Kim, Lucas and I had a great time spending our $25  Amex Small Business Saturday credits.
We pretty much made a full day out of it- using our first credit for lunch and last towards dinner.

Last year we used all seven of our cards in one store for one big purchase. This time around we wanted to spread the wealth to a bunch of small businesses around Brooklyn. This year we had eight cards to use. We had seven credit cards and one FedEx pre- paid card that I had won through a Facebook giveaway. (Check out my post about SBS HERE)

We spent our credits at five small businesses. This is what we bought:

1. Lunch at Cafe Steinhof– $30- we used one card so our cost was $5
2. Tiny TOMS Botas shoes for Lucas- $36 is a bit much for infant shoes but with the help of one Amex card the shoes were well worth the $11 it cost us out of pocket!
3. 7 A.M. Enfant Pookie Poncho Light– $108 with tax- Lucas is always out and about with us & with the weather getting cold in NY we need something to keep him warm in the carrier and stroller. Kim and I came across this versatile product about a month back and wanted to wait to buy it with our SBS credits. I used two of my Amex cards so our cost was $58.
4. Kim’s belated birthday present- Earrings- Price: undisclosed! It worked out well waiting to buy the earrings. The shop was running a 10% off sale for SBS plus I used two of my credit cards and my FedEx pre-paid card. I got a savings of $75 + 10% off!
5. Dinner at Franny’s– $42- Pizza is probably my favorite food and since I didn’t get anything today, I got to choose dinner at one of my favorite spots in Brooklyn. Franny’s is an environmentally responsible business and makes amazing pizzas. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the Brooklyn area. Kim used her second card so dinner cost us $17.

Franny’s Pizza with Sausage

Today is one of my favorite days of the year- American Express Small Business Saturday!

American Express created Small Business Saturday in 2010 to “help businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year”.
To help with this, Amex is offering card members a $25 statement credit for enrolling their card and spending $25 or more in a single- in store transaction at a small business.

Last year Kim and I combined, used seven Amex cards on SBS. Originally we planned to use them at various stores and restaurants to buy $25 gift cards. However, we thought it over and came up with a plan to use our statement credits to buy one, big item.

Stock photo of our Cybex Aton

There was a very nice (but pricey) car seat that Kim and I wanted to buy in preparation for the arrival of Lucas. We found a store willing to help us out in a couple of ways. They allowed us to price-match the car seat to a lower price and let us pay for the purchase with our stack of American Express cards.

This allowed us to buy a $200 car seat for $25. Due to how nice they were at the store we actually ended up buying a few more items. We purchased $300 in goods which cost us $125 out of pocket. This shows how Small Business Saturday really does work. We could’ve ordered these items online but thanks to American Express we saved a lot of money and a small business made a pretty large sale!
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Once again, Kim and I have seven Amex cards to use on SBS. All types of American Express cards quality for this promo.

The cards we have are:

Michael’s Cards:

1. Gold Card
2. Gold Business Card
3. Delta SkyMiles Card
4. & 5. Citi American Airlines Cards

Kim’s Cards:

1. Blue Card
2. Citi AA Card

This year we have an eighth card to use. However, it is not a credit card.
FedEx is a sponsor of Small Business Saturday and for the second year in a row gave away 40,000- $25 gift cards ($1 million). I was lucky enough to win one of these cards!
The giveaway was done through Facebook (you can read more about it here).

Thank You FedEx!

Kim and I haven’t decided on what we will use our free $200 on just yet, but we have some ideas. We are planning to spread the money around this year. We might try to use 4 cards in one store on something we need for Lucas. Another credit might go towards lunch and the rest we’ll figure out during the day.

We will be sure to have a fun day shopping thanks to American Express!