Kathleen Mincks WA
Small Town Refunding When I started refunding over thirty years ago I was a stay at home mom with three small children. Now all the children have left home, and only my husband and I remain behind and I work full-time now. I wrote an article about Small Town Refunding years ago for this magazine. However, I think it is worth mentioning again with all the “newbie’s” out there. Even though things have changed; some things stay the same with those who live in a small town that does not double and triple coupons. But, as always you can still save money and get free items. Following are some ideas to help you get started. Are there deals in your town? I live in a town with two small grocery stores, one drugstore, no clothing stores; a couple of restaurants and that is it. I am fortunate to live about 30 minutes away from a larger town in Oregon where there is no sales tax. And that town does have a K-Mart, Safeway and Albertsons. But I only go there every couple of weeks for major shopping. So I must shop locally for mainstay items such as milk, eggs and bananas. I would hope if you live in a small town your grocery store would have deals every now and then. The two stores in my town seem to alternate with eggs, milk and banana deals so I make sure I have enough of those items until the next sale. This week milk was on sale for $2.00 and bananas were 3lbs for $1.00. Once in a while they actually have something on sale that is a great deal when I use their coupons and my manufacturing coupon and there has never been any problem using my coupons. Just be on the lookout for what is available in your area. What is the big deal about yard sales? I usually have one a year and I don’t sell all the deals that others do such as deodorant, hair products, etc. I have a few of those items that I have gotten for free but not for the most part. I have a box downstairs marked “yard sale” and throughout the year I put items in it. When summer approaches I start marking the items so that they will already be marked. I place a short ad in the local paper and put up a couple of signs downtown. I only have a one day sale and always on a Saturday. We are fortunate because we acquired some very old tables (we store them in the barn) that we can use to display items on. After you have a few yard sales you get a lot of repeat customers. I live just outside of town and because of our long driveway we have to park all are vehicles down at the barn so there is parking space near our house. My daughter usually comes over to help me and we see some people that we haven’t seen for months so it is generally a fun time. This year I made $164 after costs. I always put this money in our savings. Can you save with coupons? I have three regular traders at present and clip from the Sunday paper each week. And even with just my husband and myself and only four double coupons at Safeway, I saved $840 last year with coupons. Just last week the store paid me to buy Suave products. I had $1.00 coupons and they were only .80 and .90 cents each. Also there were flyers at the prescription counter that had a Safeway Aspirin coupon for a free 24 ct box (I believe I had seen this mentioned in Refund Cents. If you don’t use products you get free either sell them at a garage sale or give them to a shelter. Also a $10 JC Penney’s coupons came in the mail this week. I stopped there and got a cute outfit for my granddaughter for her birthday this month. With the Penney’s sale and coupon I only paid $8.00 for Capri pants and top. What about rebates? For those of you who have been at this for years you remember the good old days when you didn’t need cash receipts. Well, for the most part, those days are gone and it is true that most rebates today are very short dated. That only means that you have to be on the lookout and prepared. Kmart generally has good rebates and there are other places also. Home Depot had a good one on paint and most recently my husband bought an expensive saw but he got a drill free. In fact it was mailed to him and he was thrilled. I just bought some ink cartridges at Staples and went on line to fill out the rebate. Last year I made $333 in rebates. So even though rebates have changed they are still worth sending for especially when you are going to buy the item anyway. What is the big deal about freebies? Most free items you can get on line just by signing up; no postage needed. I go on line each morning before work and look up the freebies on a couple of sites and send them to a few other people. What can you get? I have gotten all sorts of items: tennis shoes, gold earrings, and dog and cat food samples, make up samples and just recently one site offered a radio, hat and water bottle (I am wearing the hat in the picture). Sometimes you actually get full sized items; I got a full sized Nivea Cream and Neutrogena Facial Peel. I wouldn’t have bought them but actually really liked these products. I also got a sample of Secret Deodorant and took it on a trip instead of my regular brand. Yes, some of the items you sign up for are considered “junk” but most are legitimate samples. It takes me about ½ hour each morning to look up freebies. Of course you don’t get everything you send for but then you didn’t pay anything in the first place. I put a value on my free items throughout the year and last year I figured I received $827 in freebies. What can you share? Everyone has a story to tell if they are into refunding. You can write an article for Refund Cents and earn some free issues of the magazine you love. Have you ever crawled in a dumpster, got something free, had a great shopping day, or got some little freebie in the mail that you love? If so, you have a story all of us refunders would love to hear about it. I learn so many little tidbits reading Refund Cents; they motivate me to get more organized and continue on when I am down sometimes. Encourage and teach your children, grandchildren and other people to be thrifty. Why not use the money you save on something you really want? If you get others interested in refunding then you have a partner to share ideas with. I give coupons out in the store; free formula goes to the Pregnancy Center and other staples to the local Food Bank. Years ago my son was suppose to get milk when he was in a larger town. He forgot the milk coupon but my sixteen year old was not daunted, he asked in the store and they found a coupon for him. Now many years later financially I can afford to pay full price for items, but why would I? Saving has become a way of life and a challenge and most of all – fun. Thanks to Refund Cents we have resources available to us to learn about all sorts of topics. Utilize this site and it will change your life. Don’t concentrate on the deals other are getting, but rather work with what you have if you live in a small town – there are deals out there waiting for you! Kathleen Mincks Goldendale WA