In our recent State of Couponing 2025 survey, one thing really stood out to us: 40% of couponers are using their couponing skills to afford essentials. They're not couponing as an extreme hobby — although we’re no stranger to extreme couponing — or as a game, but as a way to survive and help others survive too.
So we reached out to our KCL social media followers and asked: “Are you one of the 40% using coupons to afford essentials, or have you been there in the past?” And some of them offered to share their stories with us.
We heard from a disabled single mom who uses coupons to buy necessities for not just her family, but her neighbors. An avid couponer who credits couponing with helping him learn discipline and resourcefulness. A couponer with more than 40 years of experience. And a savvy saver who used couponing to survive a job loss and now shares her tips on social media with others. Read on for their stories, as well as our KCL tips for putting their advice into action.
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Stock-Up Tips From a Single Mom: Christina Iacovelli From Buena, New Jersey
Why Iacovelli Started Couponing
Iacovelli, a social worker and mom of two, started couponing more than a decade ago when she moved into her first house. “I was a single mom,” she says, “And I needed to budget.”
How Her Approach Evolved
As she leveled up her couponing skills, she began picking up extra items whenever she could (detergent, clothing, pantry staples) and offering them up to others in need.
“I had a basement and a little extra room,” she says. “People could come and get what they needed. It became bigger and bigger, and some people would drop off more things, farmers would drop off food.”
But then life happened. Iacovelli got sick, became disabled, and lost the house, all within two years. “And I needed couponing more than ever,” she says.
What Works for Iacovelli Now: Couponing became a way to give her kids “the most normal life I could provide,” Iacovelli says. She got her daughter through college by couponing (“Groceries, laundry detergent, bedding, pens, you name it, I couponed it.”).
And she didn’t stop helping others. Extras and freebies she scored through couponing went on the community table for her neighbors in her apartment complex. And these days, she coupons to buy diapers for her grandchild, as well as essentials like toothpaste, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies for her own parents.
What Iacovelli Wishes Retailers Knew: While Iacovelli is a savvy and seasoned couponer, she knows how confusing and intimidating it can be to newcomers. “I wish [stores] would make couponing a little easier,” she says. “Sometimes it can be really difficult putting these deals together.”
Iacovelli understands why businesses and cashiers can be wary of couponers stacking offers and buying many of the same item.
But she also wishes stores would give more thought to those who are using coupons to get by. “The rules are constantly changing. I feel like they’re pushing couponers away because the limitations feel endless,” she says. “I wish they’d realize we’re doing this because a lot of us don’t have a choice. I literally would not have money for anything extra if I didn’t coupon.”
Iacovelli's Advice to New Couponers: For those hesitant to coupon? “Take it one store at a time, one day at a time," Iacovelli says. "You don’t have to start with all the stores at once.”
Her own go-to stores for couponing these days are drugstores like Walgreens and CVS and Target (thanks to all its weekly gift-card-with-purchase deals). Plus, she suggests, make couponing fun.
Iacovelli remembers when she first started couponing around the kitchen table with a friend and her kids (whom she kept motivated by encouraging them to find coupons on fun stuff they wanted).
“With time, you learn, and you’ll start to enjoy it,” she says. “And you’ll see how much you can help people and yourself and your family through hard times.”
KCL Expert Analysis
Iacovelli's story is a great example of the "stock-up strategy" of couponing. She's taking advantage of coupons to get essentials for cheap and then saving those items for later (or giving them to others). Even though she's buying more than she needs in the moment, she's saving money in the long run, compared to paying full price each time.
Stockpiling requires knowledge of couponing and knowing which prices are stock-up worthy. Ready to try stockpiling yourself? Check out these resources:
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School and Office Supplies Stock-Up Prices: Use our stock-up price list to score enough school supplies to get your family through this school year and next.
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Food and Groceries to Stockpile: These canned goods and other essentials have a shelf life of a year or more. If you see our stock-up price on a shelf (or can use a coupon to get it), consider stockpiling.
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Personal Care Coupons: Things like shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant are stockpiling staples because of their long shelf life. Check out the best personal care coupons we're finding in real time.
No-Nonsense Tips From a 40-Year Couponing Vet: Maureen Burum From Cedar Falls, Iowa
Why Burum Started Couponing
Burum is the couponer with the most experience who reached out to us. She’s been couponing for 40 years. She started couponing when her kids came along, she says, to help her family get essentials. “I used to be a bit of an extreme couponer, which just helped the family altogether,” she says.
How Her Approach Has Evolved
These days, Burum says, her couponing is less extreme. But the skills she learned while couponing to help her family in the past have stuck with her. “Why pay full price for essentials?” she says.
KCL Pro Tip : Follow the KCL Price Tracker, which follows over 100 grocery items weekly, for the best place to buy every essential.
Her strategies have now shifted, since the paper coupons she got her start on, she says, “are now a thing of the past, digital is the current method.”
So today, she tends to rely more on sales and knowing what her stock-up price is for various items before she buys. “But I do on occasion write to let a business know how much I truly enjoy their product and may get a coupon from them.”
What Works for Burum Now
Her go-to stores for saving and couponing are Walmart, plus “a little bit of Walgreens, a bit of Target, and the two grocery stores I go to, Hyvee and Fareway.”
And some of her best recent hauls on basics have included General Mills cereal (“Rarely do I ever pay more than $0.99 for a box,” she says) and Finish dishwasher pods (she’s gotten up to 15 packages of them for $5, and her recent haul pictured below was $3). “Most of them went to my daughter, as she does a load every day,” Burum says.
Burum's Advice to New Couponers
For beginner couponers, Burum suggests following couponing pros on social media and using rebate apps like Ibotta and Fetch (which give you extra cash-back rebates on the stuff you buy anyway). As you start to level up, you can get moneymaker deals, where you earn more rewards or cash back on a purchase than you spend.
Here are her steps for finding moneymakers:
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Start with items that are on sale already.
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Check for digital coupons and rewards offers for those items in your store's app.
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Check in the Ibotta app to see if they have any offers, coupons, or bonuses.
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Check the Fetch app for bonuses.
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See if your credit or debit card offers any cash back on purchases. "Just last week, I had a 20% rebate for using my debit cards at the grocery store," she says.
All those steps combined could get you back more than you spent, meaning you've essentially been paid to shop.
What Burum Wishes Retailers Knew
Burum's advice to retailers? She wishes they would better understand what, exactly, real people want savings on in the current economy. “Basics! Forget the frivolous stuff added to store shelves,” she says. “And no celebrity endorsements.”
KCL Expert Analysis
We're glad Burum mentioned couponing for freebies and moneymakers. While they're a bit of an advanced technique, they're the ultimate couponing win. These days, you need to combine digital coupons, rebate apps, and store coupons with low sales prices to get them.
Follow Burum's steps above and check out our resources for hunting moneymakers and freebies in the wild:
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Our Weekly Roundup of Couponing Freebies : Every week, we check out stores known for their couponing freebies (and free-with-rebate offers) and do all the work for you, showing which coupons, rebates, and apps you need to use to score stuff for free.
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Our Moneymakers Roundup : With our moneymaker deals, you can get more in rewards and rebates than you spend, which makes you feel like you're getting paid to shop. Keep in mind, you're getting paid just a few cents at a time, but that all adds up over time.
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Our Guides to Couponing at CVS and Walgreens : Why these two stores in particular? They're a treasure trove of freebies, almost-freebies, and moneymakers. In particular, check out the best CVS deals for under $1 (after coupons) and our favorite Walgreens couponing finds (saving 80% - 90% is normal for us).
It's OK to Start Small: Roland Costa From Tampa, Florida
Why Costa Started Couponing
Costa started couponing in 2016 as a way to support his family and friends, “especially during times when money was tight.” “Over time, it grew into something more meaningful,” he says.
How His Approach Has Evolved
These days, while he still coupons for himself and his family, Costa also coupons to help donation centers. “It’s taught me patience, discipline, and the power of being resourceful,” he says. “There’s something really rewarding about walking out of a store knowing you’ve saved big, not just for yourself, but for the people who count on you.”
What Works for Costa Now
Costa focuses on couponing for stuff people have no choice about buying whether they can afford it or not: laundry detergent, paper products, personal care, and pantry necessities. “With prices going up, these basics can really add up,” he says.
What Costa Wishes Retailers Knew
Cost hopes retailers remember the importance of affordable essentials when it comes to their pricing and couponing programs.
“Stores need to understand that shoppers today are doing everything they can to stretch every dollar," Costa says. "Many of us aren’t just shopping for ourselves, but also for our families, friends, or even donation efforts. With rising prices and tighter budgets, every coupon, deal, or reward really matters.”
Costa's Advice to New Couponers
Amid rising prices and ever-more complicated couponing policies and options, how can a new couponer learn the ropes? Costa suggests starting small and focusing on stuff you use every day (like toothpaste, paper products, and pantry staples). “It can feel overwhelming, but even saving a few dollars on your first trip is a win,” he says.
Costa has a lot of tools in his couponing arsenal these days, including digital rebate apps like Ibotta, couponing sites, and store apps for Walmart, CVS, and Publix, which he says are “beginner friendly and easy to navigate.” He’s also honed his coupon-stacking skills by joining online groups and following couponing creators online.
“I’m proud of how far I’ve come with couponing,” he says. “And I’m always learning. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.”
KCL Expert Analysis
We appreciate Costa's philosophy for couponing beginners: No win is too small for a first win. In fact, we like to think that not paying full price is a win. Sure, there's a lot of impressive couponing content out there (including on our own site and our KCL TikTok) showing advance stacking techniques and the best ways to avoid leaving a single cent on the table. But if that's intimidating, it's OK. We've got plenty of resources for beginners:
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The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Couponing : Make this couponing beginner's guide your first stop on your couponing journey because it's got everything, from where to find coupons in the first place to how to start stacking them.
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How to Coupon by Store : A good first step is picking one store to start couponing at using our store-by-store couponing guide. We suggest picking the store you shop at the most, whether that's Target, CVS, Dollar General, or even Amazon (which, yes, has coupons).
Survival Couponing Lessons From a Survivor: Elisabeth Cook From Lansing, Michigan
Why Cook Started Couponing
Cook started dabbling in couponing when she found herself behind on bills with a budget of $30 a week to feed a family of four. “I was washing clothes with just water because I couldn’t afford detergent,” she says. “... It wasn’t about trimming a few dollars off my budget. It was about survival.”
How Her Approach Evolved
In 2020, Cook lost her job, and she knew she needed to take her couponing to an even higher level. But that was a steep learning curve. Online extreme couponing videos were too fast-paced, “like rocket science,” she says. “But,” she says, “I told myself, ‘You’re smart enough to learn this, you don’t have a choice.’”
What Works for Cook Now
Today, Cook makes videos as Liz the Clearance Queen, sharing on TikTok and Facebook what she learned in the couponing trenches. “Because if I had someone like me back then, I might not have struggled so much,” she says.
The money she makes from her TikTok account goes back to the community in the form of donations. “At first I wasn’t making much, maybe $100 a month, but I’d take that money and coupon as many items as I could get down to free or close to it,” she says.
And that led to what Cook calls a “mini Dollar General” in her basement, from which she donates necessities to schools, shelters, her online community (the Coupon Gang), and disaster relief.
What Cook Wishes Retailers Knew
Having struggled herself, Cook knows couponing can be intimidating and complicated. “Don’t even get me started on digital-only coupons,” she says. “We’re leaving entire groups of people behind. My parents, for example, don’t use smartphones. …. Why should they be punished for that?”
Her sister, who is blind, also can't use some couponing tools and gets stuck paying full price, Cook says. In addition to providing more accessible coupons, Cook wishes stores would train cashiers in their rewards programs, so that they can better help shoppers. “Your shoppers are smart, loyal, and often struggling,” Cook says. “They deserve respect, access, and support.
Cook's Advice to New Couponers
If you're looking to build up your own stockpile, Dollar General is where Cook recommends struggling families and “real people” start, thanks to their low pricing and the Saturday $5 off $25 digital coupon.
“If you can go to Dollar General on a Saturday and get $70 worth of snacks, drinks, and household items for just $19, that’s life-changing for a family on a budget,” Cook says. “And if you save $20 a week by couponing there, that’s $80 a month. That could mean more food on the table, gas in your tank, or one bill covered.”
Also in her couponing toolkit are Walgreens and CVS (thanks to their powerful rewards programs), Kroger for meat, cash-back apps like Ibotta, and manufacturer coupons.
These days, Cook credits couponing with bringing her security and peace. But she remembers what it's like to be “constantly drowning” in financial problems. And that’s why her ability to give back by couponing for necessities and teaching others is so meaningful to her.
“What feels like ‘just shampoo’ or ‘just cereal’ to you,” she says, “might be the one thing standing between someone else and despair.”
KCL Expert Analysis
We feel Cook on the challenges with digital couponing. There's a delicate balance between taking advantage of all the new technology and not making things over-complicated or downright unusable. If you're feeling overwhelmed or left out of the couponing game, take a deep breath and check out these resources:
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Our KCL Deal Formulas : Don't like doing couponing math? We do the math for you. We show you what to add to your cart, the mobile coupons you need to clip, the store coupons you need to use, and any rebates you need to claim. At the end, we show you your final total and the price per item. For example, say you're going to Target. We take the Target weekly ad, run the math, and show you how to get the best Target deals right here.
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Coupons by Category : Whether you want cheap diapers, toothpaste, or body wash, you don't have to check prices at five different stores. You can see all the best current deals, the cost-per-item math, and the coupons you need to apply to get the lowest price all in one place.
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Custom Notifications in the KCL App : Sign up for sale reminders and alerts on certain products when you download The Krazy Coupon Lady app. We keep tabs on all the retailers and rebate apps for you, and send you alerts that you've opted into.
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