Menards 411

MENARDS has a good rebate program that I've been using for years and has helped us when we re-finished our basement to get most of our supplies for free or super cheap.

Here is a very simple step by step on how to do it that I wrote.

Every week in their sale flier, there are items available for great prices after sending in a rebate. Many are free after rebate (FAR), but they have a clause that you must spend $10 in non-rebate items to qualify for the free rebates. This clause does not affect items that are not FAR. Your rebate is only available in the form of a Menards "rebate check", meaning you use it just as you would a gift card.

So, you go choose your items, and the first time you shop, you will pay full price Out of Pocket (OOP). Your receipt will have rebate receipts attached, and each will have a rebate number on it. Near the exit door, a counter has all the rebate forms in numerical order. Choose the ones you need. At home, fill out your forms (I use address labels so it takes one second each), address your envelope, put in the forms and rebate receipt and you are done. I don't even have to cut out UPC's. In about three weeks, your rebate "checks" should start coming in the mail.

The next time you shop, use the checks instead of cash, and depending on how much you spend, you can greatly reduce the chance of ever having to spend money OOP there again. If you do have to spend $10 to qualify for a free rebate item, this can also come from your checks.

Too Much Work? Consider this:

10/11/09
I've had a good amount of Menards money on a gift certificate for a couple of weeks now and have been waiting for some good freebies to use it on. Yesterday Hubs needed to grab some stuff for work so I sent him with a list! Although he forgot the batteries look at all the goodies we got:
2 x laundry detergent
2 x saver bags I needed
4 x paint brushes to donate
Total after rebates? $1.98 plus a little tax.

For those of you who've never done Menards rebates before I decided to time how long it took me to do them today! It took me two minutes to write them, grab the envelope and address labels. Then it took me two minutes to copy them and while doing so I managed to change the laundry over. So, 4 minutes to do it to get $37 worth of things for under $2. Pretty good deal me thinks!

Points to Remember
1) Even if you have 10 rebates to send in you don't need 10 envelopes.  Put them all in the same one and label it "Rebates" at the address they give.  Save yourself some time and some stamps.

2) You don't have to spend $10 for each FREE after rebate item.  Items that aren;t free after rebate require no additional purhcase and items that are require only 1 $10 purchase.  This can be a $10 gift card to Menards.

3) If you're like me the first time you spend money OOP, the next time you can simply use your rebate money that you got back and keep rolling it.

4) Menards doesn't take food stamps.