Sometimes the motivation you need to succeed is by hearing about other people’s victories.
This story comes from my reader Carmen:
I attended the Frugal Gals Couponing class on Monday, January 18th, 2010 and began my couponing adventures the next day.
Since that time I have received many emails and phone calls asking, “How do you do it?” “Is it legal?” “What are you doing with all of that “stuff?” “Are you really saving money since you are buying so much?” “How many stores do you go to?” Additionally, I get just as many comments like, “you are obsessed”, “couponing is taking over your life”, “I don’t have time to clip coupons”, “I can’t go from store to store like you do”, “I tried it and I didn’t save any money using coupons” and the list goes on and on.
The purpose of this writing is to give you a little insight about what I do, why I do it, and why I enjoy it so much.
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Like many people, our budget has been affected by the downfall of the economy. While all our needs have been met (Praise God!), there hasn’t been room for a lot of the extras that we had grown accustomed to. I personally do not work outside the home so we depend totally on my husband’s income. I have a VERY part time Pampered Chef business but to be quite honest, I have saved more in groceries since January than I earned in commissions last year as a consultant. To accommodate the “extras” that we were beginning to miss, I was looking for creative ways to either increase our income or decrease our expenditures. That’s when I learned of and literally invited myself to the Frugal Gals Couponing Class. J Quite honestly, those three hours changed my life.
I walked away from class that evening on fire and ready to save. I found it hard to sleep that night and woke up extra early the next morning armed with ammunition to save money. And I did. And I have been saving with every trip I have made to the grocery store since then. I will be completely transparent with you concerning my spending habits (surrounding my groceries, of course.) My husband gets paid on the 15th and the last day of the month and that is when I would do my major grocery shopping. Prior to couponing, I would spend between $250-$350 on groceries on payday alone. I would also make 4-5 trips per week to the store to replenish fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. So on average; I was ALREADY going to the grocery store 5-6 days a week. That’s an important fact for you to know. During those additional trips, I would spend between $10-$30 depending on the need for that day.
Now, I spend $60-$80 on major trips on payday and between $0-$20 on the additional days. The most important difference is every time I go to the store now; I purchase $120-$300 worth of groceries while only paying $0-$35 for them. Would I typically pay $20-$300 for groceries 5 days a week? Absolutely not! But thanks to couponing, I am able to purchase that much food for a fraction of the cost. Ordinarily, would I walk into a store and purchase 30 bottles of laundry detergent? Again, absolutely not! However, if I could get them free & only pay $4.61 tax, why wouldn’t I? There have also been several occasions when I received my purchases FREE and got money back. So for those who ask me why do I get so much, my question for you is, “If I can get exponentially more for less than the cost of one, Why not?!”
Many of you are probably asking, what is she doing with all of that food? Well, I’ll tell you that too. I do have a decent stockpile in my pantry, in storage cabinets in my garage and all three of my freezers (yes, I said three freezers) are full. However, the majority of my purchases have been given away. My church has an initiative called “All Things In Common” in which food, toiletries, clothing, and domestic products are given to anyone that needs them. This initiative is not funded by the church but depends solely on the donations it receives. Because of the economy, donations have been low and we have not been able to serve the community the way we used to in the past. A lot of the items I have purchased have been donated to this cause. When I first joined Total Grace 9 years ago, I remember my Senior Pastor, Bishop Alvarado saying that everything that comes into your hands is not yours to keep. (As a matter of fact, he said it again today.) I have adopted that philosophy as my own and it is one of the principles that govern my life. My couponing has allowed me to be a vehicle in which to bless others. That alone is reason enough for me to invest time into couponing successfully. As I bless God’s people, He continuously blesses me.
Couponing has also given me the opportunity to try new things that I ordinarily would not have tried: either because of cost or because I just didn’t know the item existed. Now, we are able to try new foods for a quarter or less and I don’t feel as if we’re being wasteful if we don’t like it and throw it away. Admittedly, some things we didn’t like and couldn’t even swallow while others we absolutely loved and those have become part of our diet.
I do go to the stores several times a week and I do go to several stores…but understand, that’s what works for me. As I mentioned earlier in this writing, it was my habit long before I began couponing. It may not and most likely, probably will not work for you. But the beauty of couponing is that everyone does what is best for them. The class exposed me to many methodologies. I tried several and utilize the ones that best fit my lifestyle.
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal several weeks ago that suggested that the savings from couponing equated to an hourly rate of $86.40. I haven’t been in the workforce for quite some time but even with an undergraduate degree, several certifications, as well as specialized classes and many years of experience under my belt, I never made close to $86.40 an hour! The article goes on to state, “Furthermore, money saved comes with an additional benefit. Unlike the money you earn at work, it is tax free. No payroll taxes. No federal or state income tax. If your marginal tax rate were, say, 20 percent, you would have to earn $108 before tax to take home $86.40. If your marginal tax rate were 30 percent, you’d have to earn $123.”
I only included that information for those that say that they don’t have time to coupon. And that is fine for you but my response to you is that, “I can’t afford not to.” Couponing is the highest paying and most rewarding position I have ever held. My only regret is that I didn’t learn this art sooner.
Do you have an inspirational story to share? If so, please email it to me so I can feature it on the blog!
Yeah, that was my wife who said that! Proud of you babe!
Loved this post!!!!!!!!!
What a great perspective! Thanks, Carmen!
I love it! Your story is so great and full of inspiration. Im very new to couponing and have saved a ton of money but I have also had many problems with the stores around me and their salespeople being very rude with me. I absolutely agree with you that we should coupon if we have time because it saves sooo much money. I just wish I knew what to do with the clerks and managers not accepting coupons or following their store policies. I went to Rite Aid yesterday and had a girl basically tell me every single coupon was unusable, when in fact they were all usable. I would like to attend a coupon class but I don’t know how to go about finding one. Any suggestions?
HI! I have the perfect solution…US :-) We are Frugal Gals and we teach Coupon Classes ! We are local right now to the Atlanta area but we also do Webinars! We actually have another one coming up this Sunday at 3:30. Look us up on Facebook as your ‘Deal Search Engine’ (we are not currently active on our blog http://www.frugalgals.net but it is still up) and you will find info on our webinars as well as photos and stories from our past students to help show that we really can teach you how to help your budget and family! God Bless !
Frugal Gals
I love reading stories like this. My bf and I both have “professional jobs” and make pretty decent money by most people’s standards. Unfortunately, (sometimes fortunately, it’s not all bad) we live in NYC where the cost of living is out of control. Sometimes I get dirty looks of big sighs from people waiting in line behind me, but that’s there problem. I just smile a big smile and take a few seconds to find a quarter in my change purse to pay for the $50 dollars worth of product that the store just paid me to leave with.
Statistics show that most couponers are middle to upper class and have college degrees. So what if people think I’m a little weird (debt-free is weird, right?). I embrace my couponing and happily pull that smart source insert out of bf’s Wall Street Journal every Saturday morning.
Debt-free is totally weird. :-)
How’s this for weird — My husband and I put down almost 40% on our first home last year, when so many people cannot even do 20%. This is when I had a very solidly middle-class salary and he had NO JOB. But we’re savers, so we could do it. Weird is good.
I love a good deal. I will get all excited and show anyone that will look my receipt. I recently got 60 bags of halls cough drops for 0.00! I donated a ton of these but i figures if i had the coupons i should get them and help someone else! My problem with couponing is i get dirty looks and some people seem disgusted with me. I dont get this. I am a single mom at 22 so I have to save. Why do I get looked at like I am diseased? And I get nasty comments thrown at me. While at publix the other day I was getting my halls ( i got them in batches of 10 to keep shelves full) and there was a woman buying 6 bags with no coupons so i offered her 3 of my coupons and she said ” Oh noo” so i explained they would make her cough drops free and since she was buying so many she should use them. she replys” Oh thats disgusting why would I do that? I can afford to pay for my stuff I’m not trash” Oh man that made me angry. I am not trash. I told her that I love couponing and saving money it has opened alot of doors for me. I am now donating about 200-300 worth of groceries a month to local food banks. If that makes me trash fine but at least I am selfless trash.
Wow! 60 bags! That is really awesome.
I’m sorry that lady was so rude to you! That is just horrible.
Oh wow, that woman was unbelievably rude. If she really didn’t like coupons, a simple “No thank you” would have sufficed. Does she go out of her way to avoid sales, too, I wonder? … because, as non-trash, she can surely afford to pay full price.
Yes I got 60 bags. LOL I donated about 40 of them to our churches food bank along with some other stuff from cleaning my stock pile. I then distributed the rest to friends and family. And i have like 5 bags in my pantry. Never know when you will need them. I get people that are downright nasty. I live in an area that could be called redneck at best… so when this lady was reeming me about being trash standing there in her flip flops and walmart garb I was just in shock!
I loved this story and the points about everyone can coupon. I get very tired of people telling me they don’t have time or could never do it. My husband and I both work part time, we both are full time college students and we have 4 children ages 5,4,2 and 1. One of our kids has autism and as such we have NO babysitter/daycare etc. The kids are either with my husband or with me, and I still find time to coupon. At our house it is a family affair, we will stop at stores on our way to school, work, etc. We haven’t paid for toiletries in over a year. For a while I had 4 kids in diapers and the amount I saved by couponing alone with that made it worth it. We have been hit hard by the economy- my husband lost his job, etc. Add that to therapy and medical bills we literally were scraping by. Now after couponing for over a year we will officially be debt-free (besides our mortgage) next month. This is huge because we are a family of 6 that currently lives on less then $18,000 a year (we do receive food stamps which help a lot-I coupon with these too and make them stretch and last.)
Carmen,
Dee and I wanted to say thank you for this great letter. You took couponing and turned it into a passion not only to save but to give. You are a great friend and an AMAZING all around person!
Also a great big thank you to Couponing to Disney, we love your site and concept!! We typically just run our facebook site now and have become a deal search engine for our followers! We scout the deals and post them on facebook- we are constantly sharing all the great deals you post!!!
For anyone who is new or knows someone who is looking to learn more about couponing please feel free to check us out on Facebook (Frugal Gals) we teach locally in Atlanta but also teach Coupon Class Webinars!!! Check us out!
Happy Savings Everyone!!
Dee & Kylee
Thanks for sharing! I too look forward to my shopping sprees to see how far I can stretch my dollar – and also feel great knowing that I am able to share the benefits w/ family, church, homeless shelters and anywhere else my “extras” may be needed. Keep up the great work inspiring others to do the same!
Great story! I have been couponing for over a year now and try to explain to people that for me it is equivalent to a part time job as far as savings. I actually had a grocery store cashier last week ask me to look for her whenever I checked out since she was so blown away at how much money I saved!
I agree with the story. I am a registered nurse and my husband is a cop, so we have a two family income, but how can any family NOT have a need to save money? To those who say they don’t have the time…I can bet you that they are watching 10 or more hours a week of T.V., this is a great time to cut and organize coupons. If you are organized, you can hit all the grocery stores and the pharmacies in one day. My daughter and I do this on Saturday or Sunday. I only go once a week. I get jokes made all the time at the amount I am buying until I tell them the amount I paid! The money I save now in groceries helps to pay for our daughter’s college because we do not qualify for any type of funding. So, again, I say, how can anyone NOT have the time? I, also, send the extras to my family members when they need a helping hand. I find it a wonderful blessing to be able to help others with the help I have found on this website and in couponing. It is sad people continue to be blind to things that are in front of their faces. Kudos to all of us who are taking advantage of what is there and using it for good and to help our families in this economy!
Thank you for sharing your story! What a wonderful way to practice being good stewards of the gifts God blesses us with!
Thanks to everyone for your positive responses and to Kristin for giving me an avenue to share my story. I recognize that it’s easy to get discouraged when first beginning to coupon so it was my hope that I could motivate those who may be considering it to start or those contemplating quitting to stick to it. This blog is very instrumental to my couponing success and I feel honored that my story was chosen to be posted.
Thanks for sharing and reminding me that I need to get some can goods together for school tomorrow. Our preschool collects can goods to give to a food bank once a month. The teacher are using the products to teach the kids letters and words, so cool!!
Great story! How is little Mason doing?
A very well written post. Thank you Carmen for sharing your story — you are an inspiration! Kristin — thank you so much for such a wonderful site.
Excellent way of putting things and true to the heart!
Carmen and Kristin – This is a fabulous post! Not only is it an inspiring testimony of how you are saving money for your family and living within the means that God has blessed you with, it is also inspiring for the testimony of God working in your life. This was motivating to hear. Thank you so much for posting this. This is just what I needed to read today. Thanks!
Good article. Thanks for sharing.
Carmen, kudos to you and I love the way you break it down by earnings per hour. I’m a Mom of 3 and work full-time, so I could definitely use the extra money that comes with couponing. I got to be honest, I started it months ago, then just gave up. It took too much time and I take the time to see the benefit. By boys are eventually going to eat me out of the house (and pocketbook) unless I start saving money by couponing.
I too am a full time working mom of 3 boys. I have always couponed, but never really stockpiled. That is my mission this next year, because I was spending so much on food with the boys eating habits. I have found that the strategy of getting multiple coupons on items we eat has really helped, some weeks I am now going out and getting 3 newspapers. This week I was able to get salad dressing and butter for free. Wish I had more of the coupons, instead of just 3. Keep with it, it is worth the savings.