I began couponing in July of 2009, shortly after my family and I moved to the metro Atlanta area. We moved from Kentucky and ended up having to sell our house at a tremendous financial loss due to the soft real estate market. We actually ended up having to pay money to sell the house! This left nothing for a down payment on a new house in Georgia, not to mention paying for any moving expenses. We were almost ready to stay put, but the Georgia job opportunity (I am a stay-at-home mom) was just too good for my husband to pass up.
We found a house that we loved and really wanted to buy, but to be able to afford it (and to recoup the considerable financial loss from the old house), we had to budget ourselves pretty tightly. I tried to find a job for months, but had no luck. That’s when I heard about something called “extreme couponing” from a news item and decided to give it a try. I began amassing all the coupons I could get my hands on, asking friends and family for any leftovers, printing from whatever online sites I could find and purchasing the Sunday paper. My first trip using coupons was to my neighborhood Publix store. I had visited several couponing web sites to learn about what day the good sales began before shopping, so I felt pretty confident in my ability to pull this off. Little did I know that I would walk out an hour or two later with two carts full of food having spent less than $50!
After that, I was hooked! I started looking for bargains everywhere, scouring every online database I could find. I began looking for ways to save money on everything, not just groceries. I found a great secondhand clothing and furniture store in our neighborhood and started buying my clothes and home decor there. I started making my own bread (with the bread machine that had been gathering dust for 2 years in my cupboard), making my own baking mix (there are great recipes online), and stockpiled enough toiletries to last my husband, myself and our three boys for the next 2 years (and I am not exaggerating!). I even found ways to buy enough food that I could easily make regular donations to the food bank at our church. It makes me feel wonderful that not only am I helping my family to save, but I can help make life better for others as well.
So that’s my story. Things in our new home are still just as tight financially as they were when we moved here, but being able to feed my family of 5 on a budget of less than $500 a month (you heard right–I usually average about $475 per month on food, household cleaning items and toiletries) makes life a whole lot easier. I have a huge stockpile of food and I almost never have to run out to the store at the last minute to pick up something I’ve run out of.
One thing I must emphasize though….If you are going to be an “extreme couponer”, you MUST be a responsible and courteous one. Don’t try to cheat the system by using bogus coupons, or slip in expired coupons hoping the cashier won’t notice. Also, try not to be greedy. Don’t clear the shelves when you find a good deal. Talk to your customer service manager if you’d like to purchase a lot of a sale item; sometimes they will order extra just for you if you request it (I know for a fact that most Publix stores will do this). Let the cashier know at the beginning if you have a ton of coupons to use so that they can call someone over to open a new register if necessary! In short, work with the system so that the whole thing doesn’t break down.
Some of my friends look at my overflowing pantry cupboards and wonder why on earth I need that much stuff. I tell them that by stockpiling, I am paying the price I want to pay for things, not the price the store tells me I must pay. That usually quiets all the critics. I have even had people who were behind me in line at the grocery store stop me afterward and ask me how they can save as much money as I do. And I am all too happy to tell them.
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My name is Jill Johnson. My husband and I have been married for 22 years. My husband is a self-employed computer consultant, and I work part time in retail sales. We have two children ages 19 and 16. The 19-year-old is a freshman in college, so the reality of paying college tuition is now upon us. Like so many others in these economic times, I felt I needed to try to cut corners in any way possible.
I found Becentsable a few months ago when I was searching my library website for books about saving and couponing. I joined your “following” and am hooked on getting bargains. Couponing is my new hobby! It’s become a game for me to see how much I can save.
The bulk of my savings has been in grocery shopping. After reading your book I started paying more attention to the circulars for all the grocery stores in my area. I have since started shopping again at a store I had decided was too pricey and am regularly saving at least 45%on every shopping trip thanks to you! This store that I thought had the highest prices and no good deals is now my favorite place to shop. I can’t wait to show my family all my “treasures” from my shopping trips. The information I learned about timing my coupon usage with sales, stacking coupons, and using e-coupons has been fabulous!
My first shopping experience after reading your book was to Wal-Mart. I consulted your website, wrote down the deals I wanted to take advantage of, printed or clipped my coupons and off I went. When the clerk had rung up my purchase she said, “Wow! How did you do that?” I told her about Becentsable and your website, and wrote down the information for her so she could see for herself how easy it is.
Did you get the $20 free credit at RueLaLa that I posted about this fall? Don’t forget, your $20 credit will expire on Friday! I found a Leather Smartphone Case for $25.90.
I am a stay at home mother of six. We live on my husband’s income with the help of coupons, clearance sales, garage sales, and freebies.
I use the binder system with my baseball card holders to make it easier to see what coupons I have and the value for each. I divided my binder by the aisles in the store so that I can flip to a new section depending on the aisle I am shopping in and if I see a unadvertised sale. I try and remind myself that the coupon is only good if I have a need for that item. It still costs money to purchase something and if the item is something I really don’t need then it is still not a good deal for me.
We try to live with the less is more motto. We try to look at purchases and decide if it is really a need or just a want. I also remind myself at the stores that just because I got a really good deal and “saved” an amount of money that does not mean I have that “saved” amount of money to spend on something else. To truly save that amount means not to spend it on something else. We have a family joke of no “funny money accounting.”
I look to clearance racks, consignment stores, goodwill, and hand me downs for clothes. We are just now getting into the teenage years of wanting certain brands. I have recommended to the kids to ask for these special items from the grandparents for birthday gifts if you really want them or pay for them yourself. It has made them decide whether the “special” pair of jeans or shoes is really that special.
I try to plan out most of meals and we rarely eat out at a restaurant. I look at our local grocery store ads for the week sales and plan accordingly. I also try to keep our pantry stocked with quick and easy meal ideas (like our pizza pasta recipe) so that I am not looking for the take out pizza number instead of making a 15 minute meal.
We also take advantage of our local freecycle website. We both list items we no longer need and could be of use to others and also request certain items like extra barbie doll clothes or snowboots for one of the kids.
We garden and can or freeze most of the produce we don’t use fresh during the summer. We also utilize a clothesline and only just recently put it in for the winter because snow was in the forecast and I didn’t want to freeze my fingers hanging out towels on the line.
One more item that saves our family money is we visit our local library’s bookmobile every week. We have made dear friends with the librarians and enjoy all the wonderful books and videos they bring out every week and we can check out for free. We can also request items online and they will bring out the items each week. With six kids movies are a rare outing for us but with the free checkout of videos we can enjoy movie night at home with our own air popped popcorn (popper from freecycle) in our living room.
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