I mean if you’re going to be a goddess…it might as well involve coupons. Right?
How many of you have crossed through the blogosphere and called a blogger? Huh? Huh? Yeah, it’s weird. That’s why I did it. I picked up my phone and called Melanie from The Coupon Goddess, but only after I suggested we chat on Facebook. However, Melanie didn’t want to mess around, she had 30 minutes of being alone in her house without her four kids, so I might as well call and ask her some very important questions.
Fist let me admit that I’m a coupon drop-out. I know we’ve talked about couponing several times here and some of us agree that it is just too time consuming and we just don’t get it. Then I read about how The Coupon Goddess saved $52,000 last year using coupons and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.
The woman saved $52,000….because of coupons. What the what…what the freaking what is she doing to save that much money?
So, I gave her a call and it went a little something like this:
Me~ Melanie?
Her~ April?
And with that we got our introductions out of the way and I told her to please excuse me while I hacked up a lung, because I’m dying of Consumption. My funeral will be a week from Tuesday. I’ve been using this little coughing joke for about three weeks now and even I have stopped laughing. Thank you for reading the state of my health, now on with this crazy coupon business.
Melanie, like many of us was a young stay at home mom with a baby and it doesn’t take long to realize that diapers are not cheap so she decided she would help contribute to her family by trying to save as much at the store as possible. That was twelve years ago and now she’s a pro.
I had to ask Melanie a few burning question:
Me~ Okay, so what about us crazy folk that want to eat more natural foods and avoid high fructose corn syrup? It seems like a lot of the coupons in my paper are for stuff I won’t buy.
The Coupon Goddess suggested that I go straight to the websites of the snack foods I prefer and search for discounts there. The coupons are out there, we just have to do some searching. So, I did some searching…
First I tried to find Kashi cereal or cookie coupons and I was led to the website, but they were currently out of coupons. I could sign up to get email alerts when they had more, I decided not to. My next search was for True North snacks coupons, again I struck out with anything on their website. Um…Goddess, please help me. I decided to try one last time with Newman’s Own products. And finally, Old Blue Eyes didn’t let us down! Newman’s Own has an entire page dedicated to coupons. Okay, so I’m seeing how a few minutes of searching could save me some money.
Next question…
Me~ What do you say to people like me that really don’t want to go to several different stores to shop for the deals? I mean…it just sounds really…..hard and labor intensive.
The Coupon Goddess paused for a moment and said, “Suck it up!” I knew I liked this girl and she’s right, we all know she is. She led me to really think about it. Yeah, we have to drive ten or fifteen minutes to the next store, but what if we save $50 at that store? What if we save $150? I think that might be worth the ten minutes and the gallon of gas. She also said she dedicates certain days and times to her shopping and she’s a serious shopper, so she doesn’t linger in the store, she gets what she’s wants and then she’s out the door. Unless she’s on one of her epic-savings trips, then she might spend significant time in one store. But, my goodness, does the woman know how to get a deal.
Which reminds me of a slight problem I’ve had…
Me~ What do you say to those cashiers that think you’re stealing from their store by using coupons?
Melanie has a nice little letter written to one of those cashiers. I’m telling you, she’s a Goddess of the highest rank.
Want to ask her about storing the excess that you buy when you’re saving? She’s got that answer too.
I really like that she has resources listed on her site that are unfamiliar to me. Like a clipping service and a site for Target. This is the kind of stuff I love to find when I need a new kick in the pants to keep saving money. And one more think that I really loved about Melanie….she gives a lot of her excess to charity. Melanie has helped stock some very empty food pantries and she supports the troops. Melanie is saving her family thousands of dollars and also helping feed people with her smart shopping. Looking at couponing with the ability to be able to help other people makes the time it takes for me to learn how to do this more worth it to me.
Thanks Melanie, you really are The Coupon Goddess.
Go check out the $100 Carrabba’s Italian Grill give away that The Coupon Goddess is hosting on her site today.
Need a Chicken Doctor?
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I just started couponing last week. The first weekend, I couldn’t wait for the Sunday paper and all the coupons. It was Labor Day and no coupons. Got it this week and I’m overwhelmed. Thanks for giving me a nudge this morning.
Gayle- Take heart that it was a very big weekend for coupons. Even seasoned pros were surprised by the volume in this weekend’s paper. Baptism by fire, right?
I’ve always had such a hard time finding coupons here in my city. We have a local grocery chain, Super Wal Mart, Target but not a super Target, Walgreen’s, and CVS.
We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 guinea pigs.
I’m getting ready to start trying couponing again since my hiatus of at least 5 years.
We’ll see how it goes, but will check out this site that you have suggested, thanks!
I have tried and tried and always end up being a “drop out”. Maybe I need to simply try again. That is a lot of money!!!!
Okay, I guess….and she’s beautiful, but why is she naked?
I am going to check out her site immediately. Our food bill for nine people is astronomical. I need to figure out a way to get it down. WAAAAYYYY down.
Leila- Ha! I never looked at that picture that way! Yeah, I can see how you’d think that. I’m actually wearing an off the shoulder sweater in that picture and the photographer cropped it. And thanks for the compliment.
Do you eat fresh, locally and seasonally at all or are more things pre-packaged?
Robin- Excellent question! I’m a huge supporter of farmer’s markets. I have a background in culinary arts and love to cook with fresh wholesome foods. I don’t use Hamburger Helper or other processed meal helpers. ( I do send those to the foodbank hoping that they will just consume the pasta).
I use lots of frozen veggies in the winter to supplement the root vegetables that are seasonal. There are so many coupons for frozen veggies which is helpful. I’m also an avid from scratch baker, but I will use the mixes to whip up fast treats like cakeballs (see my recipes about those bites of love) and other baked goods when I’m short on time. I always doctor them up though.
I try to eat healthy, but I will admit to letting my kids have some things that others might not agree on. The best example of that is the kid’s cereals. My kids do eat Frosted Flakes and Frosted Mini Wheats, but I make sure that they also have a protein and fruit to go along with it. I’m not as stringent as some, but what works for me may not work for others and I respect that. I hope that answers your question.
Thanks for supporting farmers market! I’m a farmer who sells to individuals and restaurants. We’re fussy about food but not so much that I think anyone’s going to be hurt by a bowl of Frosted Flakes (but I’m not so sure about Mini Wheats…
).
Do you ever come across coupons for bulk flours? I buy 25 and 50 pound bags of locally produced flours but also rely on King Arthur. I live in such a rural area that my newspaper doesn’t have coupons so I’ll be looking at more websites to see what I can find.
Thanks for taking the time to answer. I appreciate it!
Robin- Not exactly. I do buy in bulk sort of but one package at a time. Gold Medal flour puts out coupons here and there. When they do I get multiples and wait for a good sale and stock up. However, I know that isn’t the kind of flour you use. King Arthur doesn’t utilize coupons currently, but maybe they will down the road? I’m a big fan of their products too, so here’s to hoping!!
Back in the day when I used coupons I often found that the generic house brand was often still cheaper than the discount on the name brand the name brand. We use so little processed food that it doesn’t seem worth the time.
CG, since it looks like you’re being kind enough to answer questions (Thanks, April!!)—do you buy any ‘store’ brands. Often, the store brand is still cheaper than the brand name item after coupon. They aren’t always created equal, but often they are.
Thoughts?
CeeCee- It’s my pleasure to answer questions as long as April doesn’t mind! Without fail, and I can’t stress this enough, I find that name brands are cheaper than generics when you use coupons at doubling stores. If your stores don’t double, then yes the generics may be the better value. The way I shop boils down to this, buy when the sales are the lowest with a coupon and stock up. When I can pay .10 for a box of cereal or nothing for refried beans or pasta or any other product my family uses, I will stock up big time.
Here’s another thought….. even if you only used coupons for non food items like household cleaners and healthy and beauty aids, you can still make a sizeable change in your budget. Take your coupons to Walmart, Target, CVS, etc and you’d be pleasantly surprised to see what you can get for free or close to it that your family can actually use.
I hope that helps. If not, go to The Coupon Goddess and read the tab “basics”. That should help.
Thank you April for allowing me to address the questions.
Awesome stuff. Looks like I have a new blog to add to my feed. Even if it is just to ogle the massive hauls. That is some impressive work!
And I’d say CG earned the Goddess moniker with the foodbank/military donations alone. Bless her heart!
So, I went to the Coupon Goddess site and a few of the ones she recommends. It all looks great, but frankly, I have a headache now. I also have the problem that lots of the stuff I buy is not from the giant food companies or cleaning companies, etc… I think I’m going to stick with being proud of myself for actually going to the store and cooking rather than getting take out, and leave the couponing to those more motivated than myself. Good luck ladies! I promise I won’t be one of those horrible people behind you in line who try to make you feel bad about coupons.
I went to the site also, and personally, I can’t abide all the salt, sugar, preservatives and plastic. Mr. Kay in KCMO and I just don’t eat/consume like that. We used to clip coupons, but eventually realized that the money we spent on the Sunday paper was wasted when we improved our diet – there are no coupons for fresh vegetables and fruits. Thank goodness for Costco.
Wow, do you think that you could save $52000 when you only make about $40000? That would be like making money, right? I’ll have to give this some thought…..