Fundraiser Coupon Books
It's just about time in most places for a new semi-annual fundraiser coupon book to come out. We used to sigh resignedly when the children would knock on our door, asking us to buy one. We'd purchase it, place it in a drawer, tell ourselves we WOULD make use of it this time, and then promptly forget about it until next year, when we cleaned out the drawer and found the book of purchased, expired coupons lying there.
I want to tell you that, rather than being a charitable donation on your part, these books actually CAN be great to have. The real trick is in making sure you use the coupons. For us, that meant having them with us and accessible when we were out and needing to stop for a bite, so a couple of years ago I put the book in the glove compartment of the car instead of the desk drawer. Whenever we needed to stop for a quick bite, I'd pull out the book and say, "Let's see what we have a coupon for!"
The coupon book became a blessing instead of a waste of money. Most of the offers inside are buy-one-get-one-free, so you can instantly save almost 1/2 on your dining out. Another great aspect of the coupon book was in the variety of restaurants it introduced us to. Places I never would have thought to visit, some of which are now our favorites. Because we had a coupon, we tried the restaurant, and discovered new specialties we'd never heard of before.
Our version includes a lot of non-restaurant offers as well. This can be a lot of fun in planning family time together, or a fun and unusual date. Our book usually includes coupons to an IMAX film, a local museum, miniature golf, an arcade, go-karts, a dinosaur activity place, bowling, movies, and several other fun things to do. Most of these are half-price level savings.
Practical coupons are usually included as well ... oil change (and we all need one if we drive a car!), haircuts, car washes, carpet shampooing, new tires, film processing, and so on. These are usually a fair discount offer.
I just want to encourage everyone to rethink those coupon books. They've been so great for us that we've started selling them for our homeschool group, and now we always buy TWO books ourselves instead of just one, and buy extras for friends as well. Now that we've discovered the best way to use them, we are enjoying them AND saving a lot of money at the same time, and that's one of our main focuses here at Savvy Shopper!
I want to tell you that, rather than being a charitable donation on your part, these books actually CAN be great to have. The real trick is in making sure you use the coupons. For us, that meant having them with us and accessible when we were out and needing to stop for a bite, so a couple of years ago I put the book in the glove compartment of the car instead of the desk drawer. Whenever we needed to stop for a quick bite, I'd pull out the book and say, "Let's see what we have a coupon for!"
The coupon book became a blessing instead of a waste of money. Most of the offers inside are buy-one-get-one-free, so you can instantly save almost 1/2 on your dining out. Another great aspect of the coupon book was in the variety of restaurants it introduced us to. Places I never would have thought to visit, some of which are now our favorites. Because we had a coupon, we tried the restaurant, and discovered new specialties we'd never heard of before.
Our version includes a lot of non-restaurant offers as well. This can be a lot of fun in planning family time together, or a fun and unusual date. Our book usually includes coupons to an IMAX film, a local museum, miniature golf, an arcade, go-karts, a dinosaur activity place, bowling, movies, and several other fun things to do. Most of these are half-price level savings.
Practical coupons are usually included as well ... oil change (and we all need one if we drive a car!), haircuts, car washes, carpet shampooing, new tires, film processing, and so on. These are usually a fair discount offer.
I just want to encourage everyone to rethink those coupon books. They've been so great for us that we've started selling them for our homeschool group, and now we always buy TWO books ourselves instead of just one, and buy extras for friends as well. Now that we've discovered the best way to use them, we are enjoying them AND saving a lot of money at the same time, and that's one of our main focuses here at Savvy Shopper!
Post a Comment
