Financial Journey
(featured column)
Finding
New Ways to Save Money
by Karen
Kuebler
It really
doesn’t take much to make me happy! A few weeks ago, I discovered
a new hobby for making/saving money. I always get a thrill from that.
I’ve been at this ‘saving money’ habit for so many years, that I get
really excited when I discover a new trick. More...
We’ve shared this idea with you before here at
BetterBudgeting.com, so I’m not sharing a new idea with you. But, since
I’d never tried it, it was a brand new experience for me. I was
listening to our CD from Camelot, and it clicked with me when I heard the song
“What Do the Simple Folk Do?” In my opinion, the ‘simple’ folk
aren’t simple in the most basic use of this term, but they are the happy ones
– the ones who know how to find happiness by enjoying the simple pleasures and
living within a simplified infrastructure.
Okay, you’re asking – what did I do? I started calling the
manufacturer’s 1-800-#’s listed on packages throughout our house. It
actually began when I called to ask a question about the availability of a
particular hair conditioning product in our area. When the customer service
representative offered to send me a coupon for a free product, the wheels began
turning!
I started rummaging through the cabinets for more items. Finding something
unique to say about each product, I would let the company know why I purchased
their product over a competitor’s and what I especially liked about it.
I called one manufacturer for an item that had been in my pantry for a very long
time and told them how much I liked the product. Alright, I turned a few
shades of purple when they said this product had been discontinued some time
ago!! But, not one to be deterred easily, I kept at it.
My biggest problem is that I buy many generic products, so I was having problems
coming up with manufacturers I could call. This wasn’t very time
consuming, since each day I would make one or two calls. After one week of
calling once or twice a day, I had a list of ten manufacturers who had promised
to send coupons and/or recipes for their products.
I received all of the coupons within a week of my calls! Not only was I
able to enjoy the excitement after the call, I was even happier when the coupons
arrived in the mail. My husband was even having fun with this – he would
lay all the coupons out for me so I would find them on the kitchen counter when
I came home.
Adding up the value of these coupons at the normal retail price of the items
(which, obviously, I would never pay) the total value was close to $25.00.
I warned you up front, it doesn’t take much to make me happy!
Looking for some fun this week? Try calling
a few manufacturers for free coupons.
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Copyright
© 2005 by Karen Kuebler. All rights reserved.
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