[hotcouponmama]

pennywatcher's name in real life: Katrina

Age: 30-something

Home State: Georgia, but she will always be a Michigander at heart

Marital Status: Married

Kids: not yet

Pets: sadly, none at the moment

In Katrina's own words:

Little Known Factoid: I've been participating in discussion forums and chat rooms on the internet since 1987. I became an IRC user within a year of its creation.

Favorite Money Saving Tip: Every time money leaves your hands/account, stop and think about what you got for it. Was it worth it? Would that money have been better saved to spend elsewhere? Could you have paid less for the item or done something to reduce the bill. I sometimes ask myself, how many jigsaw puzzles/books/dinners out could I have gotten for that money.

Budget: We don't budget really. We have goals we meet for savings and investments and then the rest is sort of fluid.

Stores she shops: Publix (of course), Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Target, Whole Foods (occasionally)

Coupon Organization Method: Less complicated than it sounds. Four of the papers I get on Sunday are clipped and filed in an attache case-like object (it's designed for tools). Any additional inserts get filed intact, by date in a small file box. I then have a small accordian file that goes into the stores with me. It holds coupons, ExtraBucks, receipts, new coupons I pick up while there, etc.

Best Advice to Newbies: Be patient. Start with one store, learn the policies and the registers, get comfortable with your new Couponer status, then branch out to other stores slowly. Don't get discouraged when you compare your savings or stockpile to anyone else's. If you can only get in on a deal once, revel in that success, don't kick yourself for not having more coupons/time/whatever to get more.

Admin Note about Pennywatcher: Katrina is beyond helpful as a mod. Between offering snippets of tech support to her fellow mods and to Heidi and I, and helping keep up on issues in the forums, Katrina has been wonderful to have around. Thanks Katrina for all your support to those here on the board.

As a side note - I am BEYOND late in getting this posted and she should have smacked me upside the head by now!