ways that we save money! I know
a lot of you have been waiting for the financial post, so don’t you worry…
it’ll be up next week!
Today I want to talk to you
about a little app called Raise. Have
you ever heard of it? Basically, it’s an
app that you can use to buy gift cards at a discount and you can also sell gift
cards that you don’t want. Keep reading to get $5 off of your first purchase!
Buying Gift Cards at a Discount
Raise offers gift cards from
thousands and thousands of retailers and restaurants at anywhere from 5-25% off. The app is free to use and it is very simple
to use as well. All you have to do is click here, sign up, and then you can search for retailers/restaurants in which you are interested. Raise will then show all of the gift cards
that they have available for that store and what percentage you would save on
each.
For example, when we
searched for Bath
and Body Works today, this is what came up:
The best deal today is that
you can get a $98.58 gift card for just $89.54 which is a savings of 9.2%.
When we searched for
H&M, this is what came up:
Their best deal today is
that you can get a $90.95 gift card for only $70.30!!!! That is a savings of 22.7%!! That’s a good one!
When we searched for Panera,
these are the deals that were available:
Their best deal today is
that you can get a $50.00 gift card for $47.02 which is a savings of 6%.
Once you have found the gift
cards you want to purchase, you just add them to your cart and then check out using
your choice of payment method. Raise
will then ship physical gift cards to your house FOR FREE (a little truck icon indicates it will be shipped), or if it is an
electronic gift card, they will send it straight to your app so you can use it
on your phone immediately (no truck icon indicates it is an e-card).
B and I have started using
the app to purchase gift cards at a discount for places that we frequent, and
then we use the gift cards to make our every day purchases. Since they have the electronic gift card
option for some stores, if I know I’m about to go somewhere specific to shop,
we will check out Raise first to see if there are any electronic gift cards
available at a discount that we can use immediately.
We have been using Raise for
over a year now and we are currently saving an average of 8.8% on everything
that we purchase using Raise. This
translates to hundreds and hundreds of dollars saved on the things that we
already buy!
Here are the stores that we
have purchased gift cards for through the Raise app:
Retailers/Grocery Stores
Nordstrom
Target
Old Navy
At Home
Bath & Body Works
AMC Theatres
Walmart
Lowe’s
Netflix
Rack Room Shoes
Advance Auto Parts
Autozone
Chevron
Fresh Market
CVS
Walgreens
Ticketmaster
Restaurants
Chipotle
Starbucks
Chick-Fil-A
Carabba’s
Outback Steakhouse
Chuck E. Cheese
Cracker Barrel
Dairy Queen
Olive Garden
Panera
They have pretty much
everything!!
The app also allows you to
add stores to a favorites list for easy shopping and you can also set alerts
for specific stores and specific percentages off. For example, if you wanted to purchase an Old
Navy gift card and you wanted to purchase it for at least 10% off, you can set
those parameters in your app and Raise will send you an alert if one becomes
available.
They also run special promos
from time to time where you can purchase gift cards for an additional
percentage off which saves you even more money!
Selling Gift Cards
Ever receive a gift card for
a store or restaurant that you either a) don’t like or b) don’t have in your
city? Well, instead of letting it go to
waste, you can sell them on Raise and then purchase gift cards that you will
actually use! B and I have yet to use
this feature because the opportunity hasn’t yet arisen for this, but it’s good
to know it’s available in case we’re ever in a situation where we need it.
Signing Up
Signing up is easy and FREE
and if you use our referral link here, you can get $5 off of your first
order!!!! And if you make a purchase
within 30 days of signing up, I will get $5, too! :o)
One final thing to note
before I go is that we do get the occasional bad gift card, meaning that we
will purchase a gift card on Raise and then when we receive the card, the
balance is $0.00. If this ever happens
to you, all you have to do is call Raise customer service and they will refund
your money, no questions asked. They
offer a money back guarantee on gift cards for one year, so it’s probably best
to spend all of them within a year just in case. We have had this happen a few times and they
have refunded our money every single time.
B said that their customer service is top notch… he said that every
single time he’s had to call they have refunded our money immediately and we didn’t
even have to return the gift card or give any kind of proof. They just take your word for it. Quick and painless!
Because this does happen
every so often, my advice to you is to check the balances on your gift cards
right when you receive them, and then check the balances again right before you
use them to ensure they are still good.
We love Raise so much and we
know you will, too! It’s just one more
effortless way that we are saving money!
AND DID I MENTION THAT IT’S FREE?!
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And a special shout out to
the grandparents – thank you so much for taking such good care of our sweet
babies all weekend so B and I could enjoy a weekend away together!
