QUICK TIP--MORE MONEY SAVING STRATEGIES

In this frustrating era of super-inflation, it seems that there’s no way to keep up with price increases. I’d love to see inflation fly away—as would everyone. But in the meanwhile, I’ve found a few ways to save a few dollars here and there.

LOOK AT RECEIPTS

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again—Look at your receipt when you make a purchase, preferably before you leave the store. While mistakes can occur in any store, I’ve found that errors are especially prevalent in drugstores and supermarkets. Just within the last few weeks, I’ve saved a little over $30 by checking my receipts.

I had a 30% coupon at CVS. When the cashier rang up my purchase, I saw the 30% float across the screen. OK—discount applied. But the total sale seemed a little higher than what it should have been. I looked at the receipt. The 30% had not been applied. I have no idea how it disappeared, but I marched back to the cashier, showed her the receipt and had her calculate the lost savings. She then rebated about $30 that would have wound up in CVS’s pocket instead of in mine.

A few days later, I was grocery shopping at Giant. When I looked at the receipt, I saw that a coupon that I had give to the cashier hadn’t taken the appropriate discount. And the raisins that were marked $4.99 rang up at $5.49. With the two errors, I was overcharged by $1.37. I went to Customer Service and obtained a refund. While the $1.37 won’t make or break me, it’s still a problem. If there had been a long delay at Customer Service, I probably would have let it go. Later that week, I did ignore the fact that Trader Joe’s charged 99 cents for a cucumber that was priced at 89 cents. But on the whole, a few cents here and a few dollars there do add up.

ASK ABOUT PRICE MATCHING

Walking through Bloomingdale’s this summer, I saw a very pretty wallet on sale. I bought it. When I got home, remembering that Nordstrom was having their annual sale. I went online and checked to see if they carried the same wallet. They did carry it. And it was $20 less than I’d paid at Bloomingdale’s. Nordstrom will almost always match competitor prices. I’d never tried it at Bloomingdale’s. I emailed the Bloomingdale’s store manager to see if he would match the price. He was quick to say that they expect to price match during the Nordstrom sale and quickly credited the difference. Many businesses will price match. It never hurts to ask.

DEFECTIVE PRODUCT REPLACEMENT

I was using ground black pepper in a recipe a while ago. As I went to open the shaker part of a new McCormick can of pepper, I could feel the whole top start to separate. Fortunately, most of the excess pepper went into the sink. I thought that I’d just keep the pepper and be careful when I used it. But after a few attempts, and too much pepper cleanup, I decided to call McCormick. Before I called, I realized that my McCormick fennel didn’t have much fragrance. I might as well kill two spices with one call. Most food manufacturers have Customer Service phone numbers noted somewhere on the container. I called McCormick and explained the problem. The representative agreed to send me two $5 coupons to replace the pepper and the fennel. A quick call to a food manufacturer about a problem usually results in a replacement coupon. Why should you have to pay the price for the company’s error?

YOU CAN’T CONTROL INFLATION. BUT THERE ARE WAYS TO SAVE MONEY IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK TRANSACTIONS AND SPEAK UP