Community Spotlight ~ Member Of The Month August 2007 - Q_ponQ

hotcouponmama · 09-09-2007, 02:44:41 AM

The Scoop on Q_ponQ

Q_ponQ’s name in real life is: Nancy

Age: In her 50's

Home: Nancy hails from New Hampshire, where she is an Apartment Manager.

Marital Status: Married

Kids: One son

Pets: none right now

In Nancy’s words - Q_ponQ:
Little Known Factoid about Q_ponQ: I used to work in a rebate redemption clearinghouse

Q_ponQ’s Favorite Money Saving Tip: "Shop with CASH!!! You spend less money when cash actually has to pass through your hands. A debit card makes it just too easy to swipe and not pay attention to what you're spending."

My Budget: I’ve cut our budget down to $35-$40 a week for 2 people with an estimated annual savings of $1800 per year.

Stores I shop at: CVS, Walgreens, a local store called Market Basket (with great wine tags there) and Shaws, if the Catalina deals are good enough.

Q_ponQ’s Coupon Organization Method: I use the binder method

Q_ponQ’s Best Advice to Newbies: "You're not going to be able to take all the information at Hotcouponworld in at once, so take it slow, and READ!!!

Nancy's Story:

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy by phone for this profile. Nancy is charming, with an unmistakable sense of humor. It was one of the funniest hours I've ever spent chatting with someone - she had me in hysterics the entire time. The time flew by while the laughter flowed, and Nancy shared her unique and inspiring story.

Nancy is the second to the last of 10 children, and there just wasn't much money to go around. Her parents were of depression era, budgeting and stretching a dollar were engrained into her life. "I was always taught to be self-reliant." She went to work at an early age, and learned to be responsible for her own financial means. If she wanted something new for herself, she had to buy it on her own. "I wasn't handed a college education...I worked for everything I had."

So imagine her sense of shock when, at age 48, she found herself asking for public assistance. Her husband had been badly hurt and could no longer work, and the basic financial obligations, food and shelter, could not be met. At an age when her family finances would have been focused on retirement planning and a comfortable lifestyle, Nancy was starting over. "I was floored, but I had no money, lived in a small town in NH, and I sat there and cried as I asked for help. I never wept so hard in my life while I was there asking for help. I had never been there before, and I never wanted to be there again."

Nancy received public assistance for just three short months before she found creative ways to begin to turn their lives back around. "I got some help with church for food." She arranged to receive food through a cooperative agreement with Serve New England. Here she paid $15 for a food package worth $30, in exchange two hours of community service of any kind. Once the hours had been met, she could exchange proof of service and $15 for another bag of groceries worth $30, along with recipes and other household helps. She continued with this program while her family worked to build themselves back up. Nancy is amazed at this program. "Anyone could use this program, not just people in need."

With food costs reduced, they tackled another financial road block: Health care. Nancy’s husband had lost his medical insurance along with his job, but their health care needs remained. Nancy approached her doctor with an offer to barter services. In exchange for medical care, she would do office work. The doctor agreed to her offer, and Nancy went in regularly to do filing and keep the medicine sample closet organized and rotated for expiration dates. The staff loved her help. Once the doctor’s services-to-date were paid off, Nancy went into "reverse barter" mode, continuing to work hours for “credit” against future medical expenses. And, when Nancy and her family later regained medical insurance, Nancy used the credit with the doctor to cover the cost of insurance co-pays. She says that the barter system allowed her family to receive a few thousand dollars worth of services without cash ever changing hands.

Nancy also bartered goods and services for clothing and housing. She has done work for a community clothing closet, washing and mending donated clothing, in exchange for access to clothing if she needed it. Currently, she works as an apartment manager; her rent is covered in exchange for her keeping an eye out for the other tenants in the multi-plex unit she lives in.

Nancy’s perspective on recycling goods also changed. In her time working with the town hall its clothing bank, she was amazed what people donated. She made a commitment to furnish her home with as many recycled items as possible by purchasing at garage sales and thrift shops. She says she rarely buys new items if she can avoid it; there are so many used ones out there that are in good quality shape. "But when you buy new, buy discount. There's no sense putting all your money out there."

Nancy’s childhood roots in living frugally and working hard gave her the tools to survive and overcome her financial setback. As we talked, she shared other things she does to live frugally. Nancy laments that the current generation of moms staying home with kids weren't taught the all the techniques to survive on one income. Sewing, preserving foods, creative home decorating, basics to survival in Nancy’s life. She loves to sew when she can, and has made many of the items in her house including curtains. Her own bedskirt was once a valance which she converted into a bedskirt by adding elastic. Indeed, one of her favorite activities is to create new items from other things. She watches HGTV programs for ideas.

Of course, we also talked about the fun stuff -- COUPONING!!! Nancy has a great New England accent, complete with the "A" sounds coming out like "R" sounds… “Catalina” comes out sounding like "Caterlina". But she is very serious when it comes to coupons. "I don't know how these moms with kids in the store get in there and coupon - it's hard work! I can't even take my husband. I'm having to tell him to 'Please don’t talk to me – I’m focusing and counting' while I am at the store."

As we launch into a discussion of couponing and couponers, a brood of turkeys roams into Nancy’s yard. She said that she thought of me, and that if I was there I could cook them on my grill! Ah, New England!

And then, typical Nancy, she jumps right back into our discussion....

She shares that when she found HCW and started reading about how to get things for next to nothing, and stockpiling the savings, she was totally blown away. "I read until my eyes were bloodshot. It was like reading this wonderful book in front of the computer. I learned things like not to expect to get a wonderful stockpile overnight – you can’t jump on every deal too quickly – shoot for 6 months worth at a time. Only stock what you can use! My husband said – 'I want ours to look like that' after seeing the stockpile photo thread. I handed him everything, my coupons, my binder, and I told him to get busy doing it! It is a lot of work and not to be taken lightly, but the rewards at some point along the way are like, OH MY GOD!"

She started couponing and stockpiling when dish/paper/cleaning items were on deep sales. "That is an aisle that pushes your bill right up. I was spending $60-$70 a week on groceries. I would go down that cleaning aisle though and get my butt kicked by the prices."

One of the things that really hit home was that she had been wasting a lot of money. "Oh my god! I have I wasted a lot of money at the store – and I was buying generics. I always thought if you don’t have a coupon, buy the generic. Little did I know you can get brand names for free."

"I never knew winetags existed!!! Learning how to use them creatively is like….OH MY GOD!!!!" She now teams them with marked down items. She found chicken Italian sausage normally $6, on sale for $5, but then marked down an extra $1.50. With a $2 winetag, she only paid $1.50 for expensive sausage. "If the date hasn’t gone by, as long as you preserve it – it’s good – when in doubt, throw it out. If it looks funny toss it!"

Nancy also invested in a seal-a-mealer! She shrink-wraps her marked down items and quickly freezes them. "Either eat it or freeze it if it was marked down that day." She's learned to ask the butcher to wrap each piece of fish separately, so she can use a coupon on each item. When she gets asked by the meat department staff why she needs the small pack sizes, she shares her coupon finds, and they happily keep wrapping.

She's only been at couponing HCW-style for about 5-6month. "It’s wicked funny...“If I can't go with my binder to the store, I don't want to go at all!!!” She's turned her sewing table turned into her coupon table. But she cautions, "Don’t freak out for missing a deal. It will come back around at some point."

Her non-grocery frugal tips are great too:

* Order child-size meals take-out...the portions are the right size and you don't pay full dinner prices.
* Use a coupon for anything you can - oil changes, haircuts, dining out.
* Live your own life and do so comfortably without credit cards - they own you!
* Keep a sheet in your binder for "vendor" coupons for local businesses who provide everything from house sevices to pizza delivery.

As we wound the interview to a close, Nancy mentioned that she used to be a community leader at I-village before it got bought out by Hearst Media. She gave HCW a great compliment by telling me she felt like we were night and day different than her experience at Ivillage. "All the information I had just learned from reading at HCW was amazing – and it was here for free."

If I hadn't had to pick my kids up from school, I probably could have continued to chat with Nancy for hours. She's a genuinely warm and fun lady who has a lot of wisdom about life, coupons, and saving money. I learned alot from her in just an hour on the phone. I look forward to reading her posts in the future.

Thanks Nancy, for sharing your Profile with us! We're glad to have you here at Hotcouponworld!