Savings
Cut
to trim you
P. Yanoshik, Jr.
Fighting tiie escalating cost
M BNsBry bills is a battle you
may find hard to win. One way
tp keeb these costs within a
budget is to m into die local
armed—ncrf; with
inns end grenades—but with
l,OOO manfacturers
new us# these discount devices,
pending at least $1 billion each
year in payouts and redemp
tions. Some 100 billion coupons
will be circulated this year in
newspapers, magazines, and
direct-mail bundles.
With economics in mind and
my grocery list in hand, 1 take
a file of coupons organized by
category to the market when I
do my shopping. Prior to leav
ing the house, though, I spend a
few minutes with the daily
newspaper to find the store
which will offer me the greatest
savings.
Taking advantage of coupon
offers can save anybody a lot of
money. All that you need to get
started is a pair of scissors to
clip coupons from newspapers
and magazines. The shopper
who uses coupons strategically,
while at the supermarket may
find that there will suddenly be
extra money in the budget to
purchase the extra goodies that
normally would be.unaffordable.
Gift products, toys, and even
cash are offered by sending in
it out
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box tops, cash register receipts,
and the like, with a coupon to
the manufacturers. Refund of
fers give cash, coupons, or mer
chandise entirely free simply
by sending in labels or box tops.
As a consumer, the most impor
tant type of refund offer is the
cash refund which, in essence,
the manufacturer offers you for
simply trying a product.
Kerry Smith, the head of in
formation services at Donnelley
Marketing, a national mailer of
grocery store coupons says:
“Our estimate is that if you use
coupons consistently throughout
the year, you can save
anywhere from $3OO to $5OO on
your grocery bill.”
You can not only save but ac
tually make money by taking
advantage of refunds, cents-off
coupons, and free offers on
merchandise.
Mary Lou Oswald, a
homemaker and mother of
three from Bechtelsville, PA
... .
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added sal
has found that part-time dedica
tion to coupon clipping can pay
off. She is not a superstar and
has not been able to pay $7 for
$l3O in groceries as some pro
fessional coupon clippers nave.
Instead, she is a full-time
'‘mom” who has been able to
save her family over $3500 in
five years of dedication to
cashing in on coupons.
‘‘l have found savings of at
least $2O every trip to the super
market,” says Oswald. ‘‘l do
this by using my coupons and
shopping at the stores that offer
me double-, and sometimes
even triple-coupon savings.”
Locally, Giant Food Market
and Fox’s Market in Mid
dletown offer double-coupon
savings daily. Other stores in
the Harrisburg area which
offer such shopper incentives
include Weis Markets, Valley
Food Market, and WFM
Markets.
Wednesday is the day that
local newspapers carry adver
tising from the stores offering
double coupon savings. It is the
big grocery shopping day of the
week; and, an abundance of
cents-off coupons can be found
and clipped.
Once you start clipping
coupons, a definite obsession
begins. There will be times
when you’ll want to break
yourself from spending time
clipping but won’t be able to,
realizing that if you give up
you will actually be throwing
away money on products you
will be purchasing anyway.
The object to winning the sav
ings game is to use all the op
portunities that stores and
manufacturers provide—coupons,
refunds, discounts, and sale
specials.
One way to maximize savings
is to buy smaller sizes. For ex
ample, if you purchase a $2
tube of toothpaste using a
20-cent coupon, you are saving
ten percent of the retail price.
Using the same coupon on the
smaller $1 size of toothpaste
saves you 20 percent, therefore
Page 7
W* ' ;4 W,
doubling the coupon’s “real
value.” If there is no significant
savings .on the larger
smaller is better !
Government estimates show
that 76 percent of all households
in the U.S. use the cents-off
coupons they receive in the
mail or clip from newspapers
or magazines.
The money made from
coupons and refunding is all
profit. Legally, it’s not income.
It is considered a discount on
the purchase price of aproduct,
therefore not taxable. r f
As a student, you too can
save with coupons. If you don’t
have access to a magazine or
newspaper, drop by the Finance
Office on campus and hunt and
Eick coupons in the “coupon
ox” there. Drop off your ex
tras, too. Someone else can use
what you carmot. Also check the
aisles and bulletin boards in
your locafjßoreiflflffe special ■
offers. Wr'
When you have problems
gaining access to coupon-filled
publications, call home and
have the folks give you a hand,
speak with friends and have
them do the clipping for you,
subscribe to a women’s
magazine or pick up the daily
newspaper every Wednesday.
Once you start saving on pro
ducts you use daily, you may
very well become a part of this
money-saving craze. If you find
this happening, pick up a copy
of Refunder’s Digest at your
local newsstand. Or, send a
long, self-addressed stamped
envelope to: BOE (Bunch of
Editors), Box 735, Senton, MD,
63026. You will receive—free of
charge—the Shoppers Guide to
Refunding and Refunding
Bulletins.
Remember, Mary Lou
Oswald has shown that substan
tial savings are possible—even
when working at the coupon
clipping process part-time.
Averaging $7OO per year over
the past five years, she would
have been able to finance a
term at Penn State!