13 Comments so far

1. Sarah on December 3, 2008 2:24 pm

   My husband and I were married 4 and 1/2 years ago at 22 years old. We both have GREAT jobs and a really nice house, we are lucky. But for the first several years of our marriage, we spent money like it was going out of style. We ended up broke, living off of credit cards and late on every bill. We were wasting a great opportunity to position ourselves well for the future (if and when kids come along). We took out a loan against his retirement (for the second time) and I knew things had to change. I came across Savings Central on cincinnati.com, which led me to your site, and opened my world of coupons. I’m not hardcore, I only buy two papers every week, but do have an extensive binder and quite the buildup of health and personal care items. I have saved hundreds of dollars since starting in August and I know I will never go back to grocery shopping the way I did before. I hardly even looked at prices when I would shop before, now I don’t buy anything unless its on sale and normally won’t buy it at all if I don’t have a q. My husband went to the store with me one night and was really impressed by the savings. I consider it a hobby, not just a way to save money. Seeing how much we can save with just a little research has affected every aspect of any purchase we make. It’s taught us to appreciate the value of a dollar and finally, our spending is starting to get under control.

   Thank you, so much, for taking the time to share your knowledge with others. I feel back in control of our money and I know that we can overcome our staggering credit card debt. Thanks so much!

2. Momof4 greatkids on December 3, 2008 3:24 pm

   Okay I will take a turn. I am a stay at home mom to 4 great kiddos.

   As a SAHM, I think part of my job per say is to help pinch the pennies and being a smart shopper lets me do that.

3. Momof4 greatkids on December 3, 2008 3:25 pm

   Okay I will take a turn. I am a stay at home mom to 4 great kiddos.

   As a SAHM, I think part of my “job” is to help pinch the pennies and being a smart shopper lets me do that.

4. Darlene on December 3, 2008 10:05 pm

   I am married and a mom to 1 son, who is in treatment for leukemia. He is doing very well, but the prescriptions cost a lot. I was lucky enough to see LMKIA on a news segment this summer. I’ve always used coupons, but I was never a coupon queen. I thought that was just a lucky few. I am thrilled to better understand how to use drug stores to my advantage, and to know about stacking store q’s and manuf. q’s.
   Some of my friends at work have spouses facing job losses in the very near future. I have been happy to share the information I have, in hopes of making a difficult time for them a little more bearable.
   LMKIA, how fortunate I was to be watching a news channel that I don’t always watch, and to see your segment. You have helped me a lot!
   I wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

5. Debra on December 3, 2008 10:19 pm

   I am a teacher, mother to 1, stepmother to 3. My daughter has a stack of medical bills from being in Children’s for 2 months after birth due to a defect that we knew about long before she was born. Not to mention the amount of money we were spending on special formulas, etc. each month. My stepchildren are preteens/teens and boy can they EAT! My husband and I cut off our credit card usage shortly after we got married and will see that debt gone in a little over a year. We have also been very fortunate to be able to take money directly out of each pay check to put into our savings account. Even so, money is still tight trying to support our family and we need every penny to stretch.

   I had couponed in the past, but then I got away from it while I was pregnant because I was on bedrest and couldn’t shop. I actually got back into it after I saw LMKIA on Channel 5. I was flipping through the TV and wound up taping it on the DVR because there was a story on it that I knew my husband would want to see. Little did I know that I would find my new passion. I was hooked when I saw just how little money was spent on so much stuff! I made my husband watch that segment and I told him that I was going to do the same thing. The next week, I was able to walk out of the store with $35 worth of stuff for $1.97. Our jaws hit the floor and I’ve been going strong ever since.

   Couponing has helped feed our family, obviously. I now have my own ’store’ in the basement that we could live off of for a while if we had to. I feel like a more generous person now when it comes to donating things to those who are less fortunate because I know that I didn’t spend a week’s worth of pay on those items. I also just switched school districts (which means loss of tenure for a year) and with all of the new budget cuts in education, I’m in jeopardy of losing my job. Couponing has helped me realize that even if that happens, I will still be able to feed my family.

   Sorry for such a long reply I truly appreciate all that all of qq’s have taught me, either through your own sites, cincymom’s, etc.

6. Julie @ Kingdomklipper on December 3, 2008 10:33 pm

   I am a SAHM as well of 4 children, all of whom I homeschool. We made the decision for me to stay at home when our oldest (who is now 17) was born, and I will never regret it. My husband, a pastor of a church in a small town in Ohio, has always been very supportive.
   I have always been a coupon user. But, not until this past July, did I become a “coupon queen”. I too saw LMKIA in the Cinti Enquirer and the local news and it motivated me to do more.
   Even though I’ve only been seriously couponing for a few months, I usually average around $400 savings per month. This has tremendously helped with our food expenses as 3 of our 4 children are “growing boys”!!
   Thanks, LMKIA, for all your help and inspiration. She even inspired me to start my own blog and teach others how to use coupons effectively.

7. chanin14 on December 3, 2008 11:25 pm

   I’m a mom to 2 and step-mom to 2 (lives with me and the other is married) .. like most people, we got into the habit of buying whatever we wanted because we had the money .. a few kids later and things change drastically. Right after 9/11 my husband was laidoff from his sales job and was unemployed for 6 months. During that time, I got pregnant with our daughter and my step-daughter came to live with us full time. Even though we were saving a bit since my husband didn’t have to pay child support anymore, he also didn’t receive child support in return from his ex-wife so we now had a pre-teen living with us, increasing our monthly expenses .. needless to say, whatever savings we had went bye-bye. I can’t say that I’m upset by it all, it has been great having my step-daughter here and I truly feel that God puts us through these situations to teach us something (not sure that I learned what that something was though!)

   I’ve always tried to clip coupons here and there and always wanted to get serious about it but never did .. Well, after seeing these blogs, I am excited to get serious .. it really is like a contest to me, to see how much I can get for so little.

   I’ve become and avid shopper at CVS thanks to LMKIA and have a stockpile of bathroom essentials now. I’m becoming more successful at the grocery stores like during that sale kroger had a few weeks ago, for my two transactions my total was $187 but my oop was $52 (really it was $36 but I bought some lunch meat/cheese and didn’t have coupons for it). That got me hooked! Just yesterday, I went to K-Mart for their double coupons, my total was $65 w/ my oop being $10.32!! Yahoo!!!

   With my step-daughter in college and these tough ecomonic times, I can’t think you enough LMKIA .. you are a blessing. I thank you for your generous nature to teach others without feeling as though you need to make a living off of it by charging us! I hope to attend one of your classes next year so I can learn even more! Thanks again!

8. chanin14 on December 3, 2008 11:25 pm

   oh my gosh .. I’m so sorry that was so long

9. Vanessa on December 4, 2008 2:36 am

   I’m still pretty new to this. I bought the binder and the baseball card sheet and haven’t done much with it. I just let $70 in coupons expire without even touching them. I’m trying and now that I lost my job I really need to do this. We’re a family of 5 and my husband’s mom lives with us too. I’m in a similar position to you when you started. I haven’t got the time and currently not the spare money to take your class but would love to be able to. I did go shopping at Meijer last month with coupons and saved over half off my bill and was pretty proud of that.

10. chris (baldscreen) on December 4, 2008 8:35 am

    I have always been frugal, but had gotten out of the habit of using coupons. My frugal ways were what allowed me to stay home with our children since 1985. It was not always easy, but God blessed us, and I wouldn’t change anything. My youngest started college this fall and earlier this year I was thinking about what I was going to do now that I was going to have an empty nest. One day I stumbled upon a blog (can’t remember which one) that talked about using coupons to get things for free. Well, I knew I was going to need to get supplies for my child to take to college, so I thought I would give it a try. LOL, the rest is history.

    I have found that my new “hobby” has become a blessing, both for myself and for other people. I have met a whole new group of younger women on the cincymomslikeme website, including LMKIA. They are helping me adjust to this time in my life, and I enjoy being the “big sis” of the group. I have also found that many of the things I get for free are exactly the kinds of things that homeless shelters, food pantries, etc. need for donations. I find great joy in being able to donate some of my finds to people who can use them.

11. littlemissknowitall on December 4, 2008 9:27 am

    Chris, we love having you as our Big Sis!!! My goodness, so many of us are heading towards the middle school/teen years with our kids–we are going to need your always helpful advice!!!

12. tonya on December 5, 2008 1:04 pm

    I have a slightly different story. I am a working mom of 3 ( 7 if you count 2 dogs, 1 cat and DH). I went to school for many years and I finally graduated. Well now I have all this time I used to study - I read A LOT of books and I needed something to fill my time. I am frugal and I have always stockpiled (grew up poor). Not being rich, we needed to tighten our belts with this tough economy and that is when I saw you on TV - and now I am hooked!

13. amy on December 5, 2008 5:39 pm

    My husband lost his job this summer, and ended up recently changing careers with a significant paycut to do so. We had been shopping at ALDI to save $$, which I love, but still didn’t have alot to show for our $60/week grocery budget. And of course, no name brand stuff. Now that I’ve joined my couponing friends, I have SHELVES of namebrand groceries stockpiled that I’ve bought for nearly free, and still stay within our budget. I’ve been able to continue being a SAHM despite our significant income cut. Thanks LMKIA!