Leslie Gaydos

A New Generation of Extreme Couponers

A trip to the grocery store with this mother and daughter extreme couponing team can make your head spin.

Kathy Spencer is the brains behind the “How to Shop For Free” website, which provides people with weekly lists of store sales and coupon match-ups.

“I like the old school couponing. I like the feel of the physical coupon in my hands,” said Kathy.

On the other hand, her daughter Crystal Josephson is part of a new generation of couponers who master store and rebate apps to score huge discounts.

“I like the apps because it's clean,” said Crystal. “I don’t have to carry anything with me. I just have to go with my phone, have them scan any barcodes on my phone, and that’s it.”

Both methods will save you money. On a recent trip to Whole Foods, Kathy and Crystal worked as a team using both coupons and the Whole Foods app. They paid $1.25 for $30 worth of juice and tea. After uploading their receipt through rebate apps, they actually made money on the transaction.

The mother-daughter duo calls it a game, and here’s how to play. Whether you clip weekly coupons, print them from online sites, or get them through store apps, they say to start small and pick only one store to focus on at first.

“Learn their policy and see if they have an app,” said Kathy. “Go on my website. We have printable lists for every single thing that’s on sale with a match up.”

Crystal said to get the app for whatever store you want the most because that will save you money on things you would buy anyway. She also said to get one rebate app to start.

“Once you feel comfortable you can slowly add in more apps once things start making more sense to you.”

With rebate apps like Ibotta or Checkout 51, you scan the product and your store receipt on your phone. Once your savings add up you can cash out with a Paypal credit or a gift card.

“Some people when they’re starting out feel a little overwhelmed because they see people saving 70, 80 or 90 percent,” Crystal said. “They’ll say, ‘I only saved 50 percent today,’ and that’s still a really good deal if you’re saving 50 percent on your groceries!”

Bottom line, you can get deep discounts from both methods of couponing. It all just depends on how much time you are willing to put into it.

Contact Us