I’ve been very happy and very successful in using coupons to schedule my month. I’m finding much more time in my days (as much as 7 hours a week saved) just by prioritizing what I need to do based on how it can save me money doing it in a particular order. I’m also saving over US$12 a day just by using coupons and by focusing on specials (daily specials or TV advertisements). The only problem I had is that savings from coupons and specials were not real savings — I “saved” money only to have more money to spend frivolously.

Now I’m changing my tune and finding a new definition of “saving money” with coupons and sales — not quite a new definition since it is closer to the old fashioned definition. Now, when I “save” money on a purchase, I really save it. After the purchase is complete, I review the receipt for the preferred customer savings and coupons. I highlight these savings when I get home and I toss the receipt into a folder. When I go out and buy bullion, I tack on to my usual purchase the full amount of savings I found in my purchases. This turns a coupon’s virtual savings into true savings: bullion savings. That US$12 a day I’m saving translates to about 6 ounces of gold a year!

I’m also looking for other ways to focus on true savings, such as rebates. I am one of the worst people ever when it comes to rebates. I’ve literally thrown away hundreds of dollars in 2005 alone by not mailing in those forms. Now I have good reason to do so — instead of getting back paper dollars to spend needlessly, I will throw that rebate check into the folder and use it to convert the worth-less paper into bullion savings. The incentive of getting gold and silver for my rebates might actually get me responsible in mailing the forms in properly. We’ll see, though; I promise to follow up the next time I have a rebate to redeem.

If you go shopping and realize a price reduction because of a coupon, a preferred buyer card or another incentive, it really isn’t savings unless you’re saving it. If you turn around and blow that new-found money on junk, you’re right back to where you were before you clipped coupons — even worse, you now have more junk you have to take care of, find room for, and use. You also lost valuable time shopping for the junk you might never use. Consider doing what I do — convert your paper savings into real bullion savings each time you add more real money to your savings portfolio.

Discuss this article at the gold investment forum.

Friday came around and around 6pm I realized that I had absolutely zero fiat currency on me. I figured the better half had some cash in her purse, but she, too, was down to her last US$20 bill. Oops. One problem in not using a bank is that it can be really easy to fall short on the weekends if you tend to put all your extra cash from your paycheck into hard money cash.

We had planned on a dinner out on Friday (in celebration of winning a nice contract) as well as some grocery shopping. Both could be put off until the next Wednesday (when I was expecting another check to come in), but we had really wanted to go get a good steak and a glass of wine. I have a few restaurants that accept silver bullion in payment, but we had our hearts set on a new restaurant that I was going to review for my site that deals with restaurants in Lake County, IL, the county I live in.

6pm on Friday meant the banks were closed, anyway. We don’t use an ATM or a credit card, so there was no hope there. So I grabbed 10 ounces of silver eagles and headed off to the local mall — the local coin shop there is one of the better mall shops around.

5 minutes in and out and I had a little over US$120 in my pocket in fiat currency. It might have been faster than 5 minutes, actually, but that includes parking. The Freaky Blonde waited in the car.

I usually don’t convert from metal to paper, but in this case I knew it wouldn’t be a bad transaction. Since silver was selling for around US$12.30, I figure I was out about US$3 (I can buy silver eagles for close to spot if not below, depending on the transaction). I recall my ATM days and I usually lost about that in ATM and banking fees anyway.

In the long run, I probably should have put off the steaks and wine and groceries until Wednesday, but it was nice to know that I had the option there — and it was a quicker transaction than the bank.

Even better news: I called the shop today to find out how much it would cost to buy my silver back, and the gent was generous enough to sell it back to me for 50 cents an ounce over what he bought it for. So even if spot goes up, I’m out a maximum US$5 for the 5 day “loan” against my silver.

One nice thing about living on a personal gold standard (silver standard?) is that you can live paycheck to paycheck on fiat dollars but still have a nice nest egg you can liquidate. In MOST situations where we’ve been short of fiat dollars, though, we DON’T go out and convert metal to paper — unlike the ATM or the credit card where every weekend can be an evening of steaks and wine and more groceries than one household can handle. For me, the bullion is there for exactly these purposes — safety, protection against runaway inflation and also stability. I don’t sell metal on impulse, and I definitely don’t sell it unless I have good reason.

Discuss this article at the gold investment forum.