Coupon craze cuts grocery bills

In the current economy, families are finding creative ways to save money when buying groceries.

Even before the “Extreme Couponing” TV show began airing, women in Navarre were saving hundreds by taking advantage of coupon deals. Many have started hosting coupon classes to pass on their secrets to other shoppers.

Gina Hallam is a member of the Hurlburt Spouses Club and teaches a couponing class. She started couponing in 2007.

“I was a single mom and deployed quite a bit and trying to make ends meet anyway I could,” she said. “At one point I had a second job, but I found it was easier to get a Sunday paper.”

She has been in the military for 14 year and has three sons to take care so she doesn’t have a lot of time to commit to clipping coupons and spending hours at the grocery store. She doesn’t consider herself an “extreme couponer” like the ladies on the TV show, but she does save quite a bit of money.

“I would consider myself a mid-range couponer and I can save $400 a month on my grocery bill,” she said.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 27 issue of Navarre Press or subscribe online.