Hey friends!
This is my first time linking up with Cara from
The First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday! I hadn't heard of this before, but basically what you do is link up with an old post you want to look back on. Fun!
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Originally Posted June 1, 2013
If you have read my blog before, you may have noticed that I am ALL about free stuff. If it is free, you can guarantee I will snag it up.
I am sharing 5 easy tips on how to make the most of your Scholastic Book Clubs Orders (and how get lots of free stuff!). There is nothing difficult or crazy on this list. It is really about strategy. Some of these ideas took a while for me to figure out, so I hope that there is at least one thing you didn't know about or haven’t thought of yet.
1. If you haven’t signed up, then you should sign up (of course). The key here is to get someone to refer you. With most referral programs, only the person who does the referring gets rewarded. With Book Clubs, both people get rewarded with 250 bonus points! All you have to do is find someone who orders already, and get their customer number. Viola! 250 bonus points for you both! (If you are a new teacher, be sure to indicate that when you sign up. They send new teachers 10 free book coupons.)
2. Be smart about when you submit your orders. Scholastic has different rewards you can earn at different times of the year. They change them up, but this past year they have made it where you get $10 free to spend instantly for each $20 order you enter. (Sometimes they let you earn $20 for each $20 order.) It is definitely worth it to…
· Wait until you have $20 worth of orders to submit them. I am not saying wait three months for your orders to add up to twenty bucks, but don’t get excited about your first order and submit it right away. Set a due date and wait until it approaches to put in your class order. You know there are always those that wait until the very. last. minute. You don’t want to miss out on free stuff because you didn’t submit your orders the right way.
· Submit each $20 order separately. There is no limit on the amount of orders you can submit. You get $10 (or more) to spend for each $20 order, so why not submit each $20 order separately?
3. Encourage your parents to order online. It is easier for both you and the parents when they do this. There are also benefits for both the teacher and parent. You receive a $3 coupon for each online order and the parent receives a free book coupon to use on their next order. The $3 coupons can be stacked and they sure do add up! When you send your orders home, make sure you include the class code and directions for the parents to order online. If you use the letter to parents that scholastic provides on their website, this information is included already.
4. Take pictures of free book coupons before you send them home. This may seem like an odd tip, but trust me you’ll be glad you did. Sometimes scholastic sends free book coupons for you to send home with your students. Before you send them home, snap a picture of them or write down the code that is on the coupon. Why? Parents do not always take advantage of the coupons. (I will never understand why.) There is also some sort of error in the system when it comes to using these. You are supposed to spend $5 in order to get one free book. However, in my experience, as long as your order equals $5 the system allows you to use as many of these coupons as you want. Even if you don’t have a single student that orders, it is definitely worth it to spend the five bucks so that you can use a ton of book coupons. I have used 15 on a single order before. So snap those pictures!!
5. Refer your friends. Simple as that. You get 250 bonus points for each person you refer. All you have to do is give them your customer number and have them enter it when they sign up. Scholastic also has forms that you can easily print and hand out to your fellow teachers. It is not a hard thing to do, especially when they see all the free stuff you get with these tips!
Below are some of the free things I have gotten from Book Clubs in the past year. I don’t always get a ton of stuff, but sometimes I am very pleased with the loot I get. =) I did not spend a single dollar and received everything pictured for free. Each picture shows one separate order.
I hope this helped give you some new ideas!
Do you have any other tips/tricks you use? I would love to hear them!
