by Shannon Paterson | photography Tiffany Hix OUR TOWN {profile}
Heather Wheeler thinks clipping coupons is chic.
Snipping Your Way to Savings
Two Meridian women making cutting coupons cool.
c
oupon clippers are used to hearing frustrated sighs from other customers. But when two self-proclaimed “Krazy Coupon Ladies" are in the checkout line, icy stares are replaced by stunned silence. Joanie Demer and Heather Wheeler often save hundreds of dollars every month on their grocery bills, and
they delight in sharing their secrets on their popular, Meridian-based blog, Te Krazy Coupon Lady. “We say couponing is the next best thing to shoplifting," says Demer. “It’s for anyone that wants more money, and that’s everybody."
Both women were newbies in the coupon world just a year ago. With the economy
sinking further into recession, they set a goal to stockpile a year’s worth of food for their families, but they didn’t have a lot of extra cash on hand to do it, so they got creative. Tey paid attention to sales and coupled store coupons with manufacturer coupons for additional savings. Demer got her first “coupon high" at Albertsons. “After a day of shopping, I had done maybe 10 transactions, and I came home and totaled up my receipts and it was $700 before coupons. And I ended up paying less than $100, I think."
But starting a coupon blog wasn’t on the radar just yet. It wasn’t until Demer posted
a photo of her purchases on her personal blog that she realized it might be a good way to teach others the ways of couponing. “We didn’t realize it, but we were pretty good at explaining to coupon virgins what to do," Demer says.
But hardcore, dedicated coupon use isn’t necessary to see savings, according to Wheeler. She says Te Krazy Coupon Lady website (thekrazycouponlady.com) also features
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