Community Spotlight ~ Member Of The Month September 2009 - cbgo

queenofthehivemomof5 · 10-24-2009, 08:50:03 AM

Hey everyone I would like to announce our September 2009 member of the month cbgo. I had several members and moderators mention her name to me about how helpful and friendly she is in especially in the Walgreens forum.

Susan has been a member of Hotcouponworld since August 2008 and is just a great HCW member.

Here is a little bit more info about her:

Name

Susan

Moderator for the following forum(s)

-

Age

Do I really have to say?

Home State

Texas

Marital Status

Single

Kids

Nope.

Pets

One adorable rescued St. Bernard, Buffy.

Little Known Factoid

cbgo stands for Craig Biggio, my favorite baseball player ever.

Favorite Money Saving Tip

I try very hard to keep my overall OOP as low as possible, rather than worrying too much about how low it is for each transaction. For example, at Wags and CVS there is frequent need for fillers either to meet the total required for a $5/25 type coupon or to meet the coupon/items requirements for RRs. I used end up getting some silly cheap filler in order to have a super low total for that transaction. Now, I try to find a good deal on food or something else that I would be buying anyway that I don't have coupons for. So, instead of spending $.29 on something I don't need, I may spend $.59 on something that I will use. Since I have started doing that my overall OOP has decreased and my food stockpile has really grown.

Budget

I don't have a strict budget. I usually spend about $100 a month.

Stores I shop

Wags, CVS, Randalls, HEB, Dollar General and Family Dollar.

Coupon Organization Method

I staple and clip the coupons that I need and put them in my binders, filed alphabetically. I have one binder for HBA and one for food. I match up like pages and staple them and file the rest of the inserts by date.

Best Advice to Newbies

Don't try to do too much too soon. It takes awhile to learn all the store rules and how coupon friendly your stores are. Others have recommended starting with one store and then adding more stores as your skills and knowledge increase. I could not agree with that more.

Subscribe to the weekly ad and deal threads in the stores that you shop so that you will be alerted to any problems with a deal or new ones that have been discovered during the week.

Also, the mods have spent a bunch of time putting together FAQs about every store. They are a great resource. They really can help you keep from making some very expensive mistakes.