Merchant Cashback Strategies: Lowes: How to Get 20% Off on Everything You Buy

With the advent of spring arriving, we will soon hear once again the roar of lawn mowers in the yard, the quiet digging sounds of new flowers being planted, and the rhythmic spit-spit sounds of sprinklers going off.  With that in mind, I thought that I would focus on Lowes, one of the two big box home improvement stores, and how to save almost 20% on everything you buy there. Impossible you say?  Then read on.

Step 1:  Pick yourself up some 10% off coupons on Ebay.  These are the coupons that are given out by the US Post Office on behalf of Lowes when someone changes their address.  There are folks who make a living collecting and reselling these lovely little goodies.  One can usually pick them up for an average of about $1.20-1.50 per coupon.  I save myself some time by looking for the "Buy Now" offers.  The current batch are good through May 15th, 2011, which should get you through the spring cleaning season. Make sure you get the coupons that are good up to $5000 in purchases, and you can save some serious money.  By the way, Home Depot and Ace often honor these coupons.

Step 2:  Sign up at Mr. Rebates.  I will explain why in a minute.

Step 3:  Get ready to purchase some Lowes gift cards at a discount.  They can be had for 7-8% off face value at Cardpool and Plastic Jungle. I have mentioned these websites many times, but if you haven't signed up yet, do it now.  Just click on the links.  While Visa Freedom card and Discover cards are offering 5% cash back on your purchases at home improvement centers starting April 1st, you can get a jump on them and get 7-8% instead by buying these cards.  If you are very clever, you will go through Mr. Rebates (see Step 2) to purchase your discount gift cards at Cardpool, thus nailing an extra 1%.  And if you have truly been following my advice, you will purchase those gift cards with your cash back credit cards, adding yet another 1-3%.  If you are not planning to buy online, make sure you buy the regular gift cards, NOT the electronic gift cards (which can only be used online).  Ohh, and for those of you who read this far, if you go through Mr. Rebates to purchase your coupons on Ebay in Step #1, you will get an extra 3% back on that purchase as well :)

Step 4:  Once you receive your gift cards, proceed to to the store, with your 10% coupon and gift card in hand, and smile when you get to the checkout counter, knowing you have just saved about 20% on everything you are buying.

There you have it. How to save 20% at Lowes all year long.


BONUS!!  I am trying to build my readership, as this Blog is new.  If you find this information useful, please subscribe to my Blog.  For the first 25 readers who subscribe to Cardpool and Mr. Rebates from this blog, I will send a free 10% off coupon to Lowes for purchases up to $5000.  Just send me a message via my personal Facebook page, so that I know where to send the coupon.