Coupon queen saves £7,000 a year on groceries by using money-off vouchers
Ashley Leverett, 29, of South Carolina, travels 300 miles a week to bag huge savings using coupons
A WAITRESS whose husband calls her "The Coupon Queen" has revealed how she saves nearly £7,000 on groceries by using money-off vouchers.
Ashley Leverett, 29, is so dedicated to finding coupons that she thinks of voucher hunting as a second job.
Ashley, who lives with her husband and daughter Mila, three, in South Carolina, US, said: "I travel for up to 300 miles a week to shop at the stores where I can cash in coupons.
"But I've got down my weekly supermarket bill from around $200 (£152.47) to just $50 (£38.12).
"It saves around $7,800 (£6,898) a year, so it's worth it."
Ashley, who works part-time at the same seafood restaurant as her waiter partner, Michael, has such a knack for spotting the best savings that she now has an online following of nearly 5,000 people on Instagram.
She's so good at it that she's had to make a dedicate stockpile room in her home to store all the items she buys using her coupons.
Sometimes, she even gets money back from the stores by using dozens of coupons at a time.
During one shop, she saved a huge $181.86 (£140) at supermarket Publix - and the store actually ended up owing her $25 (£19).
Ashley honed her penny pinching skills after watching the popular American TV show, Extreme Couponing.
The skill it's named after is about finding and using coupons to make amazing savings, often buying items in bulk to make the most of a deal.
Ashley's top tip is to use social media to find the best cut-price vouchers.
Ashley's top couponing tips
ASHLEY has shared her top five tricks for bagging discounts when shopping for groceries
- Use social media to find couponing groups and learn the lingo
- Use couponing hashtags to find great deals
- Collect newspapers as a source of coupons
- Get organised and create a file where you can keep all your coupons
- Learn store policies to get the most out of your coupons
She said: “If you use the ISO (In Search Of) Coupons hashtag, you’ll find all the different couponers who are out there sharing their tips and advice.
“I have a network of couponing friends all over the States now.
"We swap tips and swap coupons, but to get the most out of doing this you have to learn the lingo.
"Then you need to find out which stores are coupon-friendly, google their coupon policy because some stores place a limit on how many coupons you can cash in per person or per shopping trip and be prepared to travel to the stores that will take the coupons you’ve collected.”
Ashley recommends looking for coupons in newspapers and supermarkets too.
She says the key to being a top couponer is doing your homework.
She said: "There are the three types of coupons: manufacturer or brand coupons, store coupons and competitor coupons.
"You need to work out what you can use, and when, to buy as much as you can for as little money as possible.
“Sometimes, I’ve used a combination of all three different types together and come home with money in my purse that the store has actually paid back to me.
“We call this stacking, which is using a combination of coupons together - and it’s something I’ve now mastered."
Organisation is also key to being a good money saver, according to Ashley.
She keeps her vouchers in a folder, and carries the store's coupon policy with her when she shops.
Ashley said: "I get really excited when I have enough coupons to come home with a really big haul.
“I recently came home with over 100 packs of training pants for Mila which, with my coupons, were 99 cents (75p) instead of $1.99 (£1.50) per pack - saving me $100 (£75)."
More on Money
One savvy saver revealed last year how she saves £30,000 a year thanks to her couponing addiction.
Another shopper, Clair Hughes, saved £15,000 by collecting thousands of discount coupons - and she used the money to buy a house.
Meanwhile, Home Bargains is selling 100 Jaffa Cakes for £4 again - but only while stocks last.
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