We live in a very small suburb of Charlotte. Since I’ve gotten into couponing I go to the CVS down the street every Sunday evening for my weekly coupon trip. Well, there’s apparently not much else going on at that CVS because every week the girls who work there call out to each other when I’m ready to check out. “She’s ready! Get up here!” Then a small crowd forms to watch to see how much I pay out of pocket for my goods. They all know me by sight now and all ask where is CSP if he’s not with me. Then they guess how much I’ll save when they are ringing me up. It’s starting to feel like a behind the shed dice game or something! It’s a lot of pressure now to save a whole lot since their entertainment is riding on it as well as my budget! Sunday is coming…wish me luck! By the way, the good pictured at right were $106.06 but I paid $26.
Tag: Coupon
Interview with Desirae from Extreme Savings With Diva Desirae
If you watch TLC’s Extreme Couponing then you may have seen Desirae’s episode. Desirae and I met a few years ago playing bunco, and now look at her! She’s a tv star! I just got into couponing a few months ago so after Desirae’s episode aired I knew I wanted to ask her a few questions about extreme couponing. Some of my readers also had some questions. Here are her answers:
First I want to say is that everyone needs to take this show like a grain of salt. A lot of this show was staged! None of us shop like this, we did it for the show. They wanted us to go extreme so we went extreme. All of those items you see in our carts are not something we buy every day on our normal shopping days. We had to get our totals high and bring them down to basically nothing. So we had to buy multiples of free and cheap items. 80% of my trip was donated, and most of all others on the show donated too. Just because you didnt see it doesnt mean it doesnt happen. Ohh and I do not spend 60hrs+ a week, and I never get into the dumpster. They have to bump of the ratings somehow right? I always say you wouldn’t watch the jersey shore without drama right? If they turned this into joe went to the grocery store and saved 15% that show would be boring!
From Ani: How do you get started? Do you have a system for each store? Is it (couponing) cheaper than buying store brand?
I got started almost 5yrs ago when my husband was working 2 jobs, just graduated college & we were welcoming the birth of our son. We were living paycheck to paycheck and I just couldn’t do it anymore. Thats when I started looking online & found coupons, and after that it was history!
I wouldn’t say I have a system for each store. I know mostly all stores policies so that makes it easier to shop at. I have never bought store brand anything. I can always get the name brand for cheap or free!
From Tina: Which charities do you donate to?
I have donated to several-Cabarrus pregnancy center got over 80 bottles of formula, plus feminine products. I have given to the mooresville soup kitchen, cabarrus humane society Plus i have given to families that I know need items the most. Recently there was a family who’s husband got laid off and they were struggling so i packed my trunk full and delivered it. They were grateful!
From Yvett: I’d like to know how to save on food I use. I see a lot of coupons for processed foods like mac & cheese and sugary cereal, but never for products that are good for you. I try to feed my family well,
but it’s really expensive. How can I start to save?
I would recommend calling the companies and requesting coupons. Organic/whole food companies are really great about sending out coupons! I actually have a whole blog list full of coupons to request and to print for organic/healthy items. Also there are several great coupons that come in the sunday paper for organic/gluten free/healthy items. Of course the other ones are included too!
From Jacquie: Ok, just watched the episode with Desirae. #1: I notice with all these extreme couponers their stores double the coupons. Our stores here don’t do that. So that means I can’t have these huge retail
values that end up only costing me a little bit, right? #2 What does one do with 45 boxes of cake mix? 😉
You can save by not having doubles. There are a couple of people on there that didnt have stores that didnt double either and they still saved thousands. Of course when you get started out you will not save that much on your first bill. It takes a lot of time and dedication to save like that. I did have a guest poster on my blog recently where he talked about how he survives in the land of no doubles.
Ohh and all those cake mixes were donated! I hardly use them, but they were part of the show. I had to get my totals in the thousands and bring it down to nothing. So basically i just bought all cheap or free items!
From Maureen: How is this different from hoarding? Some of these people have filled up every room of their houses, even the kid’s rooms, with this stuff. One guy donated a pallet of cereal to the food bank, why don’t we see more of these people do this? At least this way the product will be used before it is out of date.
Well the thing about this show is that its not to teach you and its not to talk about donations. Its to show you the extreme part. That is why they are not focusing on this subject. Most of us do all donate-just because it doesnt show it doesnt mean we don’t. Hoarding to me in living in a filthy house with thousand apon thousands of items everywhere to where you cant walk, you dont know what you have, and you wont part with it. Here i have everything secluded to one room, and its nicely organized. Plus i will give away anything in a min. I don’t hoard my items.
From Kristen: and they have thousands of shampoos and toothbrushes, but then go and buy 100 more. is there a way to get the great savings, but only get a reasonable amount of items?
Yes! I never get 100 of the same items except for on the show but I still have great savings. 2-3 of each items is great! You still get them for free and your still stocking up!
From Kristine: Seriously…what do they do with things that eventually will go bad? I saw some woman on the show this past weekend who bought about 100 packages of deli turkey or something.
Who eats that many sandwiches?!?
Like I said above it was all for the show. She never buys over 100 of the same items.
From Shannon G.: I’d like to know if she does all the sale matchups herself, or if she relies on sites like Southern Savers.com, or Hot Coupon World. I’d also like to know if she gets coupons from Ebay or trades for them in coupon circles or what. I mean, how do you GET 55 coupons for toothpaste without spending $55 on the newspaper??
Nooooo!!! Never do the matchups yourself! Save yourself some time. I like to go to weusecoupons.com and use that site. It has everything for every store you would need! It tells you the matchups a week early before the sales hit, it tells you every single thing about coupons and sales you would ever need to know! And yes I do order off ebay sometimes. But I dumpster dive for my coupons Thats how i get 50 of one coupons. Plus I do coupon trades and coupon trains that give me more coupons!
Now for my questions:
1. I’ve only been couponing for a couple of months. I started with the purse sized coupon organizer (accordion file) but I’m tired of shuffling through coupons at the store. How do you organize your coupons? I’ve seen the binder method and the filing then clip method on TLC’s Extreme Couponing but I’m not sure which will work better for me. If you file then clip only when the match ups tell you to what do you do when you’re at the store and you see a product you’d like but your coupons are at home? On the flip side, I’ve heard that the binder method is very time consuming. What are your thoughts?
I use the binder method. I always have and it works best for me. I like that i can flip to a page and my coupons are right there. I have a binder video on my youtube that will help you see how i set it all up. Also never leave the house without your coupons!
2. Do you clip EVERY coupon or just the ones you think you’ll use?
I clip every single one because I do a lot of trades, and trains so that I can giveaway my coupons I wont use for coupons I will use. Plus troops oversea’s can use them now and even after they expire.
3. Do you shop every drug store or pick one and stick with it?
Nope! I love CVS! I usually hit the store once a week to get my weekly deals and thats it. Its easier to stick to one so that you dont get confused and burnt out.
4. On the show you said “I’ll tell my neighbor to come shop” your stockpile. Do you charge them or just let people take things they want?
Nope everyone is allowed to come and shop! I do charge some people but that is because they are still getting a good discount instead of going to the store and paying full price. Its just like shopping at good will. Someone bought those items at full price and now they are selling them to you at half. When you think about it I had to spend the time to search, get the coupons, organize them, use my gas, pay tax and my time. So really it wasnt all free. My mom and family comes and shop for free. I have some friends that will pay me $10 and fill up bags. I don’t sit here and charge everyone full price its like pennies to the dollars 🙂
5. Is your stockpile insured?
Haha No!
6. As for donations, on the show you said you donate only “when I’m pressed for space”, but your stockpile clearly holds more items than you and your family could ever use (480 razors according to the show). Was that edited for tv or do you donate more often than when you’re just “pressed for space”?
That was edited for tv! I actually don’t even remember saying that. But heck we filmed for 24hrs I was exhausted! I donate what I don’t need and what I wont use. Before the show I couldn’t donate anything because they wanted my room to be filled. It doesn’t look like it does on tv. But heck I will keep 50 razors because I will never have to pay for another razor again and we will need them for life!
7. When you donate, since most of the items are items you were able to get for free, are you still eligible for a tax deduction on those donations?
Good question. I have never put them on my tax returns because I never keep up with what I donate.
8. Back to your stockpile, the show’s narrator said you have 45 dish soaps, 105 deodorants, 125 hair and body washes, and 480 razors. How much is enough? When you see a coupon for razors now or any of the other items mentioned above, do you still buy it or just hold off until you’ve used all that you have in your stockpile? Or is there a point where you say “OK I’m down to 15 dish soaps now I’ll start buying again ” (as an example)? Those of us just starting our stockpiles don’t really know how big is big enough.
I never buy anything that I already have in my room unless its free or cheap. I really don’t grocery shop anymore. If it cant fit on the shelf or in the room then i wont buy it. I dont want it to overtake my house.
9. On the show there have been some couponers featured that have tons and tons of coupon inserts. Remember the lady with the coupon room? All those crates full of coupons? I know you don’t store near that many in your home but what is your weekly goal as far as number of inserts to clip from?
I really dont have a goal. Some weeks I get 10 and dive for more and like this week I only got 6 and I am okay with that. It just depends on the week and the coupons that are coming.
10. How has being on the show changed your life?
It has changed a whole lot! I am always recognized in the store so going to the store for 30min is impossible because someone always see’s me and ask a million questions lol! Plus I am filming for fox news every wednesday morning which has been awesome! People freak out when they see me and ask for my autograph, my picture when really I just try and tell them I am a normal person! 🙂
11. How has being on the show changed your couponing style?
A lot! Only because everyone is now doing it so I never really shop anymore because 238420349203 people are doing the same deals.
12. You demonstrated a level of politeness on your episode that seemed lost on some of the other featured couponers in that you didn’t clear shelves, you ordered ahead, etc. What is your stance on shelf clearing?
Well the thing is, is that we all pre-ordered! The store took their stock off the shelf and put our stock on the shelf, we took it and then they restocked it. So no one was taking away from others. Of course it looks like this and that is what I hated. I told them when I started filming to not get that because I dont believe in shelf clearing. Well now that others have seen it they will do the same things. I hate hate hate it!
13. When you were filming, what was “for good tv” and what was real? Do you really climb into dumpsters? Do you really spend 60 hours a week couponing? If not, then how much time do you devote to couponing and how are dumpsters a part of your couponing?
Nope it just made good tv! When they flash money in your face you will do whatever right? LOL!
I don’t coupon for 60hrs and my schedule is never like the one they made me make. I usualy only use 20-30hrs but that includes eveyrthing that has to do with couponing including my blog/facebook. I do dumpster dive but never get into the dumpsters! I just look through recycle bins with my hands.
14. Will you buy something without a coupon?
Only if we absolutely need it and its still on sale with a great price.
15. When you created your coupon binders did you build them yourself or buy them pre-assembled? Do you have a tutorial to show us how to create the perfect binder? It can be overwhelming trying to decide on categories, what type binder to use, what type of insert pages, etc.
Yes check my youtube video
16. Do you still maintain your photography business? Will you continue to operate your photography business if your couponing business continues to grow?
Its still there although been neglected. Its okay because I was so busy last summer that this break is nice. I will still do pictures but wont advertise as much as I do.
17. Where do you see couponing taking you professionally and personally?
Hmm good question! Right now I have a permanet spot on fox charlotte every wednesday morning. And fox & I are starting up a deal site that is goign to be pretty cool! So being branded as the fox extreme saver is good for me!
18. What advice do you have for those of us with small homes and no space for a spare bedroom or garage sized stockpile?
Use your closets! Get rubbermaid bins and store your items in there. Where ever you have room I would use it. Cabinets, closets, and under sink storage work great!
Want to learn more from Desirae? You can find her on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube:
Thank you so much Desirae! We all appreciate your knowledge and insight into the world of couponing!
Couponing at CVS
Some people who are serious couponers go to many drugstores to take advantage of weekly deals. I prefer to just stick to one drugstore. So I chose CVS. I think I’ve got them pretty figured out. 
Here’s my strategy:
- First- sign up for an Extra Care Card. This way you will get sale prices and earn Extra Care Bucks. Extra Care Bucks are reward dollars you can use in store on most anything except things like alcohol, tobacco & prescriptions.
- Next, as SOON as you walk in go straight to the Extra Care Bucks machine and scan your card. Coupons and Extra Care Bucks will print. You will also see Extra Care Bucks at the bottom of your receipts. Be sure to keep those and use them quickly as they are only good a few weeks.
- If you don’t already have some, buy some reusable shopping bags. Be sure to take them with you to CVS. Not only are you helping the environment, you earn money back from CVS in the form of Extra Care Bucks. First you buy a Green Bag Tag then they scan it each time you shop using reusable shopping bags. You earn $1 on every 4th scan.
- Also, sign up for the CVS Beauty Club. You earn $5 in Extra Care Bucks for every $50 you spend on beauty items. Plus they give out fabulous beauty coupons periodically.
- On Sunday I clip my coupons then go through the CVS ad. CVS advertises a ton of great deals each week where you can earn Extra Care Bucks. Pair those up with coupons and you’re doing great. Here’s an example, it’s my list from Sunday of items I bought to earn Extra Care Bucks. 1. Spend $10 on John Frieda get $3 ECBs (Extra Care Bucks). 2. $3 ECBs WYB (when you buy) a 2-4 pack of Colgate toothbrushes. 3. Earn 1 ECB wyb 1 Efferdent. (I use them to clean my CPAP machine‘s tub). 4. $2.50 in ECBs wyb 1 giant Crest Pro Health mouthwash. 5. $7 in ECBs wyb 2 Banana Boat sunscreens. I used coupons for each item as well.
- When I get home I clip my Extra Care Bucks and put them in my little coupon baggie for CVS to use on next week’s trip. So now I have $16.50 to use next week! It’s just like cash!
Couponing to Disney has a VERY informative page on how to shop at CVS. Be sure to check it out.
Coupon categories
Organizing your coupon binder can be a daunting task. I needed some help with the categories so I asked Susan for her help. CSP chimed in too. I made a title page for the Food and Non Food pages and listed the categories so it would be easy to find a coupon in a flash. 
I don’t know why my pages are showing up yellow, they are white. Must be the lighting. Anyway, CSP helped me kind of order the categories by the way the stores are normally laid out. 
Here are the categories I used:
Non Foods–
- Paper Goods
- Laundry – Dish- Cleaning
- Household
- Medicines & Vitamins
- Beauty
- Hair
- Bath & Body
- Oral Care
- Pugs
Food-
- Dairy
- Frozen
- Condiments & Salad Dressing
- Canned Veggies & Fruit
- Pasta & Rice
- Breakfast
- Baking
- Spices & Sauces
- Snacks
- Drinks
- Sandwich Stuff
- Soup
- Meat
Some of the categories are a little vague but it lets me put things in a broad category like Household where I put candles. I am really liking this system!
Where to get coupons
When you first start couponing you need coupons. 
Where to get them? The Sunday paper is your best bet. Some people buy multiples of the paper to get lots of inserts. Red Plum and Smart Source are the main inserts in most Sunday papers. You can also print coupons from their websites. If you really think you’re going to get into saving money by couponing, I would go ahead and set up a folder on your favorites bookmarks bar marked Coupons.
Then go to these sites:
There are a TON more sites out there, just Google Coupons and you’ll see! Don’t forget eCoupons too. You use them for your groceries as well. Go to Upromise and set up an account, then once a month activate their eCoupons. Then when you buy say, a can of soup, you can use a paper coupon on the soup at the store, then get credit in your account for your eCoupon. Saving Star is another great resource for eCoupons. They have an app too so while you’re in store you can check your account. Build up $5 at least then transfer it to your Paypal account or get gift cards.
Don’t forget, there are 2 main types of coupons. There are manufacturer coupons issued by the companies that make the products and there are store coupons issued by the stores. You can stack these coupons for ultimate savings. Example: you want to buy Tide detergent. You clip a manufacturer coupon from the Sunday paper for 50 cents off. Then you read Target‘s ad and clip a coupon with the Target logo on it that says store coupon next to the expiration date that is worth 25 cents. You are allowed to use both to save a total of 75 cents. That’s called stacking.
You may want to check with a friend or neighbor and start swapping coupons. My friend Christina and I swap coupon inserts every couple of weeks. She has 2 small kids and I have 3 dogs so our needs are different and we clip different coupons. We swap the coupons and it’s like we bought 2 papers! Some people also participate in coupon trains where they will receive an envelope full of coupons, pull the ones they want, add the ones they won’t use, then send them on to the next person in the train.
Now go get clipping!
Freebies & coupons
Another way to get coupons for your coupon stash is to ask for freebies. There are a TON of freebie websites and email newsletters out there. Just Google Freebies and you’ll be sure to find one you’ll like. I subscribe to Shop For Freebies. com’s daily newsletter. Couponing to Disney also alerts me to freebies. When you receive a freebie or sample in the mail most of the time there is a coupon included. Like today I received a sample of Gold Bond body wash. I’ve never used this brand or product but I LOVE samples so what the hay?! Samples are great for travel because once you use it up you just throw out the package and you don’t have to return home with big bottles. Anyway, included with my sample was this coupon for $1.00 off the product. Not too shabby for 30 seconds of inputting my name and address!
Email pays off!
After being inspired by Couponing to Disney I made a list of some of the products we use that I love. Then I sent emails to the companies praising their products but NOT asking for coupons. I received an envelope full of coupons from Dial last week and today I received a booklet of coupons from SC Johnson because I wrote to Glade about their Spring candles. LOTS of good ones too! 
So if you’re looking to build your stash of coupons I highly suggest writing to some of the companies whose products you use on a regular basis. I mean look- one email made me almost $20! More than that actually because our grocery stores double up to 98 cents. Word. Oh, and if you’re thinking “OMG I don’t have time to write a million emails”…don’t! Just write one. Then save it somewhere, copy and paste, and change some details. Basically here’s what I wrote to Glade: ” Hi! I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I enjoy the Spring Sparkle Glade candles. The lime scent is so fresh and clean smelling! My husband, who normally doesn’t care what kind of candles I burn, even loves these and has remarked how good the house smells. I know the Spring Sparkle is a seasonal scent but please consider making it part of your permanent line. Thank you for making such a quality product at an affordable price! Sincerely, Shanny & CSP”. That’s it. Like 4 sentences. Took 2 minutes tops. Made almost $10 a minute!
What to do with expired coupons? Send them to the troops!
At the beginning of each month I go through my coupons and pull out all the expired coupons. Seems like such a waste to throw them out though right? Well, we don’t have to. Did you know that there is a very special group of people who can benefit from our expired coupons? Our military families stationed overseas! 
They can use expired coupons for up to 6 months past the expiration date! Isn’t that awesome!?! No need to add to a landfill when you can help people. Now, how to get the coups to the troops? There are a ton of organizations that help, so depending where you are you may choose a different group than I would. If you Google Coupons for Troops this is what you get. So just pick a group and send them your expired coupons. They take food and nonfood coupons. Basically you separate the coupons into food and nonfood piles, add up the dollar amount then put them in baggies and send them in.
Consider it the least we can do for the people who protect our freedom every day!
Little big of a brag
I read of Couponing to Disney how she writes to 5 different companies a day and they send her coupons. So I tried it. I emailed Dial about their soap. CSP will only use white Dial soap. Sure enough a couple days go by and look! 6 coupons arrived in the mail! And not just for Dial, but for Purex and Soft Scrub too! 
I’ve graduated
So I’ve been couponing for a few months now. I started in early Spring and organized my coupons in a little accordion/check file like this: 
It worked great for me for a while. But the longer you coupon the more coupons you acquire. Every time I’d go shopping I’d make a list and pull the coupons I’d need and put them in a plastic baggie labeled with the store name. This was fine until I’d get in the store and see something that wasn’t on my list. Maybe an unadvertised sale or something. Then the shuffle would begin. I’d have to pull out the stack of coupons and shuffle through them until I’d find the one I wanted. Pain in the tookus and a time waster.
So I finally graduated. I found a zippered binder (zippered so the coupons won’t fall out) kind of like this one 
at Target. Then I ordered 2 sizes of baseball card sleeves from Amazon. Even though I had to order 100 pages of each size it was a MUCH better deal than buying them 20 or so at a time from the store. I ordered the standard 9 a page sleeve 
and also a 3 a page sleeve that holds 4×6 items 
for the larger coupons. I also bought standard tabbed dividers.
I didn’t go fancy with my dividers because I wasn’t sure how many I’d need. These are just write on tabs. Works just fine.
It took a while but with Susan’s help I came up with a list of categories. I separated my coupons into Food and Non Food,labeled my tabs, then loaded up my binder. I made a table of contents with an extra tab divider. 
It’s SO much easier for me to find coupons now. 
And cleaning out the expired coupons is so easy too because I can see the expiration date right there through the sleeve. If you get a binder I suggest getting one with an accordion file at the front like mine. 
I keep restaurant coupons in the front pocket and store ads in the other pockets. Makes it easy when I’m at CVS to be able to pull out the ad and see exactly what’s on sale without having to hunt the ad down in the store.
Yes, the binder is big and heavy and a PITA to carry. BUT, I just put it in my reusable grocery bag. When I get my buggy I put my purse in the kid seat then open my binder over my purse. There are pockets in my binder for pens, my lists, etc. And CSP is happy because my purse is hidden from prowling burglars. The binder’s bulk is the only drawback. I LOVE it. There’s a pocket in the back where I keep my little store baggies with the coupons I’m going to use on that trip. And now if I need an additional coupon in store it takes seconds to find instead of minutes. I feel like a pro!
Bless Your Heart 