The Dish Network Budget-Saver Secret!

As of this morning, I am now "making" $10.01 on my Dish Network account every month! Here's why:

God is taking us into a season of cleaning, clearing out, re-organizing, and re-focusing our hearts, minds, house, and family. It's funny how, as a community, we are so desensetized to things that go on the world. There are cartoons on Nickelodeon now that NEVER would have been allowed to air when I was growing up. They just weren't right. We live in a society that plasters sex, adultery, lust, and greed all over the place. Sixty years ago, it would have been considered a "sin" to even THINK about watching/participating in any of it, yet today it's "normal" for a 12 year old to watch (and enjoy?!) a Victoria's Secret commercial or fashion show. Something is backwards here...

It does take some sacrifice on your part as far as how many tv channels you get (if you want a credit on your bill each month), but for us, it's worth every penny we (don't) spend! There's a few steps to it and more info along the way, so bear with me and read till the end!

1) If you already have Dish Network, you're halfway there! If not, I suggest you get it--ASAP! And, do yourself a favor by using a coupon code from here: RetailMeNot

Let me start with the referral program and then I'll go into how it all fits together. I'm going to preface this by saying, I'm not referring you and get NO credit if you sign up! My credits are already used so I'm good! It's NOT MLM and it's directly thru the Dish Network website (click on terms and conditions to read the fine print...). Most people don't even know this whole thing exists! It's glorious! Here's the secret for those of you who don't care about the fine print:

Dish Network gives a $50 credit for UP TO 5 people you refer every year. That means $250 in your pocket each year for 10 minutes of your time! If you were to figure that hourly... well, it would be more than the president makes (maybe). WORTH IT!

There's a little coupon site called RetailMeNot. It's fantastic and FULL of codes for retailers--both online and printable to use in stores. They don't have grocery coupons, but if you're about to spend half your life savings on a cute shirt from Nordstroms, chances are, they'll have a coupon code to help with that. :) This is the site you're going to use to get your coupons out there! They have the option of sharing your coupons so others can use them. **From this point forward, RetailMeNot will be known as RMN so I don't have to type it out... ;)

2) Here's the steps to MONEY!: (it looks a little overwhelming, but it really isn't!)

So, once you have Dish Network, sign into your online account and find the link that says "Refer My Friend" (about 3/4 the way down on the left menu you can see below).

Click on that link, which takes you to this page:

I couldn't screenshot the rest of the page because it show's my address, but you have 2 options of getting your referral codes: You can enter emails of friends who want to sign up or you can have them sent by mail. Unless you're going to call your great aunt to see if she's ready to accept the "times" and get cable, skip the first option. Select to get them by mail. You can get TWO per day and you'll need FIVE total so you need to request for 3 days to get enough. You do NOT have to wait for them to come in the mail to enter them on RMN though!

Once you're done requesting them, you can post them on RMN ASAP! Click on the "My Referrals" link on the left menu. This screen will come up:

You'll get a list of allllll the coupon codes you've requested and/or they've sent (they'll occasionally just send them to you, as you can tell... I usually just throw them away as long as I have my 5 people. ;)). The first number (which stars with a "D") is your coupon code. Take that number and head over to RMN!

**If you don't have an RMN account yet, you might want to... You don't HAVE to, but it makes it easier to see what coupons you've posted, what ones need to be deleted, etc... I've had an account for over a year and haven't received even ONE iota of spam from them. Acutally, I don't even think I've ever received an email from them--period!

Once you're at RMN, you'll see a yellow box on the top right corner of your screen that says "Share the Love". Click it.

It'll take you to this screen:

This is where the magic happens my friends! This is MONEY! 

I'll walk you thru each line:

STORE:

TYPE:

 

CODE: (Enter YOUR code that starts with a "D" in your "My Referrals" tab)

DISCOUNT:

 

There's a little info you need to add to the DISCOUNT part... I'll type it out for you. Feel free to copy and paste this and/or make it your own! BUT, you need to make it seem like your link is the best one to pick! (NOTE: Lots of asterisks and CAPS don't help--at least not when I'm look for a coupon anyways...) Dish Network offers a SLEW of benefits when you use one of these coupon codes, so why not tell them what they get by using YOUR code?! Here's what I use:

"SPECIAL: Save up to $250 with these codes! $50 credit on 1st bill, $15/mo service credit, FREE Cinemax, Starz, and HBO for life! FREE HD DVR Upgrade, FREE Blockbuster Rentals, FREE Installation, FREE HD for life, and FREE Dish Platinum! MUST submit offer code: 01DIRCD and Coupon Code: {enter the coupon code that you're working on and typed in to the "CODE" line a few steps ago...}." 

***Do NOT forget to change the coupon code at the end of the little paragraph! You'll confuse someone who then won't do it right at checkout, which means you don't get the credit for it and you can't re-enter these codes once you've entered them once. They're all one-time-use codes and RMN knows that... I may or may not have learned that from experience. ;)

Dish Network have a variety of packages (with a billion add-on's...) that range from $14.99/mo--$100+/mo. We have been on the America's Top 120 plan since we got Dish. It worked great for the first year because there's a credit for the first 12 months (that's how they rope you in!). While we weren't getting it for "free", we were paying between $7-$12/mo for it. Not bad AT ALL. We were at a different point in our lives so having 120+ channel's was normal, and we felt, necessary. Now? Our 1st year credit ran out and we're not loving tv period so it's time for a change. So, we downgraded. I researched online about the different package channel line ups (we LOVE Food Network, History Channel, and Boomerang!) and found that the Welcome Package had all 3 of those (plus 37 more channels...) and included local channels as well (because life wouldn't be worth living if I couldn't watch Biggest Loser, Glee, or The Office...). It is $14.99/mo! Done and done. Remember, I have my credits maxed out so I automatically have $25 credit each month applied to my bill!

So, I called and spoke to Ethan in customer service and said I wanted to downgrade. He said "okay, so, we're taking away America's Top 120 and adding on the Welcome Package. Your new monthly cost will be... Oh, uh, it looks like because of your credits you'll actually have a $10.01 credit every month on your account. I've never seen that happen before! And, that includes a DVR and HD for life! {among other extras like the free movie channels they keep giving us...}WHOA!" You know it's good when you can surprise the guy that WORKS for Dish! :)

Hope this helps some of you become more budget-concious! If you have any questions/problems, post a comment below! :)