How To Lose Debt

Coupons are not a subject that is exactly near and dear to my heart. Frankly, I can’t stand clipping and using coupons. You see, time is money. So if I spend an inordinate amount of time clipping, storing, categorizing, reviewing, and trying to match products that I buy to the coupons I hold, only to find out they have expired yesterday, well let’s just say it doesn’t make me happy!

So, in general, I do not use them. I will say that a lot of money can be saved using them, especially when the supermarkets hold doubling or even tripling manufacturer coupon days. I will use those days to dump all the coupons I have for triple their value.

So I am going to put a challenge out there to the reading audience. Most coupons these days carry a bar code that identifies the coupon’s product and expiration date. They have these so that the supermarkets computers can verify that you actually purchased the product you are trying to use the coupon for. If you did not purchase the product, well, you’d be committing a federal fraud!!

So, here is my challenge. The first person that designs and markets an inexpensive scanner that can read, store, and categorize those bar codes will make me a coupon user overnight and themselves very rich. With the power of computers it could easily tell you what products you have coupons for, what aisles they are in, and when those coupons are due to expire. You’d be rich, and you could use coupons too!

So, until that challenge is met, I’m going to stick by my guns to say that the time spent on coupons does not justify the monetary value I receive from them. I know there are coupon clubs that actually trade coupons like money, so for some it is clearly a worthwhile activity. Just not for me. Now as I said before, I will use them during double and triple coupon days at the local market. For some reason I feel that I am getting more if they triple the coupon in value. I am fully aware that the markets often mark up those items simply to allow profit, even though the manufacturer covers the coupon’s value and a small administrative fee. But, I’m making money here, aren’t I? Well, not really.

Some people swear by them. I was behind a couple in a local market last week, and they actually saved $30 by using coupons!! There are exceptions to every rule, don’t you know? So, if you are one of those people who has the time and proclivity to collect and use coupons, I say go for it! Join a coupon club (technically illegal although impossible to police) and trade coupons you have for those that you want. You will be losing all debt in no time.

Any good coupon collector will tell you that most manufacturers post coupons on their websites on a regular basis. So, after you have clipped your way through the Sunday paper, you may want to consider logging on to the internet and visiting the manufacturer’s sites that you use most often. You will be amazed with what you find. This is especially true with big-ticket items like washers and dryers, and sites like Sears.com http://www.sears.com.

Before I finish this section, I would be remiss if I didn’t cover Online Coupon Sites! That is what I said, sites specifically designed to provide you, the consumer, a coupon code to purchase an item at below retail rate. They don’t always work and the manufacturers change their codes on a regular basis, however they often do work. As a matter of fact, they even calculate the likeliness that a particular code will work!! Can you beat that? Free of course!

If I am going to purchase something online, especially software, I will always check these sites first. You never know what you may find, and you could possibly save yourself a huge amount of money.

I am not sure why the manufacturers allow code swapping to go on. It is either that the discount is already imbedded in their purchase price, so that they are not really losing any money. Or it could be that the cost to locate and take legal action on the many, many sites that provide these services would be prohibitive.

There are 4,980,000 sites with the text “coupons online.” So I say before you make a purchase online, and even some in-store purchases, check out the manufacturer or retailer’s site, or one of these coupon brokers. My favorite is RetailMeNot http://www.retailmenot.com.