Leaving Money on the Table

Scriptures: Prov 3:13-19; Prov 24:3-4; Eccl 7:12

Do you reduce your food costs on a regular basis? And what about your clothes, do you pay more than you have to?  Is there a way of spending less without buying less? 

Imagine walking into a room and there is a big pile of money on the table with a note that states: Please take; it’s free!  Would you walk away from that table without taking any of the money?  Would you only take some? Or would you take all of it? Yet, this is what you are doing when you don’t use cash incentives offered by manufacturers!

What am I speaking of?  There are many companies that offer coupons and rebates if you purchase their product.  These incentives are for us to take advantage of and many of us don’t, which is tantamount to leaving free money on the table. 

Yet using coupons during your weekly visit to the grocery store does require a little planning on your part and a little more comparison when you are in the aisles.  But savings can amount to tens of dollars on your grocery bill each week!  You just have to plan on using the coupons.

Planning is essential to achieve success in plenty of tasks and saving money is no different. And this success begins with planning your meals for the week.  Leaving to whim your food purchases while you are in the store is a recipe for spending more money than needed.

Once you have a plan, make a list to buy from. When you are in the store, stick to your list.  Avoid the temptations of the spontaneous purchases. One of my favorite Scriptures for temptation is 1 Cor 10:13 because it speaks to God’s faithfulness in providing a way to escape the temptation. 

Now coupons are great but they don’t always realize the expected savings you are seeking.  Be sure that you compare similar products to the one you have a coupon for.  Buy the product only if it is equal to or less than the other brands. 

Now you may say that clipping coupons and using them takes lots of time, too much time.  To you I say: this may be true when you first start the process, but it really doesn’t take much to get good at it.  Clipping coupons can be done when watching TV during the commercials you don’t want to watch anyway.  And when you are in the store, comparing two or three products gets faster each time you do it. 

Now I have focused quite a bit on food purchases because we buy food each week.  Yet there are other products that we can use coupons or receive rebates with the purchase. 

There are coupons for eating out at restaurants (my best is for my favorite pizza parlor), rebates for home improvement products and most of the time sales on your clothing purchases.  What is essential for all of these kinds of savings is seeking out the savings. 

Be patient and plan your purchases.  If you know that you will need a new pair of shoes in about a month, start looking for sales today.  If you have to, wear your shoes a bit longer until the pair you want goes on sale.  Saving money requires patience and diligence. 

Lastly, I will say that saving money by using coupons can be addicting.  You will get a rush when you know that you needed something and didn’t need to pay full price for the item.  And this is cool, very cool.

So I want to leave you with a challenge.  My challenge to you is to save at least $30 from your food bill in December.  And if you do, you will be hooked!