The Art of the Triple Play...And It Has Nothing To Do With Baseball

The triple play stocks our bathroom closet and, to a lesser extent, our pantry. As the name implies, it involves three equally-important factors:

1. A sale price
For the triple play to work, an item must be on sale. Sale is a relative term. To know if a sale price is truly a bargain price, shoppers have to know the regular prices of what they usually buy. This doesn't have to involve complicated spreadsheets or spending hours with a notepad in a grocery store. Just simply start paying attention to what you're buying and what you're paying. Look at the receipt. Then, begin looking at the circulars. Many are available online. Grocery stores and drug stores tend to have a three-month cycle. Everything's on sale once every three months. Those are the best times to strike for triple players.

2. A coupon
These are available online, in newspapers and magazines and even at grourocery stores. (Grap one or two when you see them on tearpads spread out the store even if you don't need them at the time.) When you get a booklet of coupons in the newspaper, save all the coupons. You don't have to clip them...but you may decide to try something new if you can get it for free (or even make a profit). And a terrific source of coupons, of course, is the new downloadable coupon section here on gather. Most stores will take online, although you might have to download the coupon policy from the grocer's Web site and educate clerks.

3. A rebate
The first two factors are easy to find and combine. The third one is a little less common, but it's worth looking for. Five or six years ago, these were only cash rebates. They were offered by manufacturers and stores (Rite-Aid and Walgreen's were probably the most popular). Now, I'm include  CVS bucks and Register Rewards (from Walgreen's). These spend like cash in the stores.  The only warning I offer is PAY ATTENTION TO THE EXPIRATION DATE. If you're new at this, you may want to plan your purchases. Make one purchase of the items that will give you CVS bucks. Then, pick up other sale items in the next order using your bucks so you don't risk losing or forgetting about the rebate. One caution: be very disciplined in the drug stores. Many non-sale items tend to be expensive. Buying one brand name OTC drug could wipe out your savings. So, only buy sale items or items you know are priced competitively.

These are the three things you need to combine. Tomorrow, I'll share a few other helpful sources, including where to find out about rebates and some changes that you might find happening to your shopping habits once you begin making triple plays. Sunday, I'll show you some examples form that week's circulars.

Thanks for reading my article. (Especially to my connections who don't bargain shop but always read my posts anyway.)