Frugal Family: Don't Ignore Free Money!

For some of us, clipping coupons saves a few cents here and there but for others, like Lower Macungie resident Linda King, coupons can save hundreds.

King has been an “extreme couponer” since her late teens.

“I started cutting out coupons when I was in college.  I was broke and supporting myself. I remember a box of cereal was $4. The grocery store doubled coupons, so I started buying a Sunday newspaper to get coupons to buy food and have not stopped since,” King explains.

Since then, she has saved almost half on her monthly grocery bills.

Fortunately, King is willing to share her secret.

The trick is to match manufacturers’ coupons from the Sunday paper to weekly specials offered by big box stores.

You can buy the Sunday paper for $1 at any “dollar” store. This allows you to get multiple sets of coupons to use and to keep on hand. In the long run this equals huge savings, for some, thousands each year.

Online blogs can tell you the great deals you can get in combination with each week’s circular coupons.

HotCouponWorld.com has forums for different stores such as Giant, CVS, Target, and Walmart. It’s a national website that extends to local stores as well. Other coupon sites such as Couponcravings.com and AOL's Shortcuts.com are well-known for their savings.

Let's take Walmart, for example.  Johnson & Johnson’s Reach floss is regularly $.97.  The J&J coupons offer $1 off each item. Essentially, consumers get $.03 back for buying it, if other items are purchased within the same transaction.

By using weekly coupons along with current sales, King is able to build CVS credit, which is then transferred to additional savings on future orders with “Extra Care Bucks." 

“It’s beautiful!” exclaims King.

King says she’ll stock up on Sunday papers if she sees coupons for “buy one, get one free” deals since it’s inevitable that one or more of the big box stores will offer a good sale at some point.

Clearance sections are not to be missed either.

King makes out like a bandit on products such as hair color. Clairol Natural Instincts and Nice ‘n Easy is occasionally on clearance at CVS for just $2. With a $2 manufacturer’s coupon, King gets these items for free as well, and they still add value to her accumulating CVS "Extra Care Bucks."

A report from another popular couponing website, Coupons.com, says "more than $1.2 billion in digital coupons savings was issued in 2010, representing a 41 percent growth over the year before."

That's some serious savings!

Interestingly, the report concluded "adults with a household income of over $100,000 are twice as likely to have redeemed coupons printed from an online source than adults with household income less than $35,000. Also, adults with college degrees are almost twice as likely to have used coupons in the prior six months as those who didn’t graduate from high school."

“It’s free money the manufacturers are giving out, so it’s crazy not to take advantage of it!” King said.

She admits it takes a ton of time and a lot of effort.

“There’s no greater thrill than coming home with several bags of stuff for free because you cut out coupons,” King concluded.