I am somebody who is always trying to reduce costs. I think that is an appropriate term instead of calling it being cheap because if money needs to be spent then it has to be spent. If you watch the show on television called "Extreme Cheapskates", that is nothing like me. In fact, I struggle with watching that show because some of the measures that are done to save money makes me sick to my stomach, literally. At work, I am known as a guy who uses a lot of coupons. I don't take offense to anything my co-workers point out because at times I know they mean well and respect me. I work in the education field as a paraprofessional. For as vital as support staff are in a school, we are not offered enough hours and the pay is below the federal poverty line. With that being said, I take saving money seriously. It does take some effort, but it can pay off with some big savings.
When it comes to eating out, we all have long days, family and friends that visit, or you just don't want to do dishes...so we eat out. If I go to a sit-down restaurant to eat, then I never order a beverage with my meal. Often times, a soft drink or anything else on the beverage menu will cost each person a minimum of $2.49 for one beverage. So I drink water, which is a more healthy option anyways. Do the math, for a family of four, that means a ten dollar bill just for beverages. That is equivalent to three gallons of milk, and in some cases four gallons of milk. It just doesn't make sense to me. For me, this is not too difficult of a task as I quit drinking soda pop (soft drinks) almost 13 months ago. To make matters worse, a lot of places offer bottomless beverages on the soda pop and people think they need to get multiple glasses of the soft drink to justify the cost.
Getting back to saving money, there are many reward cards that big stores offer to enhance the savings. While having a bunch of these rewards or savings cards can get kind of messy to organize, but they do help. There is an app that is free that can be downloaded to manage all of the rewards cards for national and regional stores. It is called Key Ring. By doing this, your cards and their respective barcodes are all stored and now digital. I have rewards cards for Best Buy, Big Lots, Kmart, PetsMart, Price Chopper, and Staples on this app. All I have to do is select the store and the barcode for my reward card shows up and needs to be scanned by the cashier. Simple as that.
I use to be a big Wal-Mart shopper. I used to always buy my groceries believing their slogan that they are the "Low Price Leader". Now, I only usually go to Wal-Mart to get my oil changed. Instead, I have become a Costco and Target guy. At Costco, I stick to knowing what I need and what I feel is a good deal. As an added bonus, Costco usually has gas 3-10 cents per gallon cheaper than the rest of the area. Target on the other hand, has been innovative in saving their customers money. First, if you get their Target debit card, it links to your checking account. That means it is not a credit card and you get to save 5% off your total purchase each time when you use your Target debit card. In 2013, Target launched the Target Cartwheel app on smartphones. This app offers shoppers an additional percent off many of the items in their store. Every department in Target is represented on the Cartwheel app. It is not uncommon for there to be 40% or 50% off deals on items on the Cartwheel app. Since I started using the app just a little over a year ago, I have already saved $120.00 just using this app. I think it won an "app of the year" award as well in 2013. Target also has their own store coupons and honors manufacturer coupons as well. You can combine both a Target coupon and a manufacturer coupon on one item to maximize the savings. It is common for me to save 30-50% off my total purchase when I use my Target coupons, my manufacturer coupons, my Target Cartwheel app, and my Target Debit Card. That is four different savings in one trip and there is no catch.
So, if you know me, you may here me often say, "I had a coupon for that". It doesn't mean I am not willing to pay for something I want, it just means I want to get for the most fair price legally offered. When you work in education, you earn your wages. For me, I want to make the most out of those earned wages, that is all.
#shoppingsaver
No comments:
Post a Comment