Exercising a New Spending Scheme With An SM Advantage Card

I was totally amazed at a good deal that I got so I think it is just worth sharing with everyone. I am writing about this not as a sort of “confessions of a shopaholic” but just to tell you on how I put frugality to the next level. A frugal shopaholic…. I guess so. \(^o^)/



Okay, here is the deal… I first got hold of an SM advantage card years ago when I got it for one hundred pesos during the initial offering. An SM advantage card is a privilege card for loyal SM shoppers wherein one can get freebies and discounts. You can also get points for shopping at their stores and use those points to pay for the items that you like. At first I thought that it was just some promotional offer thus I just tossed it inside my cardholder at home. Whenever I shop at SM, the cashier would always ask if I have an SM advantage card for even the small priced items for which I would only say that I left it at home. By the time I realized that I was wasting a good chance at redeeming those points that I should have accumulated over the years, my card was already expired. Since I frequently buy at SM for almost anything I need for myself, for my family and everything else and SM is the most convenient and accessible place to shop for working mothers like me as I can still catch up for some last minute grocery shopping after office hours, or when my kids need something urgent for school that they have to bring the following day thus I decided to renew my card for another one hundred bucks and award myself later on with some "loyalty" purchase.

Just recently, as I wanted to get containers for my plants (like what I wrote in my Trash to Cash and Some TLC for the Garden post), I decided to get these lovely ceramic vases at a discounted price. I asked the cashier if I have enough points to pay for the vases and I was lucky that I already accumulated enough to pay for those items with my SM advantage points. It could be a small and cheap item but you cannot get it for free elsewhere. As a blogger friend puts it, “every peso counts” thus I needed to make the most of my spending. In fact, I already redeemed enough items to cover the two hundred pesos that I spent for the membership fee. From prodigal to frugal, it is just worth making that change, a frugal shopaholic…maybe not, I am just one loyal shopper. Now see those plants in my "loyalty" vases, one of my simple pleasures in life.



Maybe you also have a privilege or loyalty card that is just lying around inside your drawer, make them work to your advantage. =)