I very rarely watch morning television, but several weeks ago I saw a unique report/interview on the TODAY show that sparked my interest and got me thinking. Matt Lauer interviewed Joyce House, better known as the “Coupon Diva” about her tricks of the trade. What’s so special about Joyce, you say? She’s made quite a name for herself in Philadelphia, helping other shoppers not only save money while shopping for groceries, but to get commonly used items for free. Too good to be true? Think again…
Some of the tips the Diva shared with Matt:
- If you forget to use a coupon, you can come back to the store for up to 30 days to get your money back.
- If an item scans incorrectly at check-out, you can often get it for free.
- Know your grocery store’s coupon policy inside and out.
If you think cutting coupons takes too much time – Joyce says “you haven’t been broke enough.” In today’s economic climate, many are hearing her all too well. Joyce says that people are not utilizing all the resources available to them to get a lot of very common grocery items absolutely free.
Her last grocery bill? Joyce purchased $71 in groceries for a mere $11. And that doesn’t even come close to the times the store owed her money!
This got me thinking – can I achieve these same results and how easy or difficult is it? I’ll attempt to replicate the Diva’s success with my own groceries, and keep a close eye on my grocery bills. Look for my complete report in a few months.
If you want to watch the video from the TODAY show, I’ve embedded it below:
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I would love to see someone be able to do this while still buying organic or products without icky ingredients like high fructose corn syrup or tons of sugar. Every time I check out what people buy for next to nothing after coupons, it’s always seems to be food I would not eat or feed my family. I would LOVE to learn how to do this though for the food that I do eat. I mean you never see coupons for things like coconut milk or free-range eggs. Maybe I will conduct an experiment as well. I always trying to do coupons, then it falls to the wayside. I think the statement, “you haven’t been broke enough” nailed it on the head.
Good point – I haven’t seen these specialized coupons either. But I’ll keep an eye out and definitely share my sources if I see something. Maybe it’s not that they’re not available, but that they’re much harder to find. After all, healthy food is still a “niche” market and wouldn’t make it into the Sunday paper too often.
If you buy all of your toiletries with coupons for next to nothing it leaves you extra money to buy healthy food, organic, this is what I do.