Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Participate in Coke Rewards, even if you never buy Coke


My husband Jordan and I enjoy the occasional soft drink. We used to drink one or more a day, but over the past few years we've cut back, both for our health and to save money. However, this doesn't mean we can't participate in the Coke Rewards program! My husband Jordan first signed up and entered the codes on the drinks he purchased, but it didn't add up to much because he hardly bought any. Then, while at work, he noticed a bunch of Coke bottles lying around in hallway recycling bins. He unscrewed the caps and entered those codes, too. (Since many recycling programs request that lids are removed but most people don't do it, it's almost like a public service. Sort of.)

This was on my mind tonight because we drove by the recycling center on our way home and found 15 or 20 caps in the plastic bin. A community recycling center is a great place to look for caps because there are so many in one place and you don't have to dig through trash to get to them. Have a peek when you are already there dropping off your recyclables. I would definitely take some hand sanitizer and/or gloves, though. Those bottles are sticky. I have long thought that a sporting event (after a game) would be a good place to rack up some caps, but we rarely go to any. Next time we do, I will be running around like a crazy woman unscrewing soda caps. Powerade caps, too!

So what can you get with the points from your caps? My husband subscribed to a magazine he enjoys and wasn't even charged shipping for it, although many of the items do require you to pay shipping. You can get prints from Snapfish, gift certificates for online shopping, a whistling tea kettle... Lots of stuff. A bunch of saved up points come in handy around Christmas shopping time when you've got lots of gifts to buy and would like to stick to your budget. That's the thrifty part. And recently my husband used a few of our points to get $10 off our dog's heartworm preventative.

Anyway, the points come in handy, and they can be had for free. Might as well grab those caps when you see 'em.

For more frugal tips, check out Kristin's Thrifty Thursday post at Bits and Pieces from My Life!

2 comments:

Kristin said...

My husband goes to the recycling center all the time and gets packages with "BoxTops For Education" on them. (Our homeschool group collects them.) Maybe he'll start looking for Coke bottles, too. :-)

Lauren Wayne said...

I used to do Coke Rewards until I got mad at them. Just a warning: The points expire if you don't use them. So keep on using them while you're enjoying the game. :) We always used ours for free movie passes and loved that.