Rebates. The very word strikes fear in the uninitiated.

"Oh my god, that's that crap where you have to fill out forms and send them in, and then pray they ever even come in and you get your $1 check."

No, no, no, my friends. Rebates can be a very profitable venture!

There are different kinds of rebates. Store specific rebates, such as at Walgreens and Eckerds, is where you buy things that are listed in their monthly catalog, and you send in all the receipts at once, for a full or partial rebate that can be paid in a check or store credit(where you typically get a 10% bonus on your total.)

There are item promotion rebates. These are when the manufacturer wants to draw attention to their product, so they offer a rebate. Sometimes it is for the full amount of the product, but sometimes it is just for a lower, set amount. You might have to buy several of items within their brand to qualify. You might find these offers on or in the package, or it might be a printable form on the company's website, or a form in the Sunday coupon inserts. You send in the form with your receipts, and possibly the bar code from the package.

"Satisifaction or Your Money Back!" Usually with these, you have to buy the item and then send in an explanation of why their product was yucky. I don't feel as comfortable sending these in on a product that I like, since it just doesn't feel like good karma. I prefer the "Try Me Free" type rebates. (but I have been known to do these too.)

The beauty of rebates is that they will often refund the price you paid on the receipt. So, if you used a coupon later down on the receipt, 99% of the time they will not notice/care, and will refund the full amount. This works best if you're buying multiple items, so that it's not super obvious that the coupon was for the rebate item. Although, my very first rebate at Walgreens, it was very obvious that I used coupons (3 items free after rebate, 2 coupons, nothing else on receipt) yet they refunded the full amount!

Also, when a manufacturer has a new item out, they often "overkill" the promotions. They will have coupons in the Sunday paper for the item, rebates at Walgreens/Eckerds, AND rebates directly to the company. Now, with WAG or Eckerds, you have to send the original receipt in, so you can't "double dip" and get the manufacturer rebate unless the manufacturer will accept a copy (Rare.)

BUT! CVS is glorious here. They do not have a rebating program. Instead, they have Extrabucks. EB are little coupons that print out on the end of your receipt. They are good for future purchases. CVS constantly runs "Free After Extrabucks" promotions. You buy the item, pay, and bam, a coupon for the cost of the item prints out. If you used a coupon, it doesn't care. You still get the full amount.

So, what this means is that you get to keep your receipt, and you can send it in for a second rebate. I have personally done this more than once.

My best example ever was when Mylanta Ultimate was new. It was FAEB at CVS, I had a $1 coupon for it, and there was a peelie on the bottle for a manufacturer rebate. It was on sale for $5, so I paid $4, got back a $5 coupon, and still had my receipt to send for a rebate. What made it super sweet was that if CVS doesn't scan your CVS card before ringing up any items, then all the items will show up on your receipt non-sale price. (The amount of the sales is subtracted before the subtotal as a lump sum "Extracare Savings.") This happened on that visit, so that my receipt actually said $7.99 for the Mylanta! I wasn't sure what would happen, but sure enough, 4 weeks later I got a check for $7! (that was the max amount they'd rebate.)

So I paid $4 and got $12 back. (Actually I didn't even pay the $4, as I used Extrabucks from a previous purchase to pay. You can keep that chain rolling and pay very little out of pocket ever. But that's a whole other subject.)

So, what about the gripe that "rebates never come?" Well, I have a solution for that. I have a three ring binder and a printer with a copy function. I photo copy all of my materials before sending them. I hole punch the copy and put it in my binder, with a post-it flag with the name of the offer and the date sent. I start calling and emailing after the max time (usually 8 weeks) is up, if I haven't gotten the rebate. But I very rarely have to call!

I also have a little rule about not sending in rebates for less than $3. That's just the magic number for me of what it's worth for the stamp and my time.

So, almost everyday, I get some check or another in the mail. $3 here, $10 there. I save them up and deposit once a month in the bank. (I am not driving up there every time I get a little check.)

In the past year, I have gotten over $400 in rebates. That's not even counting WAG since I get it loaded to my rechargeable gift card each month (my total is at $490 since last May.)

If you're someone who is afraid of rebates, you might want to reconsider. Just keep your eye out for a "Try Me Free" on a product you'd actually buy anyway, and then send it in. You might just get hooked!