Saving Money with Discount Coupons
Household Expenditures can be Slashed by Using Shopping Vouchers
Sep 24, 2009 Pauline Mascarenhas
Retailers are offering a variety of discounts and shopping vouchers to entice shoppers into their stores. From the hundreds of items available in the store, discounts are offered on chosen items each week or for a set period of time.
It is possible to save hundreds of dollars on the household bills by:
- Forward planning.
- Undertaking some research on prices.
- Exercising discipline in purchasing and storing the products.
Planning to Stock Items
Having a specific place in the home to store the items is very important. A pantry cupboard set aside for this purpose or a set of shelves in a spare room will suffice for dry goods and/or canned items. If purchasing cold or frozen items, then a fridge/freezer will be required.
Once items are placed in a pantry or shelves, unless they are readily visible, one tends to forget that they are there. Therefore, a whiteboard or similar that can be placed on a wall near the pantry or cupboard is necessary. When items are placed in storage, it is important to write on the board the following information:
- Quantity and item description
- Date purchased
- Expiry Date, if relevant
- Number remaining- this column will have a reducing number as the item is used.
Doing the Research
If there is more than one store that carries similar items within close proximity of the house it would be beneficial to do a comparison of the prices from the stores. For instance, one store may offer an item at a discount price but the other store may carry the identical item at the same price or even lower. In this instance, buying in quantity from the first store will not result in actual savings.
Collecting Discount Coupons
The weekend papers and the local papers publish discount coupons for various household items. Cut out the coupons for the items that the household is interested in and place in a file with the name of the store offering the discount.
Catalogues and flyers that come through the mail also carry shopping vouchers for items on sale. Similarly these can be collected and filed.
The filing system has to be organized in such a way that it is cross-referenced by store name and by date of expiry of the discount coupon or voucher.
How to Maximize Savings
- When preparing the shopping list for the week, look at the discount items for that week and work out how much of a particular item the family would use for a month, or longer if it is an item that does not deteriorate. Make a list of the items and the quantities which will be needed, taking into account what is already available at home and the week's budget.
- When the items are brought home, place the number of the items required for the week in the kitchen pantry, laundry, bathroom or other area as required, and the balance on the storage shelves. Do not forget to write the details on the whiteboard on the wall. This is an area where the cooperation of the whole family is needed. If someone uses an item in the storage area and forgets to change the number on the board, the totals will not be accurate.
Collecting discount coupons and shopping vouchers, researching prices and planning for storage of the goods may require the investment of some time. However, if done in a disciplined way, the money saved will more than compensate for the time invested.
Saving Money using Discount Coupons
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