Money Saving Tips from
QuickBooks Expert Mary Longacre
June 2003 issue
Could you use a break on
what you pay for office supplies and equipment?
Here are a number of ways
to save money on everything you buy!
- Sign up for mailing or email lists from the
major office supply stores. I just received a coupon from Office
Depot for $20.00 off, on a purchase of at least $100.00.
OfficeMax sends me an email every month with a list of
specials and a coupon. This month their offer is for $50.00
off of a $250.00 purchase.
- Look for preferred customer programs.
- Office Depot has a "Star Teacher" discount card for teachers
which gives them 5% off most items when purchased in person in the
store. (Since I teach my "Introduction to QuickBooks" class
through the City of Alexandria's Adult Education program at TC Williams, I was
able to get a card.)
- Staples has a Business Rewards Program, good on most
merchandise and best for customers who will be spending over $100.00 per month
with them, or an automatic 2% discount on everything you pay for with your
American Express card if you're not in the Business Rewards Program. You
can't combine the discounts, unfortunately.
Staples Business Rewards Program:
Office Depot Star Teacher Card:
(pick up an application in the store, not available
online.)
- Many stores and websites offer a coupon for your
first purchase or for opening a charge account.
- OfficeMax is currently offering a $15.00 credit to anyone
opening a business credit account and making a purchase of over $150.00.
- It can be worthwhile to shop from all sorts of
sources if they are giving away bonuses. For instance Half.com is
currently offering $5.00 to a first-time purchaser who spends at least
$25.00. ( I found out about this last offer by visiting
Dealcatcher.com, where they list rebates and offers
of all kinds.)
Open an OfficeMax Business credit account:
Half.com first time purchaser coupon:
- Be on the lookout for any sort of rebate or free
offers. Check the stores' weekly sale circulars; look on the
coupon board that is usually either near the entrance to the store or near
the customer service counter; check the product manufacturer's website; ask at
the customer service counter in the store; look on the shelf where the
product is displayed; carefully read any packaging or inserts. Look
for "rebate center," "clearance," "special offers," etc, kinds of
links on the office supply websites to see everything they currently have
available.
For instance, Hewlett Packard is constantly offering
"Buy two (or four) and get something free" kinds of deals on their ink
cartridges and specialty papers, and all sorts of rebates on their
printers. Currently HP is offering a free copy of Quicken 2003 Home &
Business software (a $79.95 value) with the purchase of selected ink cartridges
through their website. I recently used the discount coupons I got from
the office supply stores to save money on the purchase of the ink
cartridges, then turned in my proofs of purchase to HP for the
software offer to upgrade my old version of Quicken for free.
Another offer I've taken advantage of recently
is from Office Depot. Until the end of the year,
they will give you a free ream of paper for any used ink or toner
cartridge you bring into the store. (None of the original packaging is
needed with the return, and there are no forms to fill out- just bring the
cartridge in!)
Free offers from HP:
www.hpshopping.com (There are many
offers, so you need to explore the site to find the ones that are good for
you.)
- If you're ordering the products you need online, you
can use a price comparison site to find the best price on an
item. www.froogle.com is my favorite. I
looked up my printer, the HP D145, and it told me that Office Max was selling it
for $399.00, when most other stores' prices were nearer $500.00, or more!
It's easy to use the internet to check prices, then
either call the store to confirm they have the item in stock at that price, or
place the order online for delivery. Make sure you can qualify for free
shipping for any online orders so that your savings don't evaporate at the
checkout.
Despite "always in stock" guarantees, I've found that
I've wasted trips to the stores looking for the exact ink cartridge or deal that
I want. Call first to save time and trouble if you need an item right
away! I recently went to Costco in Fairfax to get
a particular software program I needed to complete a project the next day.
Even though I had called first to make sure it was available, when I got to the
store, they couldn't find it. I asked them to call the Springfield store
and find out if it was available there. Not only was the manager happy to
do this for me, he also told the Springfield store to expect me and admit me a
few minutes after closing in order to complete my purchase. I wasn't happy
about the extra time it took, but I really appreciated Costco's effort to fix
the problem for me, instead of sending me away empty-handed.
- Don't forget to check Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, Best
Buy, amazon.com, half.com, etc., and other discount retailers (both the
local stores and the websites) to see if they carry the products you need at
better prices than the office supply stores. When I wanted to buy a new
ADC street map of Northern Virginia, I didn't pay full price at the supermarket
or newsstand. First, when I was at Staples, I noticed that they
were selling the maps at 10% off every day. Then I checked amazon.com
and found they were offering 20% off!
Amazon.com:
www.amazon.com
- Take advantage of low price
guarantees. If you purchase from Office Max and find the
identical item available somewhere else for a lower price, they say they will
refund you 115% of the difference between the prices. Staples offers
a similar 110% low price guarantee. Office Depot only guarantees that they
will match any lower price. See their websites for details and
restrictions. Most of the time these price matches are good for up to 14
days after you make a purchase. So keep an eye on prices even after you've
spent your money, and you may find that you can get some of it back if the
things you bought go on sale after you've bought them!
OfficeMax Low Price Guarantee:
Staples Low Price Guarantee:
Office Depot Low Price Guarantee:
(this link may be broken into two lines because it is so long-
just copy both halves into your browser to get the full link.)
- Inquire about trade-in programs if you are
replacing old equipment. Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, and Gateway are three
companies that I know about which will give you credit for trading in your
old equipment.
HP's trade-in program:
Lexmark's trade-in program:
Gateway's PC trade-in program:
Coming in the
August issue: Taking advantage of perks and rewards
programs.
Please send feedback! Feel free to reply to this
message with any comments or suggestions you have for the newsletter, or to
subscribe to receive future issues. I hope it has been helpful!
Your email address will not be given to
any other party.
All prices and offers are subject to change. All
trademarked names are the properties of their respective
owners.
-Mary Longacre, QuickBooks Expert
Custom Accounting Solutions, LLC
PO Box 25821
Alexandria
VA 22313
Remember- the easiest way to get a lower price is to ask for
it!