June 6, 2009

FAQ-pon (see what I did there? Funny, huh?)

I'm starting to get some good questions from folks about how things will work, and I figured it would be best to keep editing a single post and adding the questions with a link over here on the left than to do post after post of answering general questions or hiding answers that may be interesting to someone else within the comments.

  1. What can you do with Buy One/Get One (BOGO) offers?
    Oddly enough, this experiment isn't necessarily about saving as much money as possible. It is simply determining what you can and can't get with a coupon and how well you can live within the constraints of purchases made strictly with coupons. The BOGO offers will simply help me save money on items for which I already have a coupon, since at most stores you can purchase just one of the items for half price. Technically, I suppose since it is BOGO I would only need one coupon as the second item is free, but ethically, I'm not sure if I will do that since I know I can just buy one for half price!
  2. Are you only using coupons from the Sunday papers?
    No. As a matter of fact, I don't think I would have even thought to do this project if it hadn't been for all the coupons I've been receiving via email or finding online lately. It seems like I'm able to find a little more variety for the products I want and use, so it makes the experiment a little easier on me :-) Any coupon - paper or virtual - is fair game.
  3. Can you use online coupons?
    Absolutely. If it's a coupon - including a coupon code - it's in play.
  4. What if you get a coupon for an item that is contingent on the purchase of another item - such as $2.00 of any fresh meat purchase with the purchase of salad dressing (I'm not making that up. I used that coupon a few weeks ago!) - Can you use it?
    Yes...but only if I have a coupon for the contingent item. Since the project involves my purchasing only items that I have coupons for, then I have to stay true to that aspect of the experiment. Otherwise I feel I would open up a lot of other loopholes and the experiment would lose its (possibly imagined) integrity.
  5. What if something is free?
    Well, if it's free, then I don't have to buy it and therefore I do not need a coupon!
  6. What about discounts available from places such as AAA or Credit Unions?
    Unless it's free, if I ain't got a coupon, I ain't gettin' it!

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