…when we were DINCs (Dual Income, No Children) we used to be a part of the iDine program with American Airlines. When we ate at certain restaurants, we would get AA miles for each dollar spent at the restaurant. We figured there was some slick marketing deal, where our demographics and so forth were shared and exhanged in turn for miles. Giveaways for giveaways.

Then we started looking for a college fund for Sal. Lots of choices out there. The Motley Fool, Yahoo! Finance, and other college saving sites gave good advice with a lot of pitfalls to avoid…yet no clear choice came out of all the research. Then we found out about Upromise. They work with companies to turn your business into cash back rebates that go into a 529 plan. And they host their 529s at Vanguard. My 401k is there too. So, well, we might as well all be in the same boat.

Upromise is pretty far reaching – you can save in a variety of ways:

• Shopping at grocery stores and using their membership cards. You might have already seen Upromise stickers next to some items you’ve already been buying.
• Shopping at some online retailers. They have a pretty long list of online retailers that will give you 1-4% back of your purchase. I’m looking at making an investment at the TireRack – 2% back right there.
• The Citibank Upromise card – 1% of your charges into the college fund. Combine that with the grocery stores or online retailers and you’re double dipping.
• The Rewards Network. They are the same thing as iDine, though it seems that not all iDine participants are Upromise participates. Still, at some restaurants, you’ll get 4-8% back of your total bill. 5-9% back if you’re using the Citibank card.
• Friends and family. Basically – you can get others to sign up for the same program and if they don’t have any kinds (think your other DINC friends) they can choose to put their college savings into your kid’s account. So you can have several people’s dinners or groceries or online shopping or 1% credit card rebates going into your child’s 529 fund. Yup – we’ve hit up the grandparents – they’re they easiest…aunts and uncles are next.

So we’re tucking away a bit of money, just by going through our daily routines. Maybe we’ll choose one restaurant over another if one’s in the Upromise program and the other isn’t. A japanese restaurant in our neighborhood has already donated over 20 bucks to Sal’s fund. And it is great food too.

If you haven’t gotten your 529 plan together yet – definitely give Upromise a long look. Even if you have a 529, they do some sort of linking that might be able to help you out too.