Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I’m more of an instant gratification shopper. I like to go to a store and come home with my purchases. Waiting for something to be delivered drives me crazy. Days spent looking out the door every time I think I hear a truck.

Alas, I have found something that makes the wait worthwhile.

Enter Ebates!

At first I thought it sounded too good to be true. They’re going to pay me for things I was going to buy anyway? Yeah right, what’s the catch?

But there isn’t a catch. All you have to do is go to the Ebates site first and follow the link to where ever you want to shop. I’ve found that almost all of the places I buy from offer cash back deals and it’s become second nature for me to hit Ebates before I do my shopping.

So how does it work?

Like I said, you go to the Ebates site first and find the store you’re looking for. Once you follow the link you shop like you would normally shop. That’s it, nothing else needed from you. You’re deals will automatically be credited to your account.

You can even download the Ebates Cash Back Button so you never forget to look for a deal. It just sits on your browser and when you visit a site it’ll let you know if there’s a deal and if you need to do anything to get it. No more forgetting to earn your cash back.

Stores offer different percentages of cash back and there are Daily Doubles where they offer double cash back for a limited time. I’ve enjoyed between 1.5% and 20% cash back. Sure, the 1.5% doesn’t sound like a lot it adds up over the course of a few months.

Checks are sent out four times a year as long as you have earned a minimum ten dollars.

Since I started using Ebates last November I’ve earned well over $100. That’s an extra hundred plus dollars for things I was buying anyway. It has given me a nice little treat every now and again.

How can you get started?

All you need to do is sign up and you can start earning money today. You can use the handy little button on the right side of this page too.

It’s a nice way to earn a little money while yo do your holiday shopping!

As it turns out my kids are actually a bit like Bill and I. Even down to the way they spend their money they show traits of their parents.

Both of the boys were given money for Christmas from their Great Grandmothers. Logan likes to call his money “cash”, just thought you should know that.

While I was at work one night Bill had to get out of the house with the boys just for something to do.

Of course their Christmas money was burning a hole in their little pockets and they HAD to find something to buy with it. Cameron and Logan each had a different method of spending their money though. One took the route more like his father while the other was a little more like me.

Logan picked one big toy that cost him all of his Christmas money and then some while Cameron did a little bargain shopping and still has money to spare.

Any guesses at which child was more like which parent? The answer might surprise you.

Over the course of the past few years I’ve become more of the bargain shopper. I’m actually downright cheap! Bill is actually the more likely one to go out and splurge on one big thing.

Of course it wasn’t always that way but the times, they have changed us.

So what did the boys get?

Logan spent all his money and then some on a Thomas and Friends train set. It’s pretty cool with a motorized Thomas and cool mountain drop off. The thing is huge!

The set is about two feet tall and six feet long. It took Bill well over an hour to put it together and about two minutes for Logan to take it apart.

Cameron was able to buy many smaller toys with his loot. He’s been really into Transformers since the beginning of first grade and he’s been quickly amassing quite the collection. He found a combo set at Target that has two different Transformers at one low price. So far he’s bought two of those super value sets and a smaller Transformer. Remember he still has money left too. The kid found a good bargain and ran with it.

They’re really ugly aren’t they? I was not meant to be the mother of boys, I don’t get their toys at all.

When your kids get some cash for their birthday, Christmas or some other “holiday” how do they usually spend it? Do you even let them spend it or do you make them save it away?