Renay Evans Coupon Buddy
My coupon buddy is in my family and happens to be my first cousin Joyce. She lives on Long Island New York. Ive been a couponer / rebater since I met my husband while working at Path Mark. This is over 14 years ago.
I was attending Community College and taking a Sociology class. Jane G. was my professor. She asked all of her students to sit in a circle and she asked each one of us what we did for a living. I told her that I worked in Customer Service at Path Mark Super Center. After class Jane said that she wanted to speak to me. She told me that I could make extra money while working at Path Mark. She told me that I could save more money on groceries. We exchanged phone numbers but I was hesitant at first. I was not a believer. She asked me about rebate forms and if I remember correctly this form was out. (Purchase Aqua fresh or another toothpaste and 3 or 5 items health and beauty items and receive a $10.00 refund) I gave her some forms and Jane told me about three coupon and rebate magazines. I read her copy of Money Talk and I could not believe the information that was being published. I sent for small subscriptions to all three magazines. At the time it was information overflow. I never had the chance to read all of the magazines. I decided to subscribe long term to Money Talks and Refund Makes Cents. I would read the magazines from cover to cover and after the first year of joining this hobby I saved $200.00 from rebates alone. I was hooked. I was introduced to this hobby the same year that my dear father passed away. I felt obligated to my Mom and I would always purchase the household supplies for her. Before I met Jane this was difficult on a part-time budget. Now I could buy laundry supplies for my Mom and I for change. I started to trade rebate forms and coupons. By trading I was able to afford everything that we needed. I was falling in love with this hobby.
One day a couple of years ago I was talking to my cousin Joyce. I think she is so special and I wish that she lived closer to me. She is almost 3 hours away by car. I was explaining to her the story about how I got started with this hobby. She told me that she could not save money on Long Island because they do not have the same sales there. I told her that I found that hard to believe because there are Refund Cents members who live in Long Island, New York. At the time my cousin was convinced that she could not participate in the bargains that I find in New Jersey. So I gave up trying to convince her. Now it is about two years and my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. We talk on the phone all the time and she told me that groceries and health and beauty items are so expensive where she lives. I repeated my story again about how I was introduced to this great hobby. She still was not a believer. I told her once you are better, please have one of your sons drive you out to visit with me. Joyce and her son drove out to visit me for the day last fall. I took her to my basement. She could not believe the stock that I had in my basement. I told her that I send groceries to every senior citizen that lives near in our family and extended family (friends) I sent her home that day with her SUV full of groceries. I explained to her that day that you could almost get everything for a better price.
I told her about the Duburk ham deal that was out when I first started. You had to purchase a ham and send in the receipt for another ham. I said that it was a great deal but I do not eat ham so I have them away. I also told her about the $5.00 Sears coupons. I showed her the towels in my bathroom and told her that they were all FREE. My sons have tons of Lands End clothing because of the coupons in Sears I think a few years ago. I told her about the great deals on Amazon.com and I thought I would never be able to afford 400 count sheets. I was able to save all of this money by reading Refund Cents, the Chit Chat pages and Micheles updates. She could not believe what she was hearing. I told Joyce about the bargains to be found at Target. That you can spend hours at Target just taking scanning merchandise to check the prices.
I Joyce when you go home go and I ask at customer service at Shop-Rite and Path-mark if they double coupons. She found out that both stores double coupons to .99 cents. I order and trade for coupons from the trading board on Refund Cents, E-bay and the recycling plant. I started to send coupons to her every week. I go to the http://www.cutouthunger.org site and print out the good deals from Shop-Rite and Path-Mark. I attach the coupons to the sheet of paper and send this information to her every week. When I trade for coupons I ask the trader to send directly to Joyce and to my address, so that I do not delay her shopping. My cousin is hooked. She loves this hobby. I received the nicest phone call from Joyces sister Ruby in Nevada one evening. Ruby told me that the entire family appreciates what I am doing by sending Joyce coupons every week. She went on to tell me that Joyce gets such a high from shopping and buying quality items for under a dollar or for sales tax.
It is so funny that Joyces mother my aunt and her sons tell her that she is always shopping and that it is CRAZY how often she is in the store. All of Joyces sons and family share in her good buys. So Joyce tells me, I guess Im not that CRAZY now am I? Joyce shops at CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Shop-Rite, Target and Path- mark. I traded for some great coupons $2.00 off 6 bottles of Snapple. I sent some of these coupons to her. Joyce told me that her son Sean only drinks Snapple. She picked up 6 bottles for $1.00 after the coupon.
Joyce is my bargain buddy because she can really share in my excitement of how much money we save. I told her that she does not have to buy the no-name or generic brands and she does not have to visit the dollar store. A couple of weeks ago Shop-Rite had a great sale on cleaning supplies. The sale was five items for five dollars. This included Glade 3-in-1 blending candles, Fantastic wipes, Windex wipes, Scrubbing bubble wipes and aerosol and Pine Sol. I had coupons for every product and she was able to get the cleaning products and just paid the sales tax. She is so excited and thrilled when she calls me. She said that she had so much stuff in her car that she needed help to unpack. Another week Shop-Rite had Hefty bags on sale for $1.19 and I traded for some extra coupons from Lisa S. and she sent coupons directly to my cousin. The Hefty bags were .19 after coupons. It is so much fun to hear the joy in my cousins voice and she tells me that she waits for my letters to arrive. On Joyces recent shopping trips she has been able to pick up Mentadent Toothpaste for .49 cents, bottles of 409 for FREE, Minute Maid Punches, Francesco Rinaldi Pasta Sauce and 30 count boxes of Brill-o pads.
Joyce shops at Walgreens but was disappointed when she could only find one Oral-B battery operated toothbrush last month. I told her not to worry that another retailer would have a great sale soon. During the month of April she was able to pick up packages of Ricola cough drops, Mens Soft Soap double packs, Butler toothbrushes, deodorant and free toothpaste all for FREE. At CVS Joyce was able to pick up 12 oz. Bottles of Soft Soap, Aqua Fresh toothpaste and deodorants. Plus I told her about the good deal on Butler tooth products. You had to purchase $10.00 worth of Butler tooth items and you would receive $5.00 in CVS bucks plus you could use $1.00 coupons to lower your initial price.
My husband drove our family out to celebrate Joyces birthday in March. I do not drive that far. We had the best time. Joyce, Ruby and I went to CVS and pick up Mennen 24/7 deodorant and several bottles of Soft Soap. It was great having someone else to shop with. I usually shop with my dear Mom. I asked Joyce for her Sunday paper and my cousin was right about one thing. The coupons are better in New Jersey than on Long Island. I could not believe the selection. The coupons are of very low value or most of the coupons were buy 2 or 3 items to get a $1.00 off. The same coupons in the New Jersey paper would be .75 cents off of one item.
When I was speaking to my cousin this week she told me that she sends health and beauty products to her sisters for their families. Joyce has a couple of boxes that she stores her extras in. She always tells me that her box is empty because Joyce shares her stockpile with her sisters, brothers, mother and nieces and nephews. Joyce is now a converted shopper and believer who is also addicted to this great hobby.
|
Photo Comments
|
|
HI, I AM NEW TO THIS AND TRYING TO GET IT TOGETHER.. i LIVE IN MS.I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU WOULD BE MY PEN PAL TO HELP ME ON SOME TIPS. YOU CAN EMAIL ME AT fnash@msdelta.edu... I aslo am curious to know about the trading board.
Sep. 17, 2009 By:
Felicia
-------------------------------------------
|
|
|
How are you doing i live in atlanta georgia and would like to become your pen pal also, i am new at this couponing craze saving thing and if you can help me get started i would greatly appreciate it very much if you can e-mail, me at sunday_kimble@hotmail.com under something ican remember:refunder
Feb. 3, 2007 By:
sunday kimble
-------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
