CALLIE CANDI CASHIER ERIN FALMER HEAD_CLERK JACOB KELLY MANAGER NARRATOR NATALIE

NARRATOR
When a freebies on the line nothing can stop these bargain hunters.

CALLIE
I’m really good at freeing; i’m one of the first to do it.

KELLY
Food tastes just tastes so much better when it’s free.

NARRATOR
Meet a southern belle who’s kids love coupons just as much as she does.

CALLIE
Okay boys, what story do you want to hear tonight?

CALLIE’S SON
The coupon story.

NARRATOR
And a returning extreme couponer that can’t sleep ‘til she gets the best deal.

KELLY
I maybe up till three in the morning to clip coupons and get ready for the next big deal.

NARRATOR
These super savers are so savvy they make money on almost every transaction.

CASHIER
I owe you 43.60.

CALLIE
I want my money.

KELLY
For each bottle here i made a dollar, three, there are about 60 bottles. So $60  profit.

NARRATOR
But when deals go bad they may lose their cool.

CALLIE
I’m about to freak out because i don’t want to have to return all this stuff.

NARRATOR
This is extreme couponing.

KELLY
Yah.

KELLY
We did it.

CANDI
You did it.


CALLIE
Okay boys what story do you want to hear tonight?

FALMER
The coupon story.

CALLIE
The coupon story?  One day falmer said mummy i really want some candi.  And so i was like okay let me look and see what i got and i looked and guess what?

FALMER
What?

CALLIE
I had six coupons.

NARRATOR
Over half of all large households in the united states use about 100 coupons every six months.  But colorado extreme couponer callie uses 1000’s of coupons every week to feed her family of five.

CALLIE
I’m callie and i am the cajun couponer because i’m from louisiana and i like to save a lot of money.

CALLIE
I couldn’t even sleep i was so excited about this.

NARRATOR
Callie needs to keep a steady supply of 1000’s of coupons on hand at all times.  And to collect them she makes a daily trip to her local recycling dumpster.

CALLIE
I don’t care how many dumpsters i get in we are going to find that coupon.

CALLIE
One more, one more, high five buddy, high five, wow.

NARRATOR
Callie’s coupon scavenging has paid off resulting in a 3500 item stock pile and includes 160 bars of soap, 500 razors and 1500 bottled beverages.

CALLIE
I have the vegetables juices, i have the enhanced water, the sodas, the energy drinks, any kind of drink you can think of i can get for free.

CALLIE
Over here, these are all my free razors.  I have enough razors for my husband to shave his head twice a day for three years.

CALLIE
There is a stigma that couponing equals hoarding, but what they don’t understand is that we’re providing for our family.

NARRATOR
Without coupons callie and her family wouldn’t be able survive.  Last year when her husband jacob was accepted to a prestigious engineering programme in colorado, the family Left their home in louisiana and went from a two income household to living on student loans.

CALLIE
One day we are going to have money but right now we’re completely broke.

JACOB
I can’t afford to send all three kids to a day care.  I mean its $10,000 a kid here, so it’s kind of awash between my wife having a job.

CALLIE
There definitely is pressure on me to coupon because if we want to eat that night and if want a home-cooked meal it’s on me.

NARRATOR
Home-cooking is important to this southern belle, and one of the biggest sacrifices she had to make when jacob went back to school was giving up entertaining friends and family.

CALLIE
When no more money was coming in we just couldn’t have people over.  It just kind of made me sad because that’s what i do.  So once we figured out how to coupon i was like i can get this stuff for free and we can have people over.

NARRATOR
Today callie is gearing up for a large dinner party where she is going to make a traditional louisiana gumbo for all of her and jacob’s friends.  

NARRATOR
For the ingredients for the dish, as well as other necessities her family needs, she is preparing the biggest shopping trip of her life.

CALLIE
I get all of these from recycling bins.  Probably about 30 different categories, you know we go by meat, snacks, bread, vitamins.  Toothpaste, cleaning and home and when i know those things are on sale i just go right to that one, pick them out.

NARRATOR
Callie and the whole family head to the store with a list of over 800 items that she plans on using 750 coupons to buy.

NARRATOR
The retail value of this trip will be almost $1000.   But callie hopes to use overages to get everything for free.

CALLIE
If you have a coupon for a dollar but the item is 50 cents they’ll give you 50 cents back.

JACOB
Alright boys let’s go.

CALLIE
Let’s go.

JACOB
We’re about to get some free stuff.

NARRATOR
A major ingredient in callie’s gumbo is chicken, and to get it she’s taking advantage of a two for the price of one deal.  She’s getting two three pound packages for only $4.67.

CALLIE
If you go with the smallest size you’re getting the best value because you’re getting it at the cheapest.

NARRATOR
Another main ingredient in the gumbo is rice, and callie is getting 18 packages for free.

CALLIE
Right now this rice is 99 cents and i have a coupon that says a dollar off of any product in their line.  So i’m going get the cheapest which is just 99 cents and it’s going to be free.

NARRATOR
After three hours in the market with only half of her shopping done, callie’s two oldest kids start to melt down.  Thankfully her mum is only a phone call away.

CALLIE
Hay maim could you come and get the kids, could you just take them for a little bit?  Okay, bye.

JACOB
Hey there’s maimy boys.

CALLIE
Love you all, see you later.

JACOB
Now that those two hooligans are out of the way, let’s do some shopping now.

CALLIE
Okay let’s get serious; we’ve got to get 60 of these. 

CALLIE
40, 41, look she’s excited too.  43, 44, 45, 46, 47.  These protein bars are retail 1.19, this week they’re on sale for 88 cents a piece, i have a dollar off coupon, i’m going to make 12 cents every time i buy these and i’m going to get 60 of them.

CALLIE
This is my favourite deal; this is your favourite drink.  I couldn’t even sleep i was so excited about this.  Okay these are flavoured water; you need to get 381 of them.

JACOB
381 of these?

CALLIE
Yes.  If we drink one for every day of the year we’ll have left over.

JACOB
Now these are actually my favourite drink.

CALLIE
They are.

JACOB
It is awesome that we’re getting these for free.

CALLIE
If you are off on one on these you are going to cost me money, right?  It’s all about the numbers, all about the money.  This is my favourite deal of the day, this is flavoured water, regular retail is 1.50, it’s on sale for 99 cents but it’s part of the big 10 event, so Any 10 i get they’re going to take 50 cents off, i’ve a 55 cent coupon, they’re going to be completely free, so we’re going to get 381 of them.

NARRATOR
To cover the cost of all the items that she isn’t getting for free callie is taking advantage of her store’s overage policy.

CALLIE
This is our favourite store and right now it has a great promotion on, it’s called the 10 mega event, if you buy 10 of any participating item you get 50 cent off that item.  These are at regular retail 1.39; right now they’re on sale for 1.25.

CALLIE
But if i buy 10 they’re 75 cents a piece and i have a dollar coupon so they’re free.

NARRATOR
And for every one of the free bottles of water callie will be getting a 25 cent credit.

NARRATOR
After four hours of shopping at this colorado supermarket, callie and her husband jacob have six carts overflowing with items, including many of the ingredients for the massive dinner party they are throwing tonight.

NARRATOR
To take advantage of her store’s mega sale, which will actually give her money back on products she buys, callie has broken this trip into six transactions.

CALLIE
You can only do 150 of the mega 10 event at once.  If you do more you don’t get that deal, so i have to split them up so i get the best deal.

CALLIE
Okay i’m ready for my card.

CASHIER
Alrighty.

CALLIE
Now it’s down to $49 and i think the rest of my coupons could make them free.

CASHIER
Do you have any coupons today?

CALLIE
Yes i do.

CASHIER
Alrighty.

CALLIE
We’re on negative now; we’re actually making money on taking this out of the store.

CALLIE
Okay where are we at now?

CASHIER
I owe you 43.60.

CALLIE
Whoo.

JACOB
Whoo.

CALLIE
Okay i want my money. 

CASHIER
Alright.

CALLIE
Okay, transaction two, let’s see what’s happening.

CALLIE
Okay what’s the total?

CASHIER
The totals 180.11.

CALLIE
Okay so i’m going to give you my card.

CASHIER
Okay.

CALLIE
Now let’s make it drop.

CALLIE
So what’s that total after this saving?

CASHIER
80.59.

CALLIE
Okay let me give you my coupons.

CASHIER
Alrighty.

NARRATOR
Just as the coupons start to scan for her second transaction callie notices a big problem.

CALLIE
Hold on, yeah this is actually supposed to be doubling my coupons; i’m supposed to be making money on it.

CASHIER
Head clerk to check stand 13, head clerk, check stand 13.

CALLIE
None of the flavoured water has doubled.

JACOB
Yeah they should be doubling because there's a [inaudible]

HEAD CLERK
Let me speak to my manager.

CALLIE
Okay.

HEAD CLERK
Because i’m not exactly sure.

CALLIE
Okay.

MANAGER
Do a manual refund for the difference.

NARRATOR
With the manual override in effect callie’s second transaction results in an overage of $68.

JACOB
So after two transactions we have $112 gift card.

NARRATOR
After five transactions callie has purchased $780 worth of groceries and the store owes her over $150.  It’s now time for her last and most complicated transaction.

CALLIE
There’s so many items in this transaction, so i have no clue how this is going to turn out.

CALLIE
This is the highest i’ve ever gone in a single transaction, right now it’s 377 and i am so nervous.

CALLIE
Oh one more, okay what’s my total?

CASHIER
384.97.

CALLIE
Let me give you my card.

CASHIER
Right.

CALLIE
I had it figured out that when it drops with my card it should be $73 and right now its 259, so i am completely off.

JACOB
Callie it’s terrible, that number.

CALLIE
I’m about to freak out because i don’t want to have to return all this stuff, i would be super embarrassed.

NARRATOR
With her store card not taking off nearly as much money as she had originally calculated, callie’s in danger of not meeting her goal of a completely free check out.

NARRATOR
The only thing she can do now is hand over her coupons and hope that they bring the total down.

CALLIE
Well let’s go ahead with the coupons and if at the end i think it’s too much we’ll go back.

CALLIE
There you go last one.

CASHIER
We owe you $1.94.

CALLIE
1.94. Yay.

JACOB
Oh.

CALLIE
What do you say?  We made it, we made it.

NARRATOR
Despite her miscalculations, callie not only got this last transaction for free, but an unexpected overage.

CASHIER
On your gift card we owe you 155.42.

NARRATOR
Callie succeeded at her goal of a totally free checkout with a haul that included 20 sticks of deodorant, 60 protein bars and 441 beverages, a retail value of $1,164.91 and even after her Donation to the uso she walked away with $138.22.

CALLIE
Today’s shopping trip went better than i even planned, i’m a terrible counter and i was so nervous that i didn’t have enough coupons.  They paid me to walk out of the store.

JACOB
Hey.  Come on in.

CALLIE
Okay i hope you’re hungry, we made homemade gumbo.

JACOB
There’s nothing like a gumbo after a day of extreme couponing.

NARRATOR
This extreme couponing vet doesn’t just save; she makes money with almost every deal. 
 
KELLY
For each bottle here i made a dollar, three, there are about 60 bottles, so $60 profit.

KELLY
Because of my addiction to coupons i may be up till sometimes two, three in the morning.  It seems like a good time to plan without distraction.  I clip coupons and get ready for the next big deal.

NARRATOR
Since 2010 the number of coupons available on the internet has increased 37 per cent.  But many manufacturers limit the number of prints allowed per coupon before its no longer Available on line.  For extreme couponer, kelly, refusing to miss out on deal can mean missing out on sleep.

KELLY
My name is kelly and i have about three full time jobs, i have my real full time job, my family’s a full time job and couponing is a full time job.  I don’t sleep because i lack the ability to buy anything without a coupon, it pains me.

NATALIE
Do you have a coupon for fudge covered cookies mum?

KELLY
No. 

NATALIE
Darn it.

NARRATOR
Georgia native and mother of three, kelly, maybe proud of her money-saving ways, but she hasn’t always been so open about it.

KELLY
So on the last episode of extreme couponing i came out of the coupon closet with to my best friend candi.

KELLY
This is my stock pile.

CANDI
Wow.  Kelly.

NARRATOR
What she revealed to candi was a stock pile in her basement valued at over $10,000 that includes 25 bottles of barbeque sauce, 60 first aid kits, 50 pounds of sugar and a two years Supply of razors and laundry detergent.

KELLY
My stock pile is always evolving, the pasta sale from a couple of weeks ago allowed us to really stock up on pasta.  I’ve probably ought about 200 boxes of pasta.  Normally i wouldn’t buy that many except for the fact it was a money maker.

KELLY
Another recent deal offered $2 off of any size body wash.  I purchased the travel size at 99 cents, so for each bottle here i made $1.03.  There are about 60 bottles, so $60 profit.

NARRATOR
Her passion for saving is contagious and when kelly unveiled her stock pile to candi a coupon convert was born.

CANDI
I wouldn’t say i’m an extreme couponer; i’m an extreme couponer in training.

NARRATOR
Candi’s coupon training is about to be put to the test.  She is joining kelly in preparation for a back-to-school shopping trip that will be the biggest that either of them has ever attempted.

KELLY
The last big shopping trip that i had was a little over $1300.

CASHIER
Your grand total right now is $1,300.03.

KELLY
As soon as i checked out from there i thought i’ve got do a better one, i’ve got to do a bigger one.  So i have set the bar for myself really high.

KELLY
Girls you all want to help us clip coupons.

NATALIE
Are you and her doing a transaction together or are you doing separate transactions?

KELLY
We’re shopping separately, she’s getting back to school stuff for her family and her stock pile and we’re back to school shopping for us.

NARRATOR
They may be checking out separately but kelly and candi will be shopping together using the same electronic tablet application.

KELLY
It lists the regular price, their sale price and then when we find a coupon for it all we have to do is enter the coupon amount and it will automatically calculate how much the item is.

CANDI
We’re going to have a great shopping trip.

NARRATOR
Today kelly is bringing her daughter natalie and candi is bringing her daughter erin to help them take advantage of their store’s back to school sale.  

NARRATOR
They plan to use over 1000 coupons to purchase a combined total of almost $2,000 worth of school supplies and other necessities.

CANDI
Let’s let the extreme couponing begin kelly.

KELLY
Here we go.  

KELLY
I’ve got almost 700 items on my transaction today.

CANDI
I’m doing probably about half that, this is my biggest shopping trip ever, so i’m very apprehensive, but i’m excited to be able to accomplish something like this.

KELLY
I’m more excited probably about candi’s transaction than my own, i’m probably also more worried about hers, i’m hoping that it turns out exactly the way she has planned.

NARRATOR
The first item on candi and kelly’s list is a staple in their children’s lunchbox.  Cookies.

KELLY
Here’s your cookies.  

CANDI
They’re going to be great for back in school.

KELLY
And the deal on the cookies they are 10 for 10 so they’re a dollar piece, our coupons are good for a dollar off of any two, which makes these 50 cents a piece.  It’s really good to throw into lunches and after school snacks like [inaudible].

NARRATOR
Next up is breakfast cereal.  An important item that candi and kelly’s kids need to start their school days with.

KELLY
The store’s having a promotion; if you buy any four participating items you get two free gallons of milk.

CANDI
The cereal retail price is 3.49, is on sale now for 2.78.  We have a coupon for 50 cents, it doesn’t double, but we’ll still get the price down to 2.28.

NARRATOR
And with the two free gallons of milk they will also earn an additional saving of seven dollars.

KELLY
Right natalie are you ready to get some of your school supplies?

NATALIE
Yes.

KELLY
The pens are usually $1.99 but they’re on sale for 79 cents, we have a coupon for 50 cents off of any two items.  Coupon will double so that makes the pens 29 cents a pack.

ERIN
I think shopping for school supplies can be a lot of fun but the actually going back to school not so much fun.

NARRATOR
After four hours of shopping at this georgia super market extreme couponing veteran kelly and her best friend candi are finally ready to check out.

NARRATOR
Kelly expects to have a retail total of over $1300 which she will bring down to zero.  And extreme couponing rookie candi hopes to only spend $40 on about $700 worth of groceries.

CANDI
Just want to make sure i didn’t forget anything and got all the coupons and the amounts right.  A lot of butterflies, a lot of nerves right now.

KELLY
So are you ready for this?

CANDI
As ready as i’ll ever be.

KELLY
Alright, let’s go.  You go first.

CANDI
Alright.

KELLY
Your seven dollars.

KELLY
Are you nervous?

CANDI
Very. 

KELLY
I’m nervous for both of us.

CANDI
We are up to 576.

CASHIER
Your total is $846.10.

KELLY
Holy moli, $846.

CANDI
Yeah.

KELLY
What have we done?

CANDI
I thought it was going to be about 750 and its 846, so i’m shocked.

CASHIER
Can i have your store card please?

CANDI
I’m hoping for it to get down to $40.

CASHIER
After your store card your total is $498.81.

CANDI
Can’t be it.

CASHIER
Got your coupons ready?

NARRATOR
After the store discounts have been subtracted the remaining total’s much higher than candi expected.

CANDI
I’m feeling sick.  

NARRATOR
All she can do now is hand over her coupons to be scanned.

CANDI
You don’t understand the pressure that kelly is just the queen, i mean you have to do is get us [inaudible]

KELLY
Can we walk over here?

ERIN
Yes.

CANDI
No i want you right here.

CANDI
[inaudible] 

ERIN
Kerching.

CANDI
I’m a mess, i’m a mess.  Almost there.

CANDI
Alright this is the last batch.

CASHIER
Your total is $120.89. 

CANDI
Well i’m sad, i’m sad that it didn’t get down to where we thought.

NARRATOR
Even thought she achieved a total savings of 86 per cent candi failed to reach her goal of a $40 check out.  Because they used the same system and many of the same deals there is a very real Possibility that kelly might not reach her goal of a zero dollar check out.

KELLY
There’s so many items and so many things that could go wrong.

CANDI
Where are we at kelly?

KELLY
$400.96.

CANDI
Alright.

CASHIER
Your grand total is $1,364.90.

KELLY
Wow.  You know i’ve only had a $1300 total one time before and i was just as nervous then as i am now.

CASHIER
Do you have your store card?

KELLY
I do.

KELLY
Hurry up and go down.  Way down.

CASHIER
After your store card your total is $708.06 and do you have any coupons?

KELLY
I think i have a couple.

KELLY
We’re aiming for zero.  Right candi i need you by my side.

CANDI
Alright.

KELLY
Come on, come on, come on.  

CANDI
So here we go.

KELLY
Okay.

CASHIER
Your total after your coupons is $16.90.

KELLY
Yay.  

KELLY
We did it.

CANDI
We did it, good job.  I feel really good.

KELLY
Now i stay close to the zero balance and you know there’s always a little sales tact involved, this is really a sense of accomplishment and i’m really, really proud.

NARRATOR
Kelly has achieved her biggest haul to date which includes 20 bottles of hand soap, 30 packages of rice, 50 packages of chocolate milk mix and enough school supplies to last her kids The entire year.  A total retail cost of $1364.90 but after coupons she only pays $16.90 a 99 per cent savings.

KELLY
The shopping trip today was great, candi was a little disappointed wit hers, i wasn’t, i’ve worked with a lot of people couponing and i haven’t seen anyone else pull off what she’s been able to so she has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

KELLY
I was proud of her; i thought she did an amazing job.