Sep 15, 2014 By David Singer 3 min read

Neither Kelly Salvini nor Nicole Gagich consider themselves “extreme couponers,” but the savings they get from proactively seeking out the digital and paper slips make it appear otherwise.

“I used to spend over a thousand dollars on dry food and canned goods to stockpile for winter. Now it’s $80,” Gagich said.

The South Park resident said without the ability to cache so much food at cheaper prices, she wouldn’t be able to stay at home with her two special needs children.

“I teach others how to use coupons effectively. Recently when I met some people at the store using food stamps, I showed them how to get the best out of programs so they wouldn’t worry about bills versus food,” she said.

For Gagich, using such programs means finding manufacturer’s coupons in newspaper inserts and then matching them with online services.

“I use the Cartwheel app for stores like Target, which pairs the store’s coupons. And then there’s SavingStar. For that, you use the paper coupon in the store, then you accrue savings on the app that’s directly deposited in your bank account, or you get prepaid gift cards,” she said.

As for Salvini, the Peters Township mother of two starts with paper inserts and goes from there.

“I swap coupons with friends, then I get all electronic versions of stores’ coupons before going in, and they usually combine or match them. With that alone, I save about 50 dollars a month,” she said.

For the two women, they stay away from the otherwise popular Groupon service, which features daily deals with national and local retailers.

“Restaurants if anything. I don’t go for the big ticket offers like season passes or dance lessons,” Salvini said

While most of the mothers’ savings come from food, Gagich said consumers shouldn’t ignore drug stores.

“They often have their own programs set up, but a lot of the online programs can couple with them you can get double what you originally would,” she said. “The process for it all can be a little time consuming, but the savings is more than worth it.”

Vegetarian and pre-made foods are usually open to discounts, however, meat typically isn’t, the women said.

“People look at coupons like we’re buying junky or low-quality stuff to hoard, but it’s just knowing what you normally eat and use and getting the savings you wouldn’t otherwise buying piecemeal,” Gagich said.

And for those who refuse coupons outright, there may still be savings in store if one is willing to gripe or gush over a product.

“If you write and praise a product, you’ll often get high-value coupons to try their other products for free or very little cash,” she said. “And sometimes, it works just as well as writing a complaint saying your item was bad.”