Welcome

Hello everyone, I am new to the world of coupon clipping and I have decided to share my experience with the world.  A couple of weeks ago, I watched a show about extreme couponing and was fascinated at the huge discounts the people on the show obtained.  Like so many things on television, it seemed to me to be something that the average person could not do.  So, since I consider myself average, I decided to give it a try.

I first began with old, reliable Google search and quickly found myself engrossed in sites that not only explained how couponing worked but packaged deals that should be obtainable by anyone.  The more of these sites I wallowed through, the more excited I got.  By the next day, I was ready to test my own abilities at landing one of these prepackaged deals.

Admittedly, I set my sights rather low in case I had to end up shelling out cash for my purchase.  I chose the currently popular Mars candy save one dollar on the purchase of two items ($1/2).  I printed out my coupon and headed into a CVS store across town where no one would likely recognize me.  I found the advertised store deal of two filled chocolate eggs for one dollar.  I picked up two of the eggs, and a couple of Cadbury peanut butter eggs so I wouldn't look suspicious, and headed to the counter.  I laid it all out on the counter along with my CVS card and waited for it to be totaled.  I then handed over the coupon and expected to hear the person giggle as they prepared to tell me that the coupon I printed at home was fake.  But, to my surprise, that magical little piece of paper I printed at home was accepted.  I took my bounty of four pieces of candy and headed for the door.

As I exited, I hesitated just for a moment in case any alarm went off due to a delay in the employee realizing that something was wrong with my coupon.  But, no alarms sounded.  Then, I began to realize that I had just received as much candy for free as I had also purchased.  Free?  Free!  Then the thought hit me, "How much FREE do you want?".  Well, I thought, "... as much FREE as I can get".

Now, approximately two weeks later, I have purchased over $100.00 worth of "stuff" and paid less than $15.00 for it.  That is 85% savings.  Awesome!  Super!  Okay, maybe just mediocre compared to an extreme couponing person, but more than enough to excite me.  Now, it is just a matter of, "How much FREE do you want"?