Do you like a bargain? I think we all do, don’t we? Well, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Ashleigh Money Saver team, Jennifer Drew, also known as ‘The Coupon Detective’. Jennifer seeks out the best coupon deals and shares them to save us all lots of money.
The pair met during the filming of a documentary which was being made about money savers on holiday that featured Ashleigh pitted against another money saver (who was Jennifer). They each were challenged to have the cheapest weekend break in Great Yarmouth. Ashleigh told Jennifer if she won she would give her a job and she did win (and got the job!).
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer to find out all her money saving secrets.
Have you always been interested in bagging a bargain?
Yes, I hate spending money when I don’t have to , even as a kid I would rather save it.
How did you get started couponing?
It was a very random thing, I just turned on extreme couponing usa at 4am when I could not sleep as I was pregnant and the baby was keeping me awake. I wondered if there was anything like that in the uk st started searching. Before my husband left for work I had printed out about £60 worth of coupons and most were for baby stuff.
What has been the biggest saving you have achieved so far?
The biggest saving so far was a shop in the supermarket for £142 worth of shopping and I paid 39p last year, I did one similar where I got about £100 worth for £3.99 and then found a £3 off a £30 shop coupon in my coat pocket after I got home, was gutted. I’m aiming for £100 for free in my next big one.
How much time to you dedicate to finding the deals?
It varies depending on what coupons are out that week, if there is nothing new then it takes about half an hour to check all the sites, if there are new ones out or I’m planning a big shop then I can pretty much be on there for about 6 hours, printing them on all my computers, cutting them, sorting them into the best store, planning the shop and then going to the store.
You once did a weekly shop for 29p, how on earth did you do that?
It took quite a lot of planning and was at Christmas so I was using up a lot of the coupons and bonus deals that are out at that time of year. All the cashback sites and loyalty schemes came together in one big shop so it was quite a sight to see, the checkout ladies still talk about it and ask if I’m doing the same this year. I will but it will have to be split across 2 stores.
How much money have you saved in total through couponing?
I worked or out to be about £17,000 in the past 3 years. I don’t actually have that money, it’s just I manage to get goods worth that much for little or nothing.
Is there a certain type of product that has the best deals?
Baby stuff and house hold cleaners like washing powder always seen to have a coupon out somewhere, food is a bit harder and more random but there are plenty out there if you know where to look and are like me will eat anything.
I read that you buy things you don’t need if it’s a bargain, e.g cat food when you don’t have a cat. How does that save you money?
Lol I do have a cat, I lack a dog but still get dog food that usually goes to my mother in law as she has one. I do buy things if you can get what’s called overage, for example they had blue hair dye reduced to £1 and on 3 for 2, I had 3 £1 off coupons so was being paid £1 to take it out the store, they won’t give you the money but if you put something else in your basket it goes towards that. But I don’t intend to dye my hair blue anytime soon.
I always forget coupons and rarely use any that I am given. Do you have a process that could help me?
Become an obsessed tight arse lol, I usually organise my coupons before I shop, I don’t want to be standing there at the till searching for all the ones I need that would take forever and royally annoy the poor person behind me. I also put my reward card in with the coupons or you can use a paperclip and attach them, that way when they ask you for your reward card they are right there.
Can you tell us about the challenge with Ashley Money Saver?
That was a lot of fun, but I have to admit when I saw it was her I almost gave up and thought “forget it lets just blow the budget and have a great holiday”. Luckily my husband talked me back into the competition. Watching the video back I could have done a lot of things better, mainly by stealing her ideas.
You gave up your careers as a teacher to join Ashleigh’s team of money saving experts. Was that a difficult decision?
It was coming up to the end of the school year, we had just got out of special measures at our school thanks to a great team but it was exhausting, that and all the exam prep and marking as well as all the changes that we had to make for the change In the system next year it was a relief to be fair. I was spending so much time marking that I felt like I had no time for my family, something most teachers can relate to. I miss the people and even a lot of the kids I was quite a balmy teacher and miss it sometimes.
What would be your top 3 tips for someone who wanted to start couponing?
1) It’s not for the shy or people who care what others think if you’re doing it on my scale, you have to ignore the tuts and eye rolls the rudeness from some of the staff in some places and be prepared to argue when you know your right.
2) Be organised, you’re going to stress yourself out unless you can get things in order, get a separate email so you’re not going to get coupon emails mixed up with personal stuff, get a binder or a wallet to put them all in in some sort of order so they don’t end up expiring in the bottom of your bag, and plan the shop first online.
3) try to get a coupon friend either online or in the real world, my site coupondetective.co.uk or facebook forums have links to great coupons and if you can swap them with your friends then you can get even better deals. I don’t have a dog but I do have a child so I swap dog food coupons for johnson’s or pampers. 2 of my friends are signed up to the pampers club and they don’t have kids so I get the coupons that arrive in the post.
How can I find the best deals and coupons and keep up to date?
Coupondetective.co.uk and ashleighmoneysaver.co.uk as well as out facebook pages. We have all the up to date coupons listed as well as usually the best place to spend them at the moment so most of the hard bits are done for you.
With Christmas on the horizon, what deals should we be looking out for?
This time of year stores are getting rid of loads of stock so they can fill up on Christmas themes or packaged items, so start your shopping now. Cashback sites are a great help and the codes and bargains are all over our sites for things like body shop, (no one should be paying full price there for a while), and clothing so always check in case we can save you a few pounds, it all adds up.
You can find regular deals over on Jennifer’s facebook page ‘Coupon Detective’ and if you haven’t already why not save even more cash my liking Ashley Money Saver too.