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As long as the office supply stores keep giving away free money, I will share the news here! And until someone gives me a better one, I will continue to use the Mad Lib construct to announce them.

Solve the Mad Lib

Save _____ (amount) when you buy _______ (purchase amount) in _______ (type) Gift Cards at _______. Refund will be given in ___________

This time, the Mad Lib answers are:

1) $20

2) $300

3) Visa

4) Staples

5) Visa gift card

In case you didn’t follow along, if you buy $300 in Visa gift cards this week at Staples, you’ll get a $20 prepaid Visa gift card, by Easy Rebate (limit 1 per household). Here’s the weekly ad (it’s on page 10).

staples-free-money-5-15-2015

Making the most of the Staples free money deal

Because you get your gift card by mail via Easy Rebate, it’s not a super attractive deal, as there is no way to scale it.  But it’s still worth doing once, if you’re not worn out from the instant rebate version at Office Max / Office Depot from a few weeks ago!

Definitely I would recommend using a Chase Ink or other card that gives 5x points on office supply stores. I love the Chase Inks for exactly this reason, and it’s one of the reasons that I think Chase Ultimate Rewards are the best deals out there!

I would also recommend 2 $200 cards (if they have them) – the activation fee is $1 more than the $100 cards, but IMO that is worth the 500 extra points you’d get.

I never know what to do when I show up at the store and Staples is (inevitably) out of the $200 Visa gift cards. Do I just buy the $100 cards, even though the deal isn’t as lucrative, or do I try stopping back later at another store. I even wrote a poll about this (how much your time is worth) awhile back, and the consensus seemed to be to just buy the $100 cards in the store that you’re in, and not go back.

Doing the math

If you find and buy 2 $200 Visa card,s you’ll spend $413.90, but then receive:

Definitely worth a stop to Staples this week!!


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