July 2007 - cmeileen

[hotcouponmama]

The scoop on cmeileen

Cmeileen’s name in real life is: Eileen

Age: 49

Home State: Eileen joins us from Maryland, where she works part-time as a framer at Michael's Craft Store. She's also a Creative Memories consultant.

Marital Status: Married to Gene for 20 years, whom Eileen has been with for 26 years. Eileen counts both anniversaries because, "Over half my life has been given to him."

Kids: Eileen has a 19-year old daughter, Lindsey, who is in her 2nd year college, with a 3-month old named Olivia, engaged to Joel (l love the family – I couldn’t be happier!!). Eileen also has a 12-year old, Taylor.

Pets: Eileen is also “Mom” to two cats, Angel, and Parker. Parker is a 20-pound tabby – "my love bug, follows me around, sits on my lap. Angel just wants to be left alone". That’s one lap full!


In Eileen’s words - cmeileen:
Little Known Factoid about cmeileen: I’m my husband’s 4th wife – he was my 1st marriage – guess you keep going ‘til you meet the right one!

cmeileen’s Favorite Money Saving Tip: Something a lot of people don’t know is that all the major craft stores accept each other's coupons as competitor coupons. They can be used on clearance items too! To save on holidays, buy gifts all year long. When Michael’s runs their clearance on 75%, the next Friday, it will go 90% - most people don't know that either. And they have lots of great things because people don't look for the clearance deals there.

My Budget: I don’t have a budget right now. Hubby has done the shopping for years because he cooks and I don’t.

Stores I shop at: CVS, Walgreens, Superfresh, and a local store called Harvest Fair, which doubles up to a dollar.

cmeileen’s Coupon Organization Method: I use the binder method. I clip and separate food from non-food until I can get them into the binder. I buy the 5x7 photos sleeves and put the rainchecks, rebates/certs, etc. inside the sleeves. "I tuck it in there so it’s together and handy." I also match the coupons to rebate forms in there.

cmeileen’s Best Advice to Newbies: "Stay organized, learn as much as you can about the different stores in your area – what they accept, who doubles, who doesn’t so you can plan your trip better. That way you’re not stuck at the cash register buying more than the allotted sale, and you'll always get the best deals."



Eileen's Story:

Eileen brings a wonderful perspective to HotCouponWorld, filled with great advice gained from life's lessons. She's a family gal, who is very proud and excited to talk about her kids and granddaughter. And she spent the better part of an hour sharing how couponing has helped her family get ahead and stretch their lifestyle.

She only recently got back into couponing about a year ago, and found Hotcouponworld through another board. She said she was ecstatic when she found the site. "We always stayed around $50 a week, but now we’re doing more with stockpiling, and it includes health and beauty items too." Her favorite recent deal was Glade Wisps at Target: regularly priced from $8 - $9, she picked up 11 of them for .99c each. The packs included batteries, and with a savings of over $100, Eileen plans to give them as gifts this year.

"My family is kind of odd – we’re all very practical in gift giving…DH’s side is a bit extravagant with nice vase, etc. But in my group, they’re getting a nice gift basket of practical stuff. I'll get the basket from Michael’s on clearance, too, for 90% off."

Eileen continued, relaying a precious memory of her parents buying an empty gift box, and then filling it with all kinds of drug store items – "the expensive stuff" as she puts it... aspirin, meds, bandaids, etc, for her grandmother. That memory has always stuck out in her mind, and she now gives her mom practical items as well. The practical things make better gifts for people on a fixed income in her estimation. She's given her mom things like over-the-counter meds, and even Shredded Wheat!

I was curious...if they are practical about gift giving, what are they spending their money on? Eileen explained that couponing is a way to extend their lifestyle into other areas. Right now, Right now, coupon savings are allowing their daughter to pay for college. Originally, they thought they would have to take out money from a 401K, expending not only their savings but paying a penalty. Instead, the weekly savings from coupons and deals is allowing them to pay for tuition semester by semester, and letting the 401K stay intact.

Coupon savings also provide funds for her husband's fishing “habit”. He enjoys taking regular fishing trips, and he recently took a chartered trip with their soon-to-be son in-law. She feels that the time her husband and daughter's fiance get to spend together is great for the family. "Joel and my husband are buddies. We couldn't ask for a better person for our daughter - we're very lucky!" Eileen feels like if she wasn't couponing, they wouldn't be able to support her daughter and granddaughter like she can right now, and that would be hard on her. She clearly feels very connected to her children. Eileen’s priorities are her family, and coupon savings help provide her children with the opportunities they otherwise might not have.

Eileen speaks with experience on career opportunities and choices in savings. She spent over 20 years working as a retirement benefits analyst for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. When she left corporate America, she scaled back her lifestyle. And…she went to work for Michael's Craft Store. Eileen is an avid arts and craft hobbiest, and at Michael’s she can contribute her creativity, and get rewarded. As a Framer, she gets a 25% employee discount that she'll stack with coupons and clearance sales to get great buys to extend her hobby “budget”. Aside from her part-time work at Michael's, Eileen also works as a Creative Memories consultant.

Eileen also has another part time career as a hypnotist! She found a hypnotist near her home and was trained by him to do hypnotherapy sessions. She runs sessions for people who are looking for stress reduction, weight control, or smoking cessation. She says it really works! She provides group sessions, but will fill in on private sessions as needed.


"I love working people. I love helping people, and I like to share." If she finds out about something like a hot sale or new coupon, she's quick to pass it on to her Michael’s customers or people she meets. She'll even take coupons in to work to share with customers, sort of like being an in-store coupon fairy.


We talked a bit about where she shops and how well she saves on groceries and household items. She routinely shops the six CVS stores in her area, and moves from store to store to get the deals. She also has Superfresh in her area. Eileen’s Advice: Rain checks! Eileen goes in on the last day of the sale, when available quantities are limited, and gets rain checks for out of stock items. Then, when the rare triple coupon event is running, she’s got the sales half of the deal already in her coupon binder. "Ask for rainchecks, then get them used when there’s triples. It's all about planning ahead." She also finds excellent deals at Harvest Fair, a local store near her. "They don’t have a lot of stuff, but the stuff I do get is really good."

When I asked about her estimated savings, she think’s she saves about 60-65% on her groceries and household items. For her family, it's about $400 a month, so about $5000 a year. "It’s a lot of money", she says. With the new grandbaby, Eileen is able to help out with diapers and formula. Her daughter appreciates the support, and Eileen is thrilled to be able to help out.

She does have some challenges with couponing. "When there’s a lot of deals going on and everyone’s selling the same thing, trying to figure out who has the best price can be a challenge." She laughed as she said it drives her crazy to figure out if the CVS sale with the added extra care bucks (ECBs are similar to OYNO Catalina coupons) is a better deal than the store down the road with a similar sale but offering double coupons.

Her other challenge is in navigating Hotcouponworld for the information.
"One thing I need to really figure out how to do is work the board better", she said. She found HCW through a competing site. Someone posted that a preview of a CVS ad was available at HCW. There was a particular offer she was interested in, and thought it was going to be a hot deal….so she PM’d the person. She got the link to the site and has been here ever since.

"I don’t even have time to read it all here. I’ll stay on there til 1am – chatting with Seedlady, kmmmom, and some of the other gals." She is one of a group of night time chatters. I watch the chat room some nights, and have to wonder if they ever go to sleep. "I like the flash chat a lot. It’s mind boggling how much is there."

When Eileen isn't couponing, she's doing other things to live the frugal life. She does yardsales, ebay, is a "bargain hunter extraordinaire", and will negotiate any time she can for a better deal.

She's also been doing rebates for years. As she explained it, back in the 1980’s, many mail-in rebates only required UPCs as proof or purchase, with no dated sales receipt. Eileen recalled that people would save UPCs and trade them with friends (before the internet).

In those days, Eileen’s mother-in-law would save all the paper trash. Every week when they went to visit her, Eileen would go through the paper trash bags and cut all the UPCs off everything. Her mother-in-law was a real convenience shopper so there were always plenty of UPCs each week. "I had storage boxes and Ziplocs full of things. I collected everything and got a lot of money back, but then they got smarter. The started wanting the UPC and the receipt."

As rebates have changed over the years, she doesn't do quite as many rebates because she tends to wait until the last minute to complete them. Even the Walgreens monthly rebate is a hassle for her. She doesn't shop at Rite Aid because she thinks they aren't as competitive as the offers from Walgreens and CVS.

The funniest thing about our conversation was how matter of fact she was about being out of toilet paper in her home. "I'm using Kleenex right now ‘cause there’s no toilet paper deal in our area." It struck me as she said it, that she likely isn't the first deals seeker to have been in the same spot. Stockpiling the deals sometimes means waiting for the best deals and substituting items we have on hand. Except for some of us, it might have been paper towels, baby wipes, or napkins we've had stocked to tide us over until the TP was running free.

As our conversation wound down, Eileen had some other thoughts to share about where she's at in life...some of it was very telling about how she approaches life.

"I usually work nights, and I hit Walgreens or CVS 24-hour stores. About 2 months ago, it’s about 10 p.m. in the evening, and I'm flipping through my coupons because I've seen other people who posted about how excited they were about the deals that were out. I see two young girls, all dressed up and ready to go have fun. And I'm sitting here all excited about coupons. It puts you in a different mind set." But she was quick to mention that if there’s information out there to share with people, she’d like to share it.

We shared a similar experience of having both having bad car wrecks this year. In her case, her husband was very badly injured. It's given her pause for perspective that I think we can all relate to and embrace. Her message was about people, and how you can impact someone's day in a meaningful way. "I think you can make someone’s day by giving a compliment", she said, and she tries to remember to do it once a day. She watches for people who give exceptional service so she can share it with the manager. She compliments strangers by telling them they look nice. "A compliment and a smile just make people’s day!" She goes on to add that being friendly is such a nice thing to do. "It’s so easy to do – even in elevators!"

Having been through the experience of nearly losing a spouse, she feels very blessed in her life. "You learn things as you get older, and you try to instill it in your kids...keep people around you who add value to your life."

She says she's friendly with lots of people, but her close friends are few. Those she is close with are the kind of friends she thinks we should all look for in life. "They don't judge you". And she thinks if they aren’t adding value to your life (by that, she doesn't mean that your friends can't be in need, but rather if they don’t respect you, aren’t a true friend, or aren’t adding emotional value and support), then you don’t really need them. "Keep yourself surrounded with good people – your mind can only hold one thought at a time, and wouldn’t we all rather have positive thoughts? When you’re in the negative mode, adjust to the positive – it will make you feel better."

Her outlook on life is one from which we could all benefit. Thanks Eileen for sharing your story!

[bexx09]

Her message was about people, and how you can impact someone's day in a meaningful way. "I think you can make someone’s day by giving a compliment", she said, and she tries to remember to do it once a day. She watches for people who give exceptional service so she can share it with the manager. She compliments strangers by telling them they look nice. "A compliment and a smile just make people’s day!" She goes on to add that being friendly is such a nice thing to do. "It’s so easy to do – even in elevators!"

So very true! If only more people thought this way.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[jujubee]

Thanks for sharing your story Eileen!

[YouPdWhat]

Great story & thank you for being so kind to share it with us.

[cuzisaidso]

HCM, you rock!

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Love your story cmeileen! I wish I had a Michaels! Love your outlook on people.

[JANE4girls]

nice to get to know you :Wave:

[wabashriver1]

You sound like an awesome lady, Eileen! Thank you for letting us meet you!

[mesarobins]

What a wonderful perspective you have cmeileen! Glad you shared!

[Cheeky]

Hi Cmeeileen ! nice to know more about you, I love Michael's Craft Store !
the people are so helpful to the talent challenged like me :)