There will be no
coupon inserts this coming Sunday because of the holiday. I guess the
advertisers feel that holiday picnics and celebrations of the last days of
summer do not lend themselves to couponing. But, there are other things we
couponers can do to find savings during the coupon drought.
First, check with
your newspaper subscription service to be sure you are getting the best price
possible. The last thing you want to do is to end up wasting your savings
from couponing on the coupons themselves. I was able to reduce my weekly
subscription (Sunday's only) from $1.87 per week to $1.05 per week. When
I first began my Sunday only service, I had a special new subscriber rate of
59¢ per Sunday for one copy. I supplemented that with 4 papers from 7-11
(2/$3). So, I was able to get five Sunday newspapers for $6.59 per
week.
Now, I get four
newspapers for $4.20 and my sister-in-law and another friend also give me their
coupon inserts each week. In addition, I have the Sunday Insert Schedule
and will send a list of the Sunday's that I do not want newspapers delivered to
the carrier and the Post (just to be sure they get the notice). I did not
do that last year. By just following this plan, I can save a little more than
$100 per year on my newspaper subscription.
Next, call your
cable/internet/phone carrier(s). Tell them that you are falling on hard
times and that you may need to terminate their services if you cannot get the
costs down to a manageable level. Ask them to reevaluate your services to
see if they have some specials or new offerings that you could get to lower
your monthly costs.
I called DirecTV
(the satellite provider for our motorhome) and told them that I could not
justify $109 per month for a motorhome and wanted to know how I can lower my
bill. Long story short, by taking just a little time, I was able to lower
our bill to $72 a month for one whole year. I could have lowered it even
more but my sweetheart just has to have his boxin' channel and MASN (baseball
channel). Bottom line, I will save $544! And, if I have the service
suspended for the months we do not travel, I will save an additional $72 per
month each month it is suspended.
Finally, I made a
call to Verizon. They provide service for my
internet/telephone/television. I told them that I would like to have the cost
of my service evaluated to see if I am getting the best savings. My
contract with Verizon had already expired and so that was enough incentive for
them to help me save a little money. They asked me what things I wanted
continued with my service and what things I could drop. Again, my sweetie
pie loves his boxing and sports. Neither of us really watches the movies
on those movie channels but we do like our cooking shows, westerns, the
Learning Channel, Discovery, OWN and a few more. Bottom line: I am
getting a free upgrade to a faster internet connection, did not loose any of my
favorite stations and my bill will be $15 per month less AND I will receive a
VISA gift card for $120. My obligation is for two years during which time
I have the latitude to change my programing options at anytime within the two
years. I will save $180 per year on my bill and an additional $120 with
the gift card for a total of $300.
With just less
than 45 minutes of my time, I saved $944 without clipping any
coupons! I still have a few other things to renegotiate this
weekend. Our motorhome insurance is up for renewal in September.
Time to see how much we can lower that bill.
So, don't go into
withdrawal this weekend with no coupons to clip. Instead, sit back, pick
up your phone, grab a stack of bills, and make some calls.
Happy Calling!
ShaRon, The Bizzy
Coupon Bee
