Hi, my name is Penny and I am a 29 year old stay-at-home mom to my 2 wonderful kids.  Like many of you out there, staying at home with my kids for their first few years was financially the better choice for our family.  But as my kids got older and economic times got harder, I started to look for ways to contribute financially to the family budget.  Thus began my adventures in couponing.   I am still relatively new to couponing myself, but I love shopping, getting a good deal, and, more importantly, saving my family money.  So now I would love to share some of what I have learned with you and maybe help you save some money for you and your family.

Pat and Oscars currently has a $5 off of a $25 purchase if you join their Breadstick club. They send a periodic email with new specials. Check it out.

My name is Neva and couponing is my new addiction.

I must admit, I’ve always considered myself a smart shopper. As a teenager I would take my mother’s grocery list and buy everything she would normally spend, but save a third of the cost in the process. She considered this a huge gift.

With the economy getting tougher, I’ve found a way to cut back on expenses to compensate as such. However, the one place I refuse to cut back is the grocery store. Food is not an option–it’s a necessity of life.

I am now hooked to TLCs new series “Extreme Couponing”. My boyfriend and I watch it in utter amazement. We’ve talked about trying it but at a more sensible rate. We don’t need a stockpile to take over half of our house, and I definitely don’t want to spend 3 hours at a checkout as a cashier tediously rings up coupons. I’ve decided to try it but only with food and other products that we USE and NEED. After finding out 2 days ago that a good friend of mine (Penny) has been doing it for a few months, I decided to give it a try.

Yesterday I bought the Sunday paper and scoured the circulars. CVS caught my eye in a big way. They have a program called “extrabucks”, where you are rewarded with a cash value coupon upon payment, redeemable next time you shop. I made a shopping list, did the math, and then went shopping. Everything came out as planned. I spent approximately $42.00 and walked away with $18.00 worth of store credit. The cashier seemed extremely surprised. There is a 30-day time frame for these coupons to be utilized.

After careful consideration, I’ve decided to go back to the store and buy some of the same products with the store credit and then walk away with a lot of the same coupons to re-use on the same or new items. This way I’m cutting that initial $42.00 lower and lower so that I’m receiving my products for as little as possible.

After getting home I took another look at the Rite-Aid circular. They had toothpaste on sale for $2.99 and would give you what their store calls “+Up” rewards (cash value coupons), for the same amount, upon payment of the transaction. I bought the maximum amount allowed to purchase in one transaction (4). My total was $11.96 and I walked away with $11.96 in coupons to go buy more products! I see this as a complete success. Whatever I buy with those coupons is free.

With a little more research I’ll go back and buy more things that I’ll get more cash value coupons for. So far, this is going better then I could have hoped for. I’ve also started collecting new store rewards cards that I can load with coupons at home for maximum monetary benefit. My next goal is grocery stores. I’ve started reading up on different store’s coupon policies and just need help on a “game plan”. I’d like to walk in and buy what I need with as little hassle as possible. I’m interested in hearing how others accomplish this task, so please feel free to share your stories and tricks of the trade with me!!

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