Review & Giveaway: Four $50 Smarty Pig Savings Certificates

I want to share with you some crazy numbers that just arrived on our Best Buy bill statement.  Since we are a frugal blog I feel like I need to explain myself first.  My husband and I do occasionally use credit cards however we rarely pay interest or any fees.  We pay off our balances in full before they accrue.  In the case of our Best Buy bill, we have made several purchases with promotions such as 3 years, no interest.  Now for the scary part.  We owe around $3200.  Our minimum payment each month is $32.  If we pay only the minimum payment each month and make no additional purchases, it will take us 28 years to pay off the balance and we will end up paying $15,350 total with interest!  Crazy, huh?

With SmartyPig we can put this sort of scenario in reverse:

Set up a savings goal and contribute to your SmartyPig account on a regular basis, say, once a month.  EARN, rather than PAY interest on your money (currently APR 2.00% / APY 2.01%).  Once you’ve reached your goal, you can get a cash boost of up to 12% when you cash in on a retailer gift card such as Best Buy, Amazon, Travelocity and more (or just withdrawal your cash + interest)

1. Set up a Savings Goal:  In our case, a movie projection screen $250 (yes, my hubby is obsessed with electronics etc.)
2. Plan your contributions:  You can choose to contribute automatically from your checking or savings account once a month, twice monthly, every 14 days or none.  If you choose none, you can make deposits to your goal manually when you have the extra cash or when you receive a SmartyPig gift card.
3. Share your Goal: You can share your goal with friends and family via Facebook, Twitter or with a widget you can embed on your blog.  This is a great way to share your progress and achievements.  It’s also perfect for many different situations.  Maybe you have a 12 year old who wants to start saving for a car already.  They can share their goal with family members who can then make contributions as gifts for birthdays, good grades and more to help them reach their goal.
4. Reach Your Goal: Once you’ve reached your goal, you have three unique redemption options. You may put all of your savings plus interest on the flexible SmartyPig MasterCard® debit card, have it sent back to your bank, or receive up to a 12% cash boost on your savings by placing it on a retail card like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Travelocity or Macy’s. You can even split your savings among the three as you see fit.  In our case, the item we want is cheapest on Amazon and we can get a 4% cash boost with the retail card option.

Setting up your savings goals and contributions is quite easy. The site is simple to use and walks you through each step. It feels good to see your goals being met and it’s good encouragement to keep plugging away. We are already at 28% of our goal!

SmartyPig is awesome for all sorts of savings goals from short term, small goals to larger goals such as a family vacation, wedding & honeymoon, a new car or even a home!  It’s also a great way to teach your kids about money and saving.  Find out all about SmartyPig and the way they can help make your goals a reality.

SmartyPig is generously giving FOUR of our readers a $50 SmartyPig giftcard to start their savings goal!  Find out how to enter below.  Also, be sure to check out all of our other giveaways here.

A complimentary product/service was provided for this review however all opinions expressed are our own. We were not compensated in any other way for this review. See Mommies with Cents disclosure policy for more details.