This lady does all her shopping for FREE!

India
May 18, 2011 6:43am CST
I recently came across a video of a woman named Catherine Spencer who maintains her family of 6 for less than $4 a week! She collects coupons from the internet, newspapers and stores and uses them so well that she gets a cartload of drugstore products and groceries for barely 4 CENTS! Check out the video here. She even explains her tricks- http://socyberty.com/philanthropy/how-to-shop-for-free/ I am also a thrift person but could ever manage a miracle like this. In a post-recession world, things like this should not be regarded cheap or looked down upon..saving money has become important. May this teach us all a thing or two about being thrift.
6 responses
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
18 May 11
I loved the cashout scene where she got $267 worth of goods for 1 cent (she did admit that it was a record for her, though)! I guess that you have to know what you are doing and ALL the little wrinkles that she talks about. You also have to spend quite some time clipping/printing out the coupons AND have your wits about you when you visit the store. I know that I would probably not consider the time and the mental stress of running after the offers really worth the effort! I found myself wondering, at the end of it, whether she actually needed or wanted some of the things she buys.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
18 May 11
Of course, Sid, it is just the fact that MOST people can't be as disciplined as this lady that makes the stores and manufacturers issue coupons. They KNOW that, even if people think they have gone away with a bargain, they will have actually spent more than they would otherwise have done. It's a tried and trusted method of selling that has actually been around for centuries (in one form or another) ... and it WORKS!
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
18 May 11
I thought the same thing Owl. I used to be really into the coupons and I do think you can save. One thing I noticed was that I was picking up items that I really didn't care to or didn't need....or more of an item just to use the coupon. I was never as good as this woman here is. I guess if at the end you are only spending 1cent then it doesn't matter. In my case and I imagine many people, I ended up spending more just to use the coupon.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
18 May 11
Kind of the same concept as the Dollar Stores. How many of us have gone overboard in those places?
@flapiz (22403)
• United Kingdom
18 May 11
Wow! Her husband is so lucky to have such a wise wife. She is too good to be true. Coupons are not so popular in our country so I cannot really avail of this. Tsk, tsk.. Too bad.
• India
18 May 11
In my country, either. The most we get is 20% off or offers like 'buy three get one free'. Bad.
@flapiz (22403)
• United Kingdom
19 May 11
We get buy one take ones here or the occasional 20% or 30% off, but then it happens when the product is not so good anymore. Or those unsold products. tsk, tsk.
@shooie (4984)
• United States
14 Jun 11
Couponing - A great way to save money
Have you watched the extreme coupon show? It is vry interesting. I've started couponing and the best I've done so far is I rang up 86.40 and ended up just paying 20.06 so was well worth the clipping the coupons and researching which stores had the best deals. I now have my coupon binder and monitor my store sales.
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
23 Jun 11
I have never been able to do that and I usually do not find coupons for the items that I buy. I have used some for things that we use around the house, but that is about it. I usually can buy a generic for less than the price of a product with a coupon.
@whengcat (1457)
• Philippines
18 May 11
Whoa, that's a lot!...I'm out of words to describe her, but she's really wise. I hope there's a system like that here in our country
• India
18 May 11
Me too! Hope things turn around soon.
• United States
18 May 11
That's amazing. I have not watched the link yet, but will definiely check it out! I just startedusing coupons, so I probably have a long way to go before I can start saving like this.
• India
18 May 11
I kinda tried to start today but turns out that the coupons are for brands or products that I don't use or for relatively newer entries that look suspicious!