Unlock Hidden Savings Now: Spectacular Benefits Of Opening and Sorting The Mail

More reading in this category: Financial Freedom Forever: How Money Fuels the Life You Desire

Disclaimer:
The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial advice. The tips and suggestions shared here are based on general knowledge and personal experience. Your financial situation may differ, and it is always advisable to consult with a financial advisor or professional before making any decisions related to your personal finances. We do not accept any liability for any actions taken based on the information in this article.

Would it surprise you if you were told that you could potentially increase your bank account balance by opening and sorting the mail?

Have you ever thought to yourself…I’ll throw the mail over here and get to it later only to realize you now have weeks worth of mail to go through?

Sometimes it just takes a simple action to turn an often boring chore into a financial win.  Wondering how that’s possible?  Read on!

Know Your Types of Mail and Where to Look

Personal Mail

This type of mail is typically the mail you will be more interested in opening because it has a direct impact on you one way or the other.  Letters, statements, documentation around or needed for tax filings, correspondence directly related to business you’ve done with a company, legal notices, etc.  One of the best types of personal mail is a legitimate check for money owed to you.  Checks in the mail! This will add an instance boost to your balance. 

All the Other Mail

Mail used to be different but we have entered the age of tons of junk mail.  This typically involves mail you didn’t expect or ask for.  This type of mail targets you for advertising, signing up for an offer, entering a contest, selling you a product, or making you some sort of offer.  Credit card offers, catalogs, flyers, postcards for people or products, or sadly some sort of effort to swindle you out of some money by way of scam.     

Payments to You and Statement Savings

There are some great opportunities lying in your mailbox and inbox.  There’s still something I think most people enjoy about checking the physical mail.  You never know when life will throw you a good bone.

Regularly Check Personal Mail

There are still occasions where a company owes you money and will cut you a physical check.  If you never open your mail, you’ll never know it is there.  Free your money from the shackled envelope that keeps it from doing a happy dance in your bank account. 

One decent example of this is medical insurance.  If there is a refund owed to you because you paid too much on a medical visit, there is still a physical check that arrives in the mail.

If you sell a car but don’t buy a new one, the dealer may send you the amount in the mail for the amount agreed upon.

If you’re younger and still receiving birthday money from relatives, they may cut you personal checks by mail (yes some people still use them.)

Reviewing Your Account and Billing Statements

The good thing about reviewing your statements is you can quickly look at where your spending has been.   This helps easily spot fraud or an amount that doesn’t quite seem to be what it should.

If you deep dive into looking at your billing, you may see something instead of just a statement.  You may see  “opportunity.”  In other words, you may find an opportunity for “statement savings.”  If you are in a place where you are being very strict with budgeting and saving this should be a prime place to look to help you track your spending. 

Here are some examples of questions to potentially ask yourself:

• How many times did you go to XYZ place in a month? 
• How much did you spend on a specific category per month?
• Is your automated electric bill or water bill way higher than what it typically is this time of year?
• Is there a subscription service that you forgot you had and need to cancel?
• Did a bill go up and you didn’t realize it?
• Was something charged to you that shouldn’t have been?
• Are you making more coffee runs than you thought?

There are tons of questions like this that will pop in your head the more you do this type of exercise to find ways to make your account balance better than it was looking before.

Opportunities to Get Money Back

Cashback Offer Examples

Credit Cards

Various companies may send you offers for “cash back” like credit card companies.  For example, some credit cards advertise specific categories where you can earn a certain percentage of cash back on your purchase.  Other credit cards allow you to earn a statement credit once you have built up enough value from past purchases.

Insurance Companies

Advertisements for insurance companies will typically tout how they can save you money.  This may be by way of comparing their business to competitor rates or by offering a discount on bundling services.

Cellular Services

It is not uncommon to hear promotional sign up services on new customers to get a customer that is with their competitor.  For example, if you switch to XYZ company you will get a credit for your trade in.  

Banks

Some banks offer incentives to start accounts with them.  You may have heard something like “Deposit X amount of cash into a new checking or savings account and get back X amount after completing qualifying transactions.

Reward Programs

Many of the big business players have some type of rewards program.  The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this is gas stations.  By joining a rewards program, you may find you receive some cents off a gallon of gas when you fill up.

Second, many companies will offer within their program a birthday freebie (although many of these have dwindled in recent years.)

How many reward programs can you think of that you may get a promo for in the mail? 

Free Coupons in the Mail

Physical Coupons

One thing still remains true.  Manufacturers still issue physical coupons. 

By checking your mail you will still see the occasional physical mailing of coupons you can use at your local grocer.  If you gather your mail with others at a central location, sometimes people dump their coupon flyers which allow you to grab double the savings.

Have you ever gotten coupon booklets in the mail?

Having a Game Plan Saves You Time

It is important to organize coupons in some fashion if you have a lot of them as it gets overwhelming shuffling through them in the store.  The more you can plan ahead like perhaps ordering the coupons alphabetically or ordering them if you know the aisles by order in which you’ll shop the store will save you tons of time at the store.

Digital Coupons

Using digital coupons has gotten easier with many stores having their own application where you can quickly go in and search for digital coupons that you can apply directly to your items, total, etc. 

You often only have to create an account with the store of choice to browse and search for savings.  This makes organization a little bit easier than the physical coupon choice as the store applications will typically even tell you what aisle you can find your items after you select your store location.

The Coupon Trap

Sometimes the thought of saving money can be a bit of an addiction.  It is important to remember that if you don’t actually use the product or know it’ll go to waste, don’t buy it just because you have a coupon.

In the end, you will end up wasting money even though your intentions of saving money were on the right track.

Sign-Up Promotions

If you filter through your mail there are often services that may give sign up bonuses or special deals and discounts.

A few examples include: 

• Mobile services (Switch to XYZ company and get a free phone)
• Credit Card Offers (Receive $500 cash back when you spend $1500 in the first 90 days)
• Internet Services (Receive a discounted rate for 12 months upon new account sign up)
• Food delivery services (Sign up and get your first order free)

Real Life Experiment:  Opening Up Mail For Opportunities

What would happen to you if you sat down with a couple weeks’ worth of mail and had the mindset to actually really try to find monetary opportunities?

Let’s take a look at some of the things you may or may not find:

Account Billing Statements

There are some real meat and potatoes that can be found here to dig into your billing that can trickle into future savings.  Really analyzing some of the normal account statements that come in your mail can be fruitful when asking yourself some questions.

Offers

Here are some examples of offers gotten in the mail that could yield some future financial benefit:

• Bank Offer – Open a checking account and earn a $200 bonus after completing offer terms:
  • Register online with personal code.
  • Open a checking account by X date.
  • Set up direct deposit and make $1,000 or more of qualifying ACH direct deposits within 90 days of account opening.
  • Bonus is deposited within 60 days of meeting the above requirements.
  • Of course, read all the other fine print.
• Credit Card Offer – 25,000 bonus points after meeting terms of sign up:
  • Make $1,000 of purchases in the first 90 days (can be redeemed for statement credit.)
  • No annual fee
  • Of course, read all the other fine print.

Attempts to Sell You Things

• Appliance extended manufacturer’s warranty
• Vehicle extended warranty
• Life Insurance

Be sure to read all the fine print and do research on the cost of repairs as is compared to these types of offers regarding warranties to examine the likelihood you will actually use the warranty.

Sales, Promos, and Coupons

• Multiple grocery store sales flyers
• Restaurant Coupons
• Pizza delivery sales and coupons
• Window and door company flyer with promo
• Cellular service promo (for 4 devices with a locked in monthly rate for 5 years.)
• Furniture fall sales

Other

• 14 Additional flyers with voter marketing (election cycle) – More opportunities to research/learn about candidates with downstream financial impacts
• Voter’s ballot – although not immediate impacts, this will definitely impact your financial future depending where your votes go.

Managing and Sorting The Mail

Organizing your mail into categories as you work through it can make much of this easier.

• Urgent – regardless of the category this will need action ASAP
• Accounts and Billing
• Offers
• Sales, Promos, Coupons
• Other

As you go through each of the above categories you’ll likely make some more piles and priorities like:

• Needs Action
• File/Scan
• Shred
• Junk

Conclusion

As you can see in the above experiment, there is room to find savings, value, and offers that can give you future earnings within context of what is being offered.  There are also opportunities to analyze common grocer sales, restaurant coupons, and promos to reap savings that are more immediate.

While you may not find an immediate remedy for getting rich, it is very beneficial to not skip really looking at what comes in your mail.  Even if you owe money, are clawing back from debt, or getting unpleasant types of mail you are better in the know of your financial picture than in the dark.

Take some quiet time to go through and find as many golden nuggets as you can.  It is one activity that is well worth your time!