As Believers, we are called to be good stewards of our wealth. Merriam-Webster defines wealth as an “abundance of valuable material possessions or resources.”1 The Bible talks about the responsibility that comes with wealth and riches. You might be thinking, “I don’t consider myself rich; I’m reading this article because I want to learn how to save money by couponing.” Well, compared to many other nations in the world, Americans are blessed. No matter what income level we are living at, I think we can all agree that we are to honor God by being good stewards of what He has given us. In 1Timothy 6:17-18, Paul instructs the Church not to put trust in our wealth, but to put trust in God and be willing to give and share that wealth.
Kati Kiefer, founder of TrueCouponing.com, quoted 1 Timothy 6:18 during a recent True Couponing workshop. At these workshops, Kati teaches people her “tried and true” method for using consumer coupons for groceries, home products, and personal care products. She had mentioned this scripture to encourage the attendees to bless others and be willing to give away their excess. Actually, this verse is a great description of what Kati does for people all over the Tampa Bay area. Her website blog is the ultimate resource to help you save money. She has learned the way to “coupon” herself into abundance. Kati’s pantries are literally overflowing; there is not room enough to store all the items she receives through couponing. How does she do it? Well read on because Kati is ready to give and willing to share.
“Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share.”
1 Timothy 6:18 (NKJV)
A Heart to Help
Kati is a “follower of Christ, wife to one, mom of four, and deal sharer to all,” as she puts it on her website. She attended USF and earned a B.S. in Accounting. After spending five years in the corporate world, the Lord led Kati to leave her job to homeschool her children. Due to the economy, in September of 2007 Kati foresaw a pay cut in her husband’s salary, so she started looking into couponing to prepare her family for a reduced budget. Kati explained that she found the old way of couponing, that most of us are familiar with, “frustrating and de-motivating.” Either the coupon is expired or it doesn’t match up with the sale item. How many times have you experienced this scenario: the item that you do have a coupon for ends up being the same price (after deducting your coupon) as the sale item? You feel like you just wasted all that time you spent thumbing through, cutting, and organizing your coupons. What’s the point? Well, Kati soon learned that there was a much better method for couponing.
By January 2009 the anticipated pay cut happened. Kati had been couponing for a little over a year and saving some, but she needed to kick it up a notch. Kati found a couple of website forums that list weekly sales at various stores and where to find coupons for those same products. She began saving a lot more by matching her coupons to sale items, but when she started using one coupon per item, the savings were going through the roof. So much so, that a $600 per month grocery bill for six people was cut down to $200.
Kati was so excited about her success that she shared it with all of her friends. “I wanted everybody to know what I was doing, so they could replicate it and be successful,” Kati said. She began e-mailing the weekly sales list and where to find the coupons to anyone who was interested. Kati started having friends and other homeschool moms over to her home to teach them how to save big as well.
In October of 2009, Susanna Collins, a fellow homeschooling mom, wanted to figure out how Kati was saving so much. “My husband has three jobs, we have four children, and we needed food in our pantry, literally,” she said. “So, I went grocery shopping and followed her [Kati] in the store, trying to figure everything out.” She soon realized how amazing and easy this process (True Couponing) can be. Susanna expressed how thankful she is to God for bringing Kati into her life, and she shared, “Kati is super generous and a lot of people have actually said, ‘Why is she doing this? If she keeps telling all these people, we are going to run out of products at the store and there isn’t going to be enough.’ But her [Kati’s] heart is just to give, help, and love people.”
By December of 2009, Kati’s weekly e-mail grew to 86 recipients and it was increasing every day. With the help of her aunt, she launched the blog website TrueCouponing.com. Requests to teach others how to coupon were streaming in. Kati asked all of the women following her coupon method to sign up if they wanted a subscription to the newspaper so she could talk with the Tampa Tribune about a group discount on the papers (for the Sunday coupon inserts). A few months later it was apparent that the workshops could no longer be held in homes because there were too many requests to do them separately. Kati held her first big meeting at a friend’s church and invited all of the people requesting her help to one location for a free workshop. Over 120 people showed up to learn, along with the Tribune. The Tampa Tribune saw the demand and cut True Couponing a deal, 50% off Sunday papers (when you sign up through True Couponing)! The Tribune is also supporting the ministry by printing their materials and going on the road with them to all the workshops across town, offering the discounted subscriptions and a coupon organizer for signing up.
There has been such a high demand for these couponing workshops that Susanna has graciously taken on the role of events coordinator. Prior to living in Florida, Susanna and her husband ministered to young people on abstinence and to adults on holiness and living pure. They also pastored a small neighborhood church in Michigan and worked with a lot of churches all over the county. So, Susanna was well-prepared and excited to help Kati with the True Couponing ministry. We have listed some of the upcoming training classes, but check out the website for more information.
The True Couponing Way
So how does it work already? First, we strongly recommend you attend a training class (register online) and subscribe to TrueCouponing.com. Don’t worry, it’s all FREE! You will receive the weekly sales lists and deals via e-mail. At the workshop you can sign up for the newspaper subscription to get your coupons. Or if you want to do that ahead of time, e-mail trib@truecouponing.com to get the coupon code. “The more [coupons] you have, the more you can save,” Susanna said, so order multiple newspapers. You also want to get your papers in pairs (when you attend the workshop this will be explained). Now this is the hard part…don’t look through your coupons! You need to have a “diligent spirit to delay pleasure,” Kati remarked. The next step is to get organized and file the coupon inserts by date. Don’t clip any coupons until you are going to use them (when the items go on sale).
Make your grocery list and find the items that you need by reviewing the sales list e-mailed to you or go onto the website and select the store you normally shop at. Kati summarized the process, “You have to get coupons, match them to the sales list, and buy enough to last.” The idea is to stockpile (not hoard) what you will need for the next 12 weeks (which is the average sales cycle for product pricing). Kati explained, “True Couponing is a different way of thinking about [shopping] because you have to buy more than you normally would.” You have to think ahead on what you will need for the next several weeks, not just what you need now.
What’s the trick? Don’t be brand specific. Buy what’s on sale to start your stockpile and eventually your favorite brands will come up in the sales cycle and then you can stock up on your favorites. Once you’ve built your stockpile, you will never need to buy these products at regular prices again. As you’re getting started, you will need items that aren’t on the sales list, and Kati has that covered as well. On the website there is a link called “coupon database” where you can find printable online coupons for hundreds of items. If the product is sold out at the store, stop by customer service and get a rain check – this allows you to buy the products at the sale prices when the items are restocked.
Coupon Fact One: You can use one coupon per item, even on buy one, get one free products.
Coupon Fact Two: You can stack store coupons and manufacturer coupons on one product.
Coupon Fact Three: Newspapers are not the only place to collect coupons – there are coupons all over some grocery stores. Be sure to check on your way in and on every aisle for a blinkie or tear pad (see website for coupon lingo).
You will be finding some great deals out there and saving a lot on your grocery bill, but let’s remember when we’re shopping, we are disciples of Jesus Christ first, and couponers second. Kati and Susanna talked about the important ethical guidelines that couponers should follow: do not hoard (let’s leave some items for the next person); do not use fraudulent or expired coupons; read the specific buying requirements on each coupon; do not sell items at flea markets or yard sales that you have gotten for free or next to nothing; and when you return an item you used a coupon for, make sure you tell them so you are not refunded a portion you did not spend.
Blessing Tampa Bay
God has propelled this ministry to a level Kati and Susanna never imagined. True Couponing is booming with an average of 3,600 hits on the website every day, more than 6,300 subscribers, and 1-3 training workshops per week. It’s no wonder that their ministry has been successful in helping countless families around the Bay. Every training class begins with prayer whether it is conducted at a church or not. “Jesus is your free coupon to Heaven,” Susanna boldly declared at the class Overflow attended, and that is at the forefront of their ministry. These women are spreading the love of God all over Tampa Bay and they will not leave Jesus out of the class. “Somebody asked us, ‘Will you come to our place [to give a training class], but you are not going to be able to speak about Jesus.’ We had to say we can’t because that just comes along with it,” Susanna explained. Kati added, “When I started this ministry, God clearly said, ‘Open in a word of prayer.’”
True Couponing doesn’t charge anyone to subscribe to their website or to attend the training classes. They have blessed thousands of people for FREE. Why? The answer is quite clear – the love of Jesus Christ and the desire to help others. True Couponing’s motto is Savings for Yourself, Blessings for Others, which Kati explained “came at a time when I was praying and starting this ministry and I wanted a verse. [I thought], ‘What can I lump this whole ministry into?’ and Luke 6:38 came to mind.” “Give, and it will be given to you…” (Luke 6:38, NKJV). When you are getting boxes of cereal for $0.90, toilet paper for free, and spaghetti sauce for a dime, you will be able to share the wealth. If you follow the True Couponing method, you can save a fortune and have more groceries than your family can use. Kati and Susanna have given their excess groceries to several different ministries, homeschooling families, and more recently as give-aways at the True Couponing training classes.
Are you ready to give and willing to share? Kati and Susanna suggested Lighthouse Ministries as a place to bring donations anytime their retail stores are open. They are also excited about Feed the Bay 2010. In 2006 this organization was started by Bay Life Church in Brandon, and they collected 30,000 pounds of food the first year. Last year, 307,000 pounds of food was collected. This month on October 24th, Feed the Bay is collecting donations for local food banks and you can be a part of it! Go to www.feedthebay.org for the grocery list and donation drop off sites. True Couponing will also be putting up the shopping list of needed items, as well as adding an icon next to these items within each store’s list.
If your church or organization is interested in hosting a free True Couponing workshop, please visit the website and download the form under “Workshop Information” and e-mail it to Susanna@truecouponing.com. GLORY!
