Frugal Friday: My Coke Rewards!

I don't normally do product "reward point" programs, because they take so long to build up enough points to do any good - and you often feel the pressure to buy things you wouldn't ordinarily buy just to get enough points to get the whatever-it-is doodad you're saving up for. So, in general, they're not frugal at all.

But I do like to do the My Coke Rewards program. I started up with it when it first started, because I had also happened to win a TON of free 2-liter bottles in a contest Coke was running in conjunction with the Olympics. So as I bought my free Cokes and we drank them, I put the codes in to the MCR site as well.

Since then, we've rarely bought any Cokes, but I still manage to snag a fair amount of points. My kids and hubby pick them up for me when someone has thrown down a cap in a parking lot, or when they find a clean fridge pack box. DH snags caps at work when he spots an empty bottle in the break room.

It's only a few points at a time, but over the last couple of years, I've ordered: a $25 Sony.com gift certificate (spent it on two movies, one I wanted, one for the kids), a movie for my son for this past Christmas, and just the other day, I ordered a 3 piece set of Farberware skillets! All of this was totally free! (Some items, usually just the Kodak things, do require a shipping charge.)

So while I don't spend money on this program myself, it's definitely paying off. You do have to keep an eye on the prize list, because it changes often, and some things disappear quickly. All in all, it's been worth it to me - it's very easy to do (since it's all online) and doesn't take much time at all. That's frugal to me!

Be sure to visit Crystal's blog for more Frugal Friday goodness!