Menards Shopping Tips & Tricks To Save Big Money

Menards is a family-owned company that started in 1958 with its headquarters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Menards now has over 300+ home improvement stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Menards’ slogan is “Save BIG Money” which if you live in one of the Midwestern States, I’m sure you’ve heard their advertisements on the radio or television.

Tips To Save Big Money At Menards

I have spent a great deal of time shopping at Menards stores over the years. I’ve learned several tips and tricks to save money and get lots of free items from Menards stores. I shop there so frequently that my iPhone often tells me “7 Minutes to Menards” when I hop in my car!

Rebates

Menards rebates are the biggest way to save money. You can even make money on some items! On Menard’s website, you can see all the current rebates available in their Rebate Center. They have simplified their process by creating a single universal rebate redemption form that works for all your rebates. They used to have a form for each one. But now you only need to send in one form now with all of your rebate receipts.

Your rebate receipt(s) will print at the bottom of your main receipt that you cut off to send in with your rebate form. Keep your original receipt though (more on this later). If you ordered online from the Menards website, your original receipt and your rebate receipt will be emailed to you for you to print and redeem.

If you grabbed your rebate from the store, you can use an address label instead of filling handwriting out the rebate form. Or if you are printing out the form, you can type in your name and address before printing it so your information is already filled out when printing.

You will then send in your form and rebate receipts to (you can even use some free printable Menards address labels):

Rebate Offer
PO Box 155
Elk Mound WI  54739-0155

Menards claims you will receive your rebate in six to eight weeks, although I think it tends to take a tad longer. You can track the status of your Menards rebates with Rebates International. Your rebate will be not a check that you can cash but will be a Menards Merchandise Credit check. The check will arrive with the dollar amount sealed and is about the size of the postcard. The return address will be PO Box 99, Elk Mound, WI 54739-0099. Merchandise credit can be used for anything that Menards sells in-store. Merchandise credit checks are not currently available to be used online. You will also not have to pay sales tax on anything you purchase with a merchandise credit check as it takes off the price of the products purchased.

11% Menards Rebate

The 11% off rebate used to be the best rebate that Menards offered since it is valid on absolutely everything that Menards sells. Unfortunately during the beginning of the pandemic, that is the only rebate that Menards offered. This made it hard to “rinse and repeat” with no free after rebate items. It is still the best rebate if you are planning to make a major purchase.

11% Price Adjustment Rebate

Remember earlier, I told you to save the top of your receipts? Well, this is why! If you purchased something at Menards during the week or two prior to the 11% off rebate sale, you can ask for a price adjustment rebate form. They do not put these rebates forms out with the other rebate forms. So you will need to ask for them at the Menards service counter. This rebate is not available on the Menards website either. But if there is currently one available, we will have a copy of it for you to print and use below.

PRINTABLE REBATE

 

This rebate has a different mail-in address (PO Box 83, Elk Mound, WI 54739-0083) from the universal form. So you’ll need to mail it in separately from your other mail-in rebate offers. You will send in your original receipts that are dated within the last two weeks before the 11% rebate sale began. For online orders (verified 2/24/24), use the email confirmation email as the receipt for your purchase(s).

This is another way to “make money” if you are sending in receipts from items that were free after rebate.

Menards BIG Card 2% Rebate

If you have a Menards BIG Card (it’s free to apply), you’ll receive a 2% rebate (in addition to other rebates) on all Menards purchases. They also offer special financing offers on purchases over $299, but you do not get the 2% rebate. I personally use my Menards BIG Card for all Menards purchases (if I don’t have any Menards merchandise credit to use), but I always pay off the card every month. If you don’t, the variable standard interest rate starts at 27.99% which is pretty high in my opinion.

You can also use your Menards BIG Card on gas and merchandise at Speedway, Holiday, Kwik Trip, or Kwik Star. You’ll earn a 1% rebate on those purchases.

Big Card New for 2022

You can now get an additional 1-2% rebate on participating brands when you use your Menards BIG card. Some of those brands include:

• 409
• Air Wick
• Ajax
• Always
• Bar Keepers Friend
• Bounce
• Cascade
• Clorox
• Cottonelle
• Crest
• Glade
• Gillette
• Head & Shoulders
• Herbal Essences
• Irish Spring
• Kleenex
• Old Spice
• Scott
• Tide

Menards Rebate FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about Menards rebates.

1. How Long Are Menards Rebates Good For?

Menards merchandise credit checks do not have an expiration date therefore Menards rebates do not expire. The date on the Menards check is the date that the rebate was issued and not an expiration date.

2. Can You Submit Menards Rebates Online?

Unfortunately, no you cannot submit your Menards rebates online at this time. Your rebate must be mailed in. It would be nice if we someday could submit rebates online to Menards to save a stamp (and an envelope and address label and remembering to take it to the post office). It would also be nice to have the rebate then be loaded on a Menards gift card (like Walgreens used to do) or your Menards BIG card or even your Menards account and redeem by phone number (like Walgreens does now).

My main objective at Menards is “rinse and repeat” or “recycle and reuse” my Menards credit. I use my Menards merchandise credit checks to buy more rebate items. If I can’t use the free-after-rebate (FAR) item, I resell those items at my $5 sale events. Roll that rebate, baby roll! Click here for a printable list of all current Free After Rebate items at Menards.

3. Can You Use Your Menards Rebates Online?

Unfortunately, this is another no. You cannot use Menards merchandise credit checks on online Menards orders on the Menards website to buy products online from Menards. You can only use Menards rebates on products in physical stores. If you want to redeem your Menards rebates on something available only online, you will need to go your local store and have them order, give you a purchase ticket for your order, and take that purchase order to the cashier to pay for it with your Menards rebates.

Right now, Menards is offering several “make money” items on hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes. If you don’t need these products, you can still make $1 per item by buying them, sending in the rebate, and then donating them to a charity in need. The charity may even give you a tax write-off form for donating = bonus!

Join our Menards Facebook Group so you are the first to know of new free-after-rebate items!

Buy Now Pay Later At Menards

As mentioned above, Menards offers a Menards BIG Card store card powered by CapitalOne so you can buy now and pay later for those large purchases. They do offer special no-interest financing options if you forego the 2% everyday rebate. I pay off my card every month, so I choose the 2% rebate, but if you cannot pay off the monthly bill, you may want to take advantage of the no-interest up to 6 or 12 months or the low-interest option up to 48 months, because if you don’t, the APR is 27.99% interest. 

Menards Payment Options

Besides the Menards Big Card, Menards also accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express, cold hard cash, money orders and checks (yes, checks) in addition to rebates, credit checks and gift cards for payment. 

Crazy Days

“Crazy Days” is the main Menards calls their biggest sale of the season and ranges from 3 days to a week or two. This is when Menards advertises the most “free after rebate” items. Most items will have a limit.

15% off Bag Sale

Menards will take off everything you can fit inside of a brown paper bag. They will have bags for you to use near the entrance of the store. The discount applies to regular, sale, and clearance prices. There is a limit of one per customer/household per purchase per visit, but that doesn’t mean you can make multiple visits to different stores!

The Menards 15% off Bag Sale is my favorite Menards sale. Why? Because the 15% off is instant, there’s no waiting for a rebate. Plus you can combine them with rebate items if they fit inside of the bag. Therefore, you’re making 15% on any free after rebate items!

Price Adjustments

If something you purchased from Menards goes on sale within 14 days after you bought it, you can take in your receipt to get the amount of the difference back as in-store credit. If the item would have been less expensive with a rebate, you can take in your receipt to “return and rebuy” the item so a new receipt will print to mail in. You don’t actually have to bring in the item you are returning and rebuying. I actually returned and rebought a bathtub by just bringing in the receipt. I had bought the bathtub on sale, but I’d pay less in the long run by paying full price and submitting the 11% off rebate.

Menards Coupons

Menards accepts the following three types of coupons:

1. Manufacturer Coupons – These coupons must have a scannable barcode and have the words “manufacturer coupon” printed on it. Expired coupons will not be accepted.
2. Competitor Coupons – These must have an expiration date and be presented within valid dates.
3. Print-At-Home Internet Coupons – These coupons must be legible, have a scannable barcode, and have the words “manufacturer coupon” printed on it.

Manufacturer and internet coupons are stackable with rebates and sale items. Competitor coupons are not. There is no limit on the number of coupons per transaction, but they only allow one coupon per item. Therefore, you cannot combine a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon. If you have a Menards BIG Card, sometimes your monthly statement will include a “Clip & Save Offers” booklet with coupons for a discount on specific items. Be sure to look through these booklets every month as sometimes they will slip a total freebie in there! Also, if the coupon has a limit of two, you get two totally free items. You don’t even have to pay sales tax on those items.

Click here for our weekly Menards coupon matchup deals. 

Menards BIG Card holders will also receive a birthday card during their birthday month for a free product that Menards sells. The free product coupons in the past have been for screwdrivers, travel mugs, magnifying glasses, and scissors. The value of the free birthday item is usually around $9.99.

Clearance

Instore Clearance

Menards does not have one dedicated clearance section. They have clearance items scattered throughout the store. Look for the red clearance tags. If you can find a clearance item that also has a rebate, there is usually no limit. Hint: these are the main things I buy to “rinse and repeat”. The main places to find clearance items inside of a Menards store are:

• The first shelves you see upon entering next to the weekly advertisement flyer stand
• The end caps of the shelving units that are not facing the main aisle
• The very back wall of the store usually contains big items on clearance such as cabinets and dinged or dented appliances
• Upstairs (not all Menards allow guests to go upstairs)
• In the paint department, you can find mistint paint for only $9 per gallon (up until recently, it was only $5 per gallon). These mistinted paint could be returns from a customer who bought too much or the paint department may have accidentally mixed up the wrong color. Most of the rooms in my house are mistint paint colors!

Online Clearance

On the Menards website, click on Ray’s List Clearance and Bargains. This is will show you limited-time offers, closeouts, open boxes, and clearance items that are available at your local stores. These products are usually unclaimed special orders, store display models or they may be slightly dinged or dented. Chances are you’ve already seen these items at the store if you read how to find in-store clearance. And more often than not, you can not order these items online anyway.

5% Tax Refund Bonus

Update: Menards has discontinued the tax refund bonus. 

If you are lucky enough to not have to pay into Uncle Sam, Menards stores offer a 5% bonus on your state &/or federal tax refund when you exchange your refund for a Menards Merchandise Credit Check. You can convert all of your tax refund check or just a portion of it. The Menards Merchandise Credit Check can then be used at any Menards store. And it never expires. If you planning on making a large purchase at Menards or you shop at Menards regularly, this is an easy way to earn some extra moolah to spend at Menards.

This tax refund bonus offer is valid all year long. So if you got your refund in March, you can still take advantage of this offer in December of the same year! Here’s how:

1. Bring in your refund check or a copy of your bank statement that shows your state &/or federal tax refund was electronically deposited into your account.
2. Exchange that amount (or an amount less than the full amount) for Menards Merchandise Credit Check. If you are afraid of losing one big check, you can ask them to divide the amount up into smaller amounts.
3. Your Menards Merchandise Credit Check will be for 5% more than your refund!

Menards Cash Back

If you are a reseller or savvy shopper, you most likely try to earn cashback on your online purchases through places like Rakuten or  BeFrugal. Unfortunately, Menards does not have an affiliate program that offers websites commissions on purchases. Those commissions are what funds cashback sites.

Join our Menards Facebook Group for more tips and tricks on how to save big money at Menards!

Are we missing any Menards tips? If so, please contact us to share.