Coupon Clipping Makes Dollars And Sense

Coupon Clipping Makes Dollars And Sense FARM HOME Food 5-2-30 Would you believe that for just five hours out of each month, you could make $2,000 a year and save up to 65% on your grocery bills? "You can do it if you really have the desire to save money," says Cheryl Peart, a scissors-happy, coupon-clipping "supershopper" farmwife from London, Ohio. Cheryl claims she can buy $200 worth of groceries for just $40 to $60 by taking advantage of store specials, coupons and refunding offers. She says most anyone can become a "supershopper" with her system. Just by using coupons alone, Peart says you can save 15 to 20% on your grocery bills. If stores in your area offer "doubling", you can save even more. Doubling is when a store doubles the value of each cents-off coupon redeemed to attract more customers. You can save another 15 to 20% by taking advantage of supermarket specials. Finally, refunding offers can save a whopping 50% on your total bill. Cheryl says she usually averages 65% savings in the store and makes another $2,000 per year from cash refunds. Refunding is the process of sending in boxtops, labels or other "qualifiers" to get a cash rebate or a coupon for a free product or gift. For the system to work at its best, Cheryl says you have to save all the labels from products you buy. Some products may have several different qualifiers on their labels, including boxtops, boxbottoms, UPC symbol, Proof-of-Purchase seals and company logos. Organization is important to help save time and space. Cheryl categorizes the labels she saves intoproduct categories and boxes them together to keep track of it all. Her entire collection could fit into a closet, she says. At the end of the month, she takes about 5 hours or so to send for refunds. "I usually send out about 150 a month," Cheryl notes. She says manufacturers are offering about 400 refunds a month, but not all of them reach the general public. Most refund offers are distributed by manufacturers' sales representatives to grocers. A grocer may not take advantage of them all, though, or he may not wish to spend time and labor to display them. Editors of professional refunders' newsletters make it their business to find out about all the offers. Cheryl prints one herself and she says there are about 60 others besides. One argument against refunding and coupons states that these offers are unfair because they only raise prices. Cheryl disagrees. "A manufacturer is going to give you an incentive to buy his product. If he doesn't use coupons or refunds, he'll just spend it on more advertising that won't save anybody any money. As it is, he's giving you an opportunity to save some money. You can either take the opportunity or not; it's your choice. But, he won't lower his prices." Cheryl's newsletter is available for $10 per year. She also offers a 30-page "Beginners Guide to Refunding" for $2.50. For more information, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: FARM SHOW Followup, Cheryl Peart, Peart Publications, 5020 Roberts Mill Rd., London, Ohio 43140 lnh 614 852-26821.

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