Katie Van Dyke
Knoxville’s biggest saver tells us how she became Coupon Katie — and how you too, can score a deal.
By Lindsey Hughes

You’ve seen them on Oprah. Moms that manage to buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for $1.76. Seems impossible, right? Wrong. This local coupon cutter tells us how.

Why did you start cutting coupons? We had two kids, two mortgages, two dogs and one income, so I started looking for ways to cut our spending. I gave couponing a try and found that it was decreasing our monthly budget almost in half. 

And then you started the blog? My husband was impressed and kept telling me I should start a blog. I kept saying no, I did not have enough time.  One day I came home and he said, “Look honey you have a blog.” That was the beginning. The overwhelmingly positive response to CouponKatie really surprised me. I think the blog came along at just the right time for a lot of people. It has been very rewarding to help so many Knoxville families save money.

What’s the most you’ve ever saved in one trip? One time at Walgreens I saved $90.94, spent $0 out of pocket and ended up with $11 in store credit for my next trip. I bought diapers, air fresheners, toothpaste etc. Nothing edible but stuff that is still in our grocery budget.

Wow. $90 of stuff for free. How did you manage that? Stores like Walgreens have monthly coupon books available at the store with hundreds of dollars of savings. By combining these coupons with manufacturer and printed coupons you get triple the savings. For example, a 6.4 ounce bottle of toothpaste is $2.29. With a $0.75 off coupon from the manufacturer and a $1.50 off coupon from the Walgreens coupon book the toothpaste now only costs $0.04.

What tips do you have for coupon newbies? Setting goals, menu planning and great organization are key to saving. Knowing exactly what coupons you have and where they are makes shopping much easier. Also, clipping from just the Sunday paper won’t cut it if you are looking to save big. Check out websites like www.pgesaver.com and www.cellfire.com. There you can upload coupons straight to your Kroger Plus Card. These digital coupons can be combined with paper coupons saving you even more at the register. Finally, don’t get frustrated if you don’t save a lot in the beginning. It takes time to get used to compiling weekly stores deals and organizing all your coupons.

What’s next for CouponKatie? I am developing some educational and consulting materials to go along with CouponKatie.com to teach people how to save and answer the questions I get asked most often.

For more advice and great deals check out Katie’s blog at couponkatie.com