the easiest way to save for your kids' college education

Thank you Upromise for sponsoring this post. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Upromise, all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I think I’ve literally found the absolute easiest way to save for your kids’ college education.

I know, I know. It’s super hard and crazy scary to think about your babies heading off to the wilds of college, right? You’re still strapping kids into booster seats or tying shoes? Still cutting food and arranging playdates?

Me too.

But the crazy thing is that you can actually save for college without even thinking about it.

You can actually save while you’re shopping.

You can save while you’re eating.

You can save while you’re vacationing.

If you’re anything like we are, you’re a bit behind the savings game. Maybe you have a bit in savings–or maybe you have less than a bit. It doesn’t matter.

Friends, you must start now.

And if you set aside a few minutes this weekend to get yourself registered, you can start saving for college–and you can have your friends and family members start saving for your kids’ college–without batting an eye.

It’s so easy.

And busy parents need easy. Believe me. I get it.

Here’s the skinny. . .

The Easiest Way to Start Saving for Your Kids’ College Education:

The program I’m talking about is one that allows you to use the money you spend today to save for college in the future.

Or to pay for college now.

Or to repay student loans.

It’s Upromise by Sallie Mae.

And it was created to help busy families like mine save for college in the easiest way possible.

First, you need to sign up for Upromise:

Join for free.
For a limited time, earn $50 when you apply for the Upromise MasterCard through this link. (Using this card can double cash back–up to 10%–when you shop through Upromise.)
Then you can instantly connect your current bank cards for further savings.
Start shopping.
Invite friends.

Take a quick look:

Here’s how much I could save just by doing the things I’d normally do:

I’m going to show you how I can get cash back for tax preparation, buying workout clothes, re-doing a tween’s bedroom, grocery shopping, eating dinner out, and traveling.

Tax preparation:

I could shop via Upromise and use H&R Block for my tax preparation.
I could earn 10% cash back just by paying via my Upromise, and I could earn an additional 5% back if I used my Upromise MasterCard. That’s 15% back.
AND I could earn an additional cash back if I put some of my Federal refund towards gift cards for retailers like Kohl’s and many other participating stores.
That means: I would pay $74.48 for H&R Block Premium Federal and State Online Filing, and I would earn $11.17 cash back for using my Upromise MasterCard. If I chose to put $200 of my refund towards a giftcard from GiftCertificates.com, H&R Block would give me 10% on top of that, making my gift card total $220. Awesome.

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Buying workout clothes:

I could shop via Upromise and check out Under Armour for some great deals on workout clothes.
I could earn cash back just by paying via Upromise, and I could earn an additional 5% back if I used my Upromise MasterCard. That’s 15% that goes toward saving for college.
That means: If I bought two Under Armour sweatshirts and a t-shirt from the outlet sale, totaling $145.19, I could earn $14.51 (10% cash back) or $21.77 (15% cash back for using the Upromise MasterCard) for college savings. Easy.

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Tween room re-do:

Re-doing bedrooms is a natural next step for all families to move from little kid to bigger kid bedrooms. If we shopped at Walmart via Upromise, we could save big for college–doing something that we’d normally do anyway.
I could earn 5% cash back by paying via Upromise, and I could earn an additional 5% if I used my Upromise MasterCard. Woah. Up to 10% back sounds good to me.
That means: If we bought a full/twin bunk bed; a full mattress; a twin mattress; full and twin sheet sets; four pillows and then four decorative pillows; and a small area rug from Walmart, the total would be $815.42 (with free shipping — yay!). I would earn $40.77 (5% cash back) or $81.54 (10% cash back with my Upromise MasterCard) for college savings just by taking this super-simple extra step of purchasing through Upromise.

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Grocery shopping:

We all need to grocery shop. So why not make it count double–feed your family and save for the future?
Go to the Grocery Coupons on the main page of Upromise site. Simply enter your zip code and then ‘see stores’, and all of your participating stores will appear.
I could earn up to $76 in college savings for activating these coupons directly to my shopper card and scanning it at the store.
That means: If I connected all of my local grocery shopper cards to my Upromise account (which takes only a few minutes), I could earn big for college. $76 toward college savings while buying groceries I’d normally buy anyway? Incredible!

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Dinner out:

My family loves, loves, loves dining out. It’s always been a real treat for us to celebrate an accomplishment, milestone, or event with a dinner out on the town. Now that we’re big into Upromise, we can do these things and still earn money for college.
Upromise has over 10,000 partner restaurants (wow!) where dining out means two things: time with friends and family and thinking ahead for the future.
That means: If we utilized one of Upromise’s dining out deals and spent $150.00 for dinner and drinks for five people, and we used a registered card to pay for the meal, we would earn $7.50 towards college savings. I love this.

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Travel and Vacation:

You guys. You can go on vacation and still earn money for college.
Simply click on ‘travel‘ on the left sidebar of Upromise site.
The cash back potential ranges from 4% – 10%, and really depends on the merchant.
That means: If a person booked a Disney cruise on the Disney Dream for the family and the total was $3734.08 for four, with a cash back rate of 4%, that family could not only go on a vacation, but they’d earn $149.36 for college. Crazy.

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Really, the savings amaze me, and I’m only scratching the surface here.

To get more information and the full list of retailers, you definitely want to check the Upromise site.

I’m so excited about this, and I’m betting that after you get rolling–and check your Upromise account to see what you’ve earned in so little time–you will be, too.

And right now, when you invite friends and family to join Upromise, you can both earn $20!

For real.

Click this link and you can invite friends and family to join Upromise. They’ll be glad you did, and you’ll be glad you did!

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Have any questions or experience with Upromise? I’d love to hear what you think!

fyi: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. This small percentage of money helps offset the costs of hosting this blog, which helps me keep this content free for you. Forever and always I recommend only products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” For more information, please see teachmama media, llc. disclosure policy.