Saving a Buck is Easy When You Care To

Do you even care that you are spending more money than necessary when you buy gas, or coffee, or a meal? Do you even get the Sunday paper at least, just to cut out Acme or ShopRite coupons and to see what's on sale? Or do you not like "FREE" - the next best thing in life, like free sex, free money, free services, free iPads or laptops?

I care a little, enuff to go out of my way, a little, and I/we save hundreds, a thousand dollars every year on everyday purchases. And I'm sure you know how, but here's our (Jan and mine) list of how:

1. Using a Bank credit card like Visa, Discover, Mastercard, American Express et al., with rewards - Earn a point for everyday purchases like clothes, gasoline (from practically any brand), restaurant food (all purchases), movies out or on Netflix, and hundreds, thousands more. All you have to do is sign up online for your card's Rewards Program! How easy! Jan and I login to our Rewards Card website and order $25 gift cards for Barnes & Noble, Chili's, Applebees, Longhorn, Dunkin Donuts (coffees for me, Coffee Coolatas and tea for Janet), Panera pastries and other tasties etc.

And then they run their special incentives and offer 5% Cash Back promotions usually for a few months at a time, not just the usual 1.5 or 2.5% cash back. My card sends me an online notice, I click their blue link, and I'm signed up automatically just like that!

I always thought the government would do well to offer similar promotions for all the sign ups (was it 25 million?), that they wanted for the Affordable Care Act, you know, "Here's 3 months of premiums at half price when you join!" kinda thing. I mean why shouldn't government be run like a successful business - and discounts, discounts and sales are, and always have been, preferred, desired and effective at generating sales and new loyal customers.Is there a better way yet found to attract new customers than offering a free toaster or VISA card when opening a bank account (remember those days?), or 10% discount off your next hour's Sears purchases by applying for their credit card?

2. Specific Rewards clubs like Dunkin with free medium drinks for every 100 "Points" earned (dollars spent), which coupons come to my email automatically and I just print them out. I just used one of three I printed out less than 30 minutes ago! That's $1.72 each saved, what with my senior discount deducted too.  Look at all the printable Staples coupons or rebates I print out from their weekly email newsletter subscription. For example, I paid $21 at the register for 5 reams of printer paper a while back, and received a check from the Staples Rebate Program for 19 bucks three weeks later! And  Panera's - by either swiping our membership card or giving them my phone number at their register when I visit their store nearby, and order anything, we get free coffee or pastries. Or another of our favorites, Dairy Queen, where for 6 card punches earned, we get a free Blizzard, valued at over $4.50. We have Blizzards every Friday nite almost, so that equals about 40 bucks saved every year on something we definitely would have bought anyway.

And the store rewards credit cards like Kohl's especially, and receiving 15, 20 and 30% discount coupons in the mail, off of store or online purchases (and many times they still take the discount off even tho the coupon expired - Bed, Bath & Beyond does it too). Janet and Kate always take advantage of these, to the point where when we need a piece of clothing, we wait to receive a coupon and check there first.

3. Coupons -- What with floundering Groupon and hundreds of other sites, many where you buy the "tickets" from them and then use them at the specified business when and where you like - at half price or so, that's a damn good deal also. And again, easy to do online. Via Bravo for the Internet! What a difference from waiting to only cut out coupons from the daily and Sunday newspaper like our mothers did in the past! (And Jan still does) Apparently here in the U.S. the first free coupons were given out in 1892 by company founder Asa Candler. And look at the Coca-Cola company today - with a May 2014 Market Cap valued over 168 billion dollars. I wish I'd bought Coca-Cola stock back in the '70s!

4. Contests for free stuff -- Now more than ever, chances have never been greater for you to win a valuable item just by providing your name, address and email info.

So we all know that the best stuff in life isn't free - it's the people, organizations and things we invest ourselves in that give us the most pleasure.

But free rewards, discounts, coupons and contests - especially the multi-thousands available today in 2014 - offer a lot of pretty easy ways to become happier - and richer.

 Best, Rod
Copyright 2014 

Surviving Bipolar Disorder in the modern age . . . a journey of Hope for the afflicted.
My poetic memoir Episodes available at www.amazon.com/episodes-rodney-richards/dp/0615914705/   

 

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