Couponaholics in Upstate South Carolina

[TVGuy]

Hello fellow couponers!

This is TVGuy ...a.k.a. Tim Waller at WYFF-TV in Greenville, South Carolina. I'm the consumer reporter at the state's largest TV station and grew up in a couponing family. (I can even remember S&H Green Stamps!)

I'd love to do a story on how much people in my area are saving by faithfully clipping coupons and watching out for sales. I talked to a number of casual coupon users, but no one that has mastered the art of saving. (I've heard that some folks are saving as much as 80-90% on their grocery bills!)

Please shoot me an email if you're a hardcore couponer, and live in Upstate South Carolina, northern Georgia or Western North Carolina. That's WYFF-TV's coverage area.
[edited by head moderator. Please don't post your phone number or personal email address on the forums.

If anyone wants to contact TVGuy you can do so through Private Messages, or click on his user ID and choose "Send TVGuy an email."

This request has been permitted by Amanda, and if any of you are interviewed for the story we will post the link here afterward.]

I promise I won't bite, and I promise to do justice to any coupon story I wind up doing. I've done a number of shopping-related stories that turned out very well, if I do say so myself. Here's one I did back in November: http://www.wyff4.com/money/5241592/detail.html

I appreciate barbzy at FamilyCorner for allowing me to post my invitation on this forum. Now bring on the calls and emails!

Sincerely, Tim (TVGuy)

[OSI]

Tim

Just wanted to pop in and say Welcome to FC. I'm one of the frugal living moderators and am glad to see more media coverage in the area of couponing and saving money... you've definitely landed in the right place.

Anna

[TVGuy]

Anna,

Thanks for your reply. I remember as a child going to the grocery store with my mom and watching her lug around a shoebox full of coupons. I'm not sure how much she saved on each trip, but shopping seemed to take twice as long as it should have, and it drove me nuts as a kid! That's the type of person I'm looking for ... someone who is a coupon "scientist." Here's wishing for many responses!

Tim

[OSI]

Tim

I totally relate, I had a shoebox at one time and then ordered a fancy box from somewhere in Texas with a spread sheet. Unfortunately Ohio is not very good with the coupon deals anymore so I'm not as involved as I used to be plus we don't use the processed or canned foods which alot of the coupons are for and they seem down right greedy anymore in our area asking you to buy 4 boxes of cereal to get a dollar off but some of the other states are doing quite well. I will keep an eye in my area as the girls there talk about couponing all the time too. I haven't seen anyone from SC on there though yet.

Anna

[autumnmum 2002]

and welcome. I'd be interested in any stories, also.

[janet]

Hey, I am also interested in reading about how people save money with coupons...I know in my area ...we basically have Walmart to shop at...and Walmart hates coupons..they honor them..but no vendors in their stores are allowed to hand them out...which to me is stupid, since our population here really struggle to make ends meet..and shipping goods here, so far north adds to our costs. So really, is Walmart helping our community or sucking every last nickle out of us?

Janet

[Crafty Amanda]

Originally Posted by TVGuy

That's the type of person I'm looking for ... someone who is a coupon "scientist." Here's wishing for many responses!

Tim

Hi Tim. I am the owner of FamilyCorner.com and wanted to welcome you. I passed your information on to an author that I know, her name is Faye Prosser. she wrote a great book that I am halfway through reading myself. It's called the Smart Spending Guide and has excellent and thorough information on couponing.

She is an expert in the field and would make a great addition to your interview. You can see one of her articles here on FamilyCorner.com called "Cut Your Grocery Bills in Half: 8 Essential Techniques for Every Shopper".

I will also be adding an article this week, an excerpt from her book, called "Developing a Price Book" which is an excellent aid for couponers. She also explains how to create a Coupon Organizer on your own using a binder and baseball card sheets, or you can buy one from her site directly. She should be contacting you soon.

Welcome to FC!

[TVGuy]

Amanda,

I appreciate the warm welcome. And thanks for passing my name onto Faye Prosser. She left me a voice mail a few hours ago (I was out on a story). I will call her first thing Monday morning.

Have a great weekend, Tim

[resalemomma]

Hi Tim,
I just started the coupon game 6 weeks ago.
I use to use coupons to purchase the items I need for the week. Not anymore. The way you save money is by stock piling your coupons and waiting for the grocery or drug stores to have sales. For example my local grocery store is selling bagged cerial for $1.00 a bag this week. I have 10 .50 cents coupons and my grocery stores double coupons up to .99. I will get those for free. Last week I got 10 boxes of Tacos for free because they went on sale for 1.00 a box and I had 10 $1.00 coupons. My grocery bill has gone from $150.00 a week to $60.00 in just 6 weeks. Most of the $60.00 is meats, milk and staples that arn't on sale.
I hope this helps. The key is stockpiling. Save your coupons for the sales!! Hope this helps!

[TVGuy]

Deb,

This type of info helps very much. Curiously, where are you going to store all that bagged cereal and taco shells? Sounds like these "stockpiles" could get out of hand if not properly managed. And how do you make sure the stuff stays fresh? In other words, do you organize the food according to expiration dates? I'd love to see photos of someone's massive stockpile. Do they share photos on here?

Tim