I have yet to meet anyone who didn't care about saving money. Even the wealthiest people I know have used a coupon or two. Growing up in a household with 7 brothers and sisters, my parents clipped coupons all the time. And we only purchased what was on sale It was a way of life...a lifestyle if you will. I've carried it through with my family. My kids know what foods to ask me to buy based on the yellow sticker above the pricetag indicating a sale price. You can only imagine my heart skip a beat when my one 11 year old daughter told my 13 year old daughter "Don't ask mom for that, it's too much money, and it's not on sale!!!" Ahhhh, they're learning well! lol! Seriously, though, saving money isn't that difficult and you might even be surprised at the sneaky little ways you can do so.... Here are some of my fave tips!
JOIN THE CLUB!
Almost all stores have bonus points/coupons/dollars if you join their loyalty club. And you can be loyal to all of them when it comes to saving. In our state of Tennessee, we not only save money at the grocery store on various food items, but all of our purchases count toward gas points. Every 100 dollars you spend you get 10 cents off of gas. With a family of 8 by the end of the month, I've pumped gas sometimes for pennies!
COUPON CODES
Before buying anything online type in the store you're purchasing from along with the words COUPON CODE. You may be surprised and what comes up. There are some websites like Retailmenot where you can go to and type in your store and they''ll organize all the coupon codes available for that store. I never make an online purchase without checking first which coupon codes are available. Sometimes it's for free shipping too.
USE COUPONS EVERYWHERE, EVEN AT STORES OF COMPETITIVE NATURE!
I am headed to Michaels today. They sent me a coupon for 25% of my entire purchase including sale items. I love when those coupons come out! (By the way, I also joined their Michael's rewards club and receive mailers offering even higher discounts at various times). Anyway I'm planning out my Michael's trip today and I received a coupon via email for Joann's Fabric and Crafts. They're offering a sale of 60% off one regular priced item. So I printed that out because when I march into Michaels and they ring up my order, I can present the Joann's coupon and they'll honor it at Michaels. Many stores will do this because they want your business.
ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!
Back to Michaels for a minute. Last week I was shopping at Michaels and I thought I placed my %50 percent coupon in my purse. This was a special coupon mailed to me (again yeah for that rewards membership) so I couldn't pull it up on my phone. Well I couldn't find it. I do happen to have a bottomless purse where my kids put anything and everything into it (hold this for me, hold that for me) and the next thing I knew I can't find things I need. Anyway I knew I had it but just couldn't find it. So I said to the cashier, "I did have a 50% off coupon but I can't find it...do you happen to have one I can use?" She checked her drawer. She said, well all I have is 25% off your total purchase price. Then she said, I'll take 50 percent off one item and type it in as a competitive's coupon and I'll give you 25% off! Wow I thought....I was just looking for that 50 percent off my stamping letters and now I'm getting 25% off of that too! It definately does not hurt to ask!!!!
DISATISFIED? WRITE A LETTER!
My high school English teacher Mrs. Evans taught our class the importance of the written word--the written letter. I can remember clear as day her telling us this story where she walked into a clothing store and bought a blouse. The very next day she walked by that same store and saw the blouse on sale for 40 percent off. She had wished the sales person had told her when she bought it that it was going to be on sale. She wanted to bring the blouse back for the sale price but she could not find the receipt and the salesperson would not give her a refund without it. So she asked who the manager was and wrote a letter to him. She stated how she valued the store (always start with a positive she said) and that she shopped there all the time but she had a little bit of a problem. She proceded to explain her issue. Well he called her on the phone and told her to come back to the store and he would personally refund her the money without the receipt. She went back to the store and he refunded her the entire purchase price and told her to keep the blouse as his gift!
Fast forward to years later, I was having some issue with a refrigerator that was about 5 years old. It needed a part and we were told by Lowes (where we had bought the fridge from) that the part was on its way. Thankfully this occurred in the cold winter months of New Jersey, so our milk and eggs could be placed in the snow outside. Well a week later the part still hadn't arrived. When the part finally did arrive and the technician tried to fix it, he told us that the wrong part was ordered and he would have to re-order the right one. 2 weeks after that the part still hadn't arrived. We had gone about a month without a fridge. This is not easy with 6 kids and a newborn. So I remembered what Mrs. Evans had taught me. I researched who the president of Lowes was and wrote him a letter. I started out with a positive. I told him we buy most of our appliances from Lowes and we are loyal to his company...but we're having this little issue with our fridge. Well guess what? He called me personally to apologize. He then told me to go onto Lowe's website and pick out a new fridge which he would make sure was delivered the next day!!!! Wow. We couldn't have been more thankful!
So next time you're ready to buy something...whether it's a big purchase or something small try using these tips and save some money!!!
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