Guest Post: How to Keep Track of your Rebates, Coupons and Freebies!

Guest Post by one of my loyal readers, Freebie Fran:

Collin’s site is all about helping us save money, so I thought I’d show you another way to save money. If there are any products that you use all the time and don’t get enough coupons for those items or don’t get coupons at all, you can call the company to request coupons. On most packages you will find their toll free number. Just call that number and let them know that you use their product, then ask if they'd be willing to send you coupons (not every company will send you coupons, but you will find a lot of them that do). Also, ask how often you can call for more coupons.

Okay, at this point you should have the company name, the company phone #, and how often you can call. Now I will walk you through a spread sheet providing you have Microsoft Excel… this is the page that has all the cells (blocks). What I did was type the company name and their phone #, then I highlight, bold, and underline it and use a different color for each company, although black is fine. Directly under the company name I typed in parenthesis how often I can call (once a month, once every 6 months, etc.). Directly under that I type the date I called for the coupons and who I spoke with. That’s it… then you do this for every company you contact. One company can use up to 3-4 cells. You can get 6 companies across the page. The length of the page is pretty much endless. Once you get what you requested, you can either delete the date you called or check it off.

Just remember, every time you make a change in your document, you must save your changes. My save button is on the same line as the print button, or you can hit “Control + S”. When you first get out of Excel, it will ask you to name your document. I use “Coupon Requests”. When you need to go back into Excel, click your start button, click documents, and double click “coupon requests”. Every month, just check your spread sheet to see who you need to call. This can also be done in one of your free notebooks, if you don’t have Microsoft Office.

You can do this with lots and lots of different companies, and you will also get to know the people you speak to. I’ve have actually made a few new friends. New friends and coupons to boot… what more can you ask for!

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Here’s something else that might be of help. I’ve often read where some of you don’t remember when you requested a freebie or ordered something on line. You can make a document in Microsoft Word that is quite easy.

I like Microsoft Word because you can alphabetize your list to make is easier to find what you are looking for. Once you are in Microsoft Word, type the company name, the date you requested the freebie, and what you are to receive. If you order things on line, you can include this or make a separate document (your choice). By putting the company name first, you can use “A to Z” at the top to put the company names in alphabetical order (I love this feature). Every time you request something, order something, or do a rebate, you will include it in Microsoft Word. When you received what you expected, you can delete that entry. When you add something new, you will click “A to Z” again. As I mentioned above, you will need to name your document. I use “Rebates” because rebates are included… you can use “Freebies”, or whatever you like.

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Hip2Save here: Do you keeping track of your rebates, freebies and/or coupon requests? If so, how do you go about doing this? If you don't, what is your reasoning? Do you feel it takes too much time? I'd love to hear your thoughts!