ALL_SUPERMARKET ASHLEY AUSTIN CHARITY_WORKER CHECKOUT_ASSISTANT CHRIS COUPONTOURAGE_MEMBER FOOD_BANK_WORKER JAMIE JONI NARRATOR SHOPPER SUPERMARKET_MANAGER

JONI
Good morning shoppers. We are here to benefit feeding america and we need your help. 

NARRATOR
For some shoppers extreme couponing means extreme giving. 

CHRIS
Our philosophy is to give it to those who are in need. 

NARRATOR
In this episode meet two seasoned savers who are feeding america one stockpile at a time. 

CHRIS
We were able to get enough coupons to cover 1200 of them today.

JONI
They’re free and you can’t pass free up. 

NARRATOR
When hungry mouths need to be fed every coupon counts. 

JONI
We have coupons that’ll make for free items. If i give you the coupons will you pick the items up?

NARRATOR
With missions to help and massive hauls to donate, these bargain hunters are feeling the pressure. 

CHRIS
There’s a lot of them depending on us to make this happen today and it creates a lot of stress for me. 

JONI
I’m a little nervous ‘cause i don’t wanna be a loser on this one.

NARRATOR
This is extreme couponing. 


JONI
Good morning shoppers. We are here today to benefit feeding america and we need your help. If we all do something small the end result is huge. Thank you and have a blessed day. 

NARRATOR
Feeding america’s the country’s leading hunger relief charity, distributing three billion pounds of food and grocery products every year. And looking to add to that stockpile is ohio savings Veteran joni, who thinks couponing is the key to keeping hungry stomachs full. 

JONI
My name’s joni and i’m the leader of the coupontourage. Coupontourage is a bunch of big time couponers like myself. Our mission is to get people involved to give back to the community.





JONI
They’re free and you can’t pass free up.

JONI
I love couponing, it’s part of who i am, from finding the sale, from going to the store, to my total being zero, i need to do it all. 

JONI
Holla. 

JAMIE
Holla. 

NARRATOR
For over three years joni and her husband jamie have been mastering their couponing skills to save more than one thousand dollars from their grocery bill every month.

JONI
America already knows what jamie and i can do. Last time we were on the show it was awesome, we did 31 hundred dollars and we got it for 45 dollars. 

NARRATOR
In less than a year’s time joni’s couponing expertise has helped add more than ten thousand dollars’ worth of products to her multi room stockpile, enough to provide for her Seven children, as well as friends and neighbours in need.

JONI
In our garage we have an open pantry. People from our church and our community know the code to our garage any time. I don’t care who it is that’s coming, if they need it they can take it. 

JONI
We have over 500 boxes of all kinds of pasta, totally free, and we put our little pegboard up here. So we have all of our toothbrushes, floss, razors. And it’s so cute ‘cause you feel like you’re at the grocery store and i love it.

NARRATOR
Joni’s grocery store continues inside with her floor to ceiling pantry.

JONI
My [madness are] my paper towels in here. I have at least 200 rolls of paper towels.

JAMIE
Wait, wait, woah, woah, woah. I got something to show you america. Come with me.

JAMIE
Most people have wine cellars, i’ve got a pop cellar. This baby is about 275d. All completely free. This, america, is what i’ve been doing since last time you saw me. 

NARRATOR
Joni and jamie both tend to the stockpile, but keeping those shelves full hasn’t always come easy.

JONI
We went through a very, very hard time. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for six months. There were many nights that my kids went to bed hungry, and as a mom it’s a terrible feeling. So my mission now, since things have changed in life and things Are better, are that we need to give back. We can help feed america with coupons if everybody would pay attention to them.

NARRATOR
Though joni already donates to local food banks regularly, today she’s planning a special mission for the hunger relief charity, feeding america.

JONI
These are the items that they honestly are having a hard time getting, like pasta, pasta sauce, cereal. 

NARRATOR
Joni wants to deliver the largest donation possible but her local supermarket’s policy limits coupon usage per customer, so she and jamie will each fill their own carts while the Coupontourage distributes over two thousand dollars in coupons from their own stash of inserts for each shoppers to add to the feeding america donation.

JONI
The pressure’s on all of you, ‘cause we gotta get like 100 to 150 people in the store to help us. So you guys gotta work it, otherwise i might have to [block] you guys from the coupontourage.

NARRATOR
With the coupontourage in tow…

JONI
Holla.

NARRATOR
And a game plan to get shoppers donating to the food drive, joni, jamie and daughter jayden head to the supermarket.

JONI
Let’s get busy. 

NARRATOR
Joni leaves her coupontourage in charge of distributing coupons. 

JONI
You guys, kick some bootie. 

NARRATOR
While jamie and jayden help cross items off joni’s own donation list. 

JONI
Now for the pasta we should each have 10 for the pasta. The retail is a dollar 99 on these. These are on sale for 10 for 10, which makes them one dollar a box. We have a dollar off coupon, which makes it free.


JONI
And feeding america is very big on pasta, so that’s the item that we’re pushing for everybody to get today.

JONI
Awesome. Right here sister. 

NARRATOR
Jayden sets off to join the coupontourage as jamie and joni continue into the toiletries aisle. 

JONI
All right, now we need to get floss. And we’re both getting 20. The retail for the floss is a dollar 99, but it’s on sale for 95 cents. And we have a coupon for two 50 off for two of ‘em. 










JONI
So for every two that we buy we’re actually making 30 cents apiece, which is awesome.



JONI
Holla. Okay, you ready? 

JAMIE
That’s now how i stack my cart. It’s about ready to tip over.

NARRATOR
Joni and jamie roll into the frozen hamburger section.

JONI
We need to have 14, you seven, me seven. 

JONI
Getting coupons for meat is very hard to come by. The retail for this is 10.79. We ended up calling the manufacturer and they sent us 14 coupons for free. 






JONI
If you really, really like a product of theirs, if you contact them for a coupon, nine times out of ten they will send you a coupon. It might not be for a free product but it will be a very high value coupon.

NARRATOR
Proud of her savings, joni asks stock boy austin to guess what her final retail cost will be.

JONI
Austin, if you had to take a guess at both of our carts here, okay, how much do you think we’re gonna pay for it when we’re done? 

AUSTIN
With the diapers and detergent, i would say as of now probably at least 300.

JONI
Take another guess, lower.

AUSTIN
Lower? What kind of coupons have you got, you got deals?

JONI
We got good ones. 

AUSTIN
Good ones?

JONI
So what are you thinking now? 

AUSTIN
Maybe 140. 

JONI
Lower. 

AUSTIN
Lower? 70. 

JONI
Lower.

AUSTIN
30? 

JONI
Lower. 

AUSTIN
Zero? 

JONI
Yes.

AUSTIN
How did you [do that]?

JONI
See, right, good deal huh? 

AUSTIN
Nice.

JONI
How about that? 

AUSTIN
Teach me how to shop. 

JONI
I’ll teach you buddy. The girls are at the front teaching people. 

AUSTIN
Really?

JONI
Yeah. We’ll teach you. 

AUSTIN
You’ve got a seminar?

JONI
Exactly. 

NARRATOR
Joni and jamie find another item on feeding america’s list of needs, rice. 

JAMIE
Alright, grab two of those, one, two. Put ‘em in your cart. 

JONI
These are a dollar 39 and the policy at this store is they triple the first two coupons, so it’s going to triple our 50 cent coupon, which means two of these items are free. Rice is a big item for feed america so this is an item that we’re handing coupons out to People to make the items for free, ‘cause this is a big item and we’re all about feeding america.

NARRATOR
Though joni is focussed on her list, she cannot let a shopper pass without asking them to also join the donations. 

JAMIE
Would you like to help us feed america?

JONI
Would you guys like to help us feed america? 

JONI
We have coupons that’ll make for free items. If i give you the coupons will you pick the items up? 

SHOPPER
Sure.

JONI
Alright.

JONI
So if you can just put it in the carts at the exit.

SHOPPER
Okay. 

JONI
Thank you so much. 

JONI
We’re doing it aren’t we?

SHOPPER
I hope so.

JONI
How’s it going? 

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
All of them.

JONI
This is all we have left.

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
Yes, and we are done handing out all of our coupons. 

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
How’s our carts looking? 

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
Awesome. 

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
We still got people in the store shopping. 

COUPONTOURAGE MEMBER
Yeah, they’re gonna be full.

NARRATOR
With the food drive carts filling up, joni and jamie head over to checkout. 

JONI
Are you ready for it? We had to split it up into two orders to follow you guys’ coupon policy. This is our first transaction and this is all on jamie so if he messes up it’s riding on his shoulders, ‘cause we’ve only got five dollars with us, so… yeah, he could be in Trouble.

JONI
Did you get your nuts up there? 

JONI
What’s the total?

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Before your plus card it’s 373.90.

JONI
Okay. 

NARRATOR
Jamie’s store loyalty card instantly lowers the total. But joni is hopeful her planning will bring the bill down to zero.

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Do you have any coupons today? 

JONI
As you know…

JONI
This is where we have to pay attention because if one coupon doesn’t ring up right our total we could have to pay money and we’re hoping to pay zero.

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Look at what we’re down to. 
 
JAMIE
Oh, half way. 

JONI
We’re only half way there.

JAMIE
We’re 200 down already. Look.

JONI
So what’s my total after my coupons, sister? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
You went into negative balance. So we owe you two dollars and 82 cents.

JONI
What percentage did we save?

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
You saved 104 percent.

JONI
Yes, that’s awesome. 

JONI
Round two now. First transaction, jamie did pretty well, but now i’m a little nervous ‘cause i don’t wanna be a loser on this one, so i’m keeping my fingers crossed. 

JONI
What’s our total?

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Before your plus card it’s 513.66.

NARRATOR
The store loyalty card quickly drops joni’s bill. But she still has more than 400 dollars to go.

JONI
Can you guess what i got in my hand? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Coupons.

JONI
The most nerve wracking part is just making sure that the total’s going down. We don’t want to spend money. We’re all about free. 

NARRATOR
Exhausting all the coupons, the cashier scans joni’s manufactured [inaudible] and reveals her final total. 

JONI
What is my total?

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
We owe you three cents.

JONI
Yeah.

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
You guys saved 514 dollars and 20 cents. That’s 103 percent. 

JONI
Yeah. Holla. Don’t even say it. 

JAMIE
I did 104 percent, yeah, woop, woop. 

JONI
Let’s go. 

NARRATOR
Joni and jamie’s combined haul includes 20 boxes of pasta, 40 bottles of hot sauce and 84 hamburger patties, retailing for a total of 883 dollars, 67 cents.















NARRATOR
They paid nothing out of pocket. Instead the store paid them two dollars and 85 cents. 



JONI
Yes. We did it, didn’t we? 

NARRATOR
But that’s just the start of joni’s feeding america donation. 

JONI
Alright, come on coupontourage. 

NARRATOR
Her coupontourage collected three carts full of products from over 150 generous shoppers, more than 2,000 dollars’ worth of donations.

JONI
What we tried to do today was to give people one or two coupons. In one coupon you can feed a family. Hopefully we taught them that your little bit does matter and that’s what it’s all about.

NARRATOR
The next morning joni and her family head to the toledo north western food bank to drop off their feeding america donation.

FOOD BANK WORKER
Wow, look at all that. My gosh. 

FOOD BANK WORKER
850 pounds. 

JONI
Yay.

FOOD BANK WORKER
It will feed 664 meals. 

JONI
For me to know one child is gonna go to bed tonight with a full stomach… ‘cause i knew what it was like. My kids used to tell me they were hungry. I’m just thrilled, i’m so… i’m overjoyed. 

FOOD BANK WORKER
I think, you know, there’s really probably a great volunteer position here for you as our director of couponing. 

JONI
Couponing is a ministry for me because not only do i know that i’m going to provide for my family, i’m gonna provide for hundreds of thousands of people and that’s what couponing is to me.









ASHLEY
So how many of these do we need to pick up? 

CHRIS
Oh boy, 229. 

NARRATOR
Extreme couponing’s most charitable shopper returns, hoping to reel in his largest donation to date.

CHRIS
There’s a lot of people depending on us to make this happen today so hopefully everything goes as planned.

CHRIS
For you guys we’ve got toiletries, hygiene, soap, body wash.

CHARITY WORKER
Oh wonderful, thank you so much. 

CHRIS
Absolutely. 

CHARITY WORKER
Thank you. 

NARRATOR
More than 50 million people in the united states struggle with hunger. But pennsylvania resident chris is battling those numbers in his community by donating massive amounts of food And household products he acquires for free through couponing. 








CHRIS
My name’s chris and i’m an extreme couponer. 

CHRIS
There is an adage that nothing in life is free. I don’t believe in that at all. Many things in life are free. 
 
CHRIS
I’ve said it once, i’ve said it twice, i’ll say it a thousand times over, if you don’t coupon you are out of your mind. 

NARRATOR
Chris relies heavily on coupons to provide the best for his family as well as for his community. When we first met the ministry student he and his wife ashley were shopping for their largest 
Haul ever.

CHRIS
All these items, you have a total of 885 dollars and 64 cents. And with coupons applied, zero dollars is the total amount. 

NARRATOR
Chris’s entire purchase was donated to a local mission along with his entire stockpile of goods, a stash worth well over 20,000 dollars.

CHRIS
We don’t really have a stockpile because our philosophy is to give it to those who are in need. The beginning of the week we’re getting all our items together, filling up the room, and then by the end of the week it’s all gone because we’ve given it away to 
People who need it.

ASHLEY
A lot of people associate couponing with hoarding, so i am happy to break that mould and to be an extreme giver, not an extreme hoarder.



NARRATOR
It is a priority in chris’s household to give away as much as possible because he know what it’s like to be on the receiving end. 

CHRIS
As a young man growing up, you know, i’d stand in the food bank line and it’s difficult. You know, so coupons was just a way for us to save money. And as i got older i realised that there’s something more to this than just survival. Now it’s a way of life, 
It’s a way to help out your neighbour, it’s a way to help out your communities. It’s just… there’s so many good things to do with coupons.

NARRATOR
To donate on a regular basis without breaking his own budget, chris has streamlined his couponing strategy to get the savings he’s after.

CHRIS
We try to find out the best time to use the coupon, before it expires. And if it does expire it’s not a problem, we have friends in the military that can use them up to six months past the expiration date at the commissary, so that’s where they’ll go. 

NARRATOR
Today over 17 hundred coupons in chris’s arsenal will be put to good use as he and ashley look to purchase their largest haul to date for a massive donation in support of
Feeding america.

CHRIS
I’m real excited that we’re gonna go to partner with feeding america. It’s one of the largest charitable organisations for food distribution in the united states.

CHRIS
They’ve voiced some needs and we wanna fulfil those needs as best we can.

CHRIS
We’re looking for coupons for some of the staple items like rice, pasta…

ASHLEY
Yeah, non perishable items.

CHRIS
Sauces.

CHRIS
It’s gonna cost us roughly 1,700 and almost 40 dollars and after we process all of our coupons the total should be zero dollars. 

NARRATOR
With two large binders full of coupons and a shopping list of close to 2,000 products, chris, ashley and their daughter elizabeth take on the supermarket.

ASHLEY
Ready?
 
CHRIS
Ready.

CHRIS
It’s a little unnerving because there’s a lot of people depending on us to make this happen today, so hopefully the numbers work out and everything goes as planned. 

CHRIS
Oh look, the pasta sauce. Let’s go get some of that first. 

CHRIS
The food bank let us know they wanted some non perishables like spaghetti sauce, pasta. This is regular retail 2.29 and today it’s on sale 10 for 10. We have a dollar off coupon, makes it all free.










ASHLEY
So how many of these do we need to pick up? 

CHRIS
Oh boy, 229. 

ASHLEY
Hey elizabeth. 

CHRIS
You wanting to help out too? I wish you would, they’re heavy.

CHRIS
Next on the our list is the steak seasoning. Let’s go to aisle three.
 
CHRIS
These are regularly 1.69 a piece. They’re on sale today 10 for 10. We have a 50 cent coupon that will double, making them all free. And we’re gonna pick up 206 of them for the local food bank.















CHRIS
Let’s see what’s next on our list.

CHRIS
If you want you can talk, i’ll hold her, okay?

ASHLEY
I just think that she probably needs her nap, so… 

CHRIS
Yeah, it’s about that time.

NARRATOR
Chris and ashley decide to have elizabeth’s grandfather pick her up from the supermarket to make sure the rest of their shopping trip goes as smoothly as possible. 

NARRATOR
The couponing couple go on to grab the rest of the items on their grocery list before moving onto the biggest purchase of the day. 

CHRIS
So there are… five by three is 15, we need 12 hundred, that’s like… a lot. We got barely over 100 just in one cart. 12 hundred bottles, you’re looking at 12, maybe 13 carts, this is not gonna work.

CHRIS
Pardon me? 

SUPERMARKET MANAGER
Yes sir.

CHRIS
Manager, right? 

SUPERMARKET MANAGER
Yes.

CHRIS
Hey i’m chris, how you doing? 

SUPERMARKET MANAGER
Hi chris.

CHRIS
The tea that we pre-ordered, it seems to be a lot more than what we can handle with the carts. 

SUPERMARKET MANAGER
I can get some help and we can do it for you. 

CHRIS
Oh my, look at that. This is the only way to shop. 

CHRIS
I think we’re ready to checkout. 

ASHLEY
Okay. 

CHRIS
Alright, let’s go.

NARRATOR
With a palette of iced tea stacked seven tiers high and four additional shopping carts filled with food for their local food bank, chris and ashley anxiously head for the register.

CHRIS
It’s not every day you go into a store and you pick up palettes full of food. There’s a lot of items here, a lot can go wrong, and it creates a lot of stress for me. 

CHRIS
Let’s start ringing, alright? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Let’s do it. 

CHRIS
This is what we like to call organised chaos.

CHRIS
We’re currently at 840 dollars. So what do you do to train to get ready for this? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
You gotta work out, run, keep in shape for this. 

CHRIS
12 hundred, perfect. 

ASHLEY
Okay.

CHRIS
Okay.

ASHLEY
Onto pasta sauce.

CHRIS
Our next products.

CHRIS
There is a lot of pasta sauce that will bless a lot of families. 

CHRIS
Alright, we’re currently at 1,429 dollars. Let’s keep ringing. 

CHRIS
So what’s my total? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
1,735 dollars and 53 cents. 

CHRIS
Here’s where we need to be. So now we’re gonna start ringing our coupons and hopefully we get where we need to be and where’s that? 

ASHLEY
Zero.

CHRIS
Zero.

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
I know you have coupons, so give them to me. 

CHRIS
Are you ready for these, dan? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
I’m ready.

NARRATOR
With a single coupon for each product in his haul, chris strategically hands over a coupon at a time to the cashier to make sure nothing is missed. 

CHRIS
I prefer having control of the coupons at the checkout, ‘cause i see coupons as money and who in their right mind would take a stack of money and hand it over to someone to possibly count it wrong? 

CHRIS
And we’re at 439 dollars and 79 cents. We’ve got a few more stacks of coupons, as you can see, to go through and we’re just reaching for that zero mark. 

ASHLEY
I can’t wait till we’re done ‘cause i’m getting tired. We’re down to the home stretch.

CHRIS
What is our total? 

CHECKOUT ASSISTANT
Zero, zero, zero. 

ALL SUPERMARKET
Yay. 

CHRIS
Today’s trip could not have gone any better. This is what it’s all about is getting the product for the right price at the right quantity to the people who are relying on us to get this stuff to them at the different charities we support. That’s where i really get my high.

NARRATOR
Chris’s haul, including over 200 packets of seasoning, 229 jars of pasta sauce and 1200 iced teas, retails for 1,735 dollars, 53 cents. 















NARRATOR
But he spent nothing out of pocket for 100 percent savings. 



NARRATOR
The next day chris and ashley head to the greater pittsburgh food bank to drop off their large donation.

FOOD BANK WORKER
This is amazing. 

ASHLEY
That’s what we got at our local shop and save. 

CHRIS
We got it all for free. Can you believe that? 

FOOD BANK WORKER
Oh, that is pretty unbelievable. There will be many, many people who will be very grateful for this.

FOOD BANK WORKER
They made our day today, it’s just wonderful. They inspire me to continue to do what we are doing here every day.

CHRIS
We do this on a level that most people don’t and that’s okay. But if you guys can just buy a sunday paper, clip a couple of coupons, look at some sales, get some good products for free or a good price, you could hand ‘em off to someone who needs Them. We together as a community can end hunger one coupon at a time.