Happy Friday: Couponing Millionaire
Sent from a reader who has asked to remain anonymous:
I’ve debated whether or not to send you this picture as it may be controversial to your site, but worth a discussion. I’m a couponing millionaire!!! Something that I’m proud of because I come from a working class family, worked my way through college and married one amazing man, a person with value and work ethic that grew up poor and worked himself through college as well. This picture shows you a statement of the value of our savings and investments, $1.8 million – placed upon a stack of my coupons. (The statement is a screen shot from mint.com).
We earned our money through conservative saving principles, hard work and some lucrative stock options. We’ve never forgotten our values along the way. This money is our future, the future of our kids and charitable causes that we deem worthy. I follow your site religiously and believe that every dollar I save is money towards my philanthropic goal. I’m proud to say my kids don’t know we have money, and instead know that we shop off the clearance rack with coupons in hand.
Please share my story and my hope that your readers would all continue their frugal lifestyle no matter what their situation is; it’s a lesson in life and a hope for our future.
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
Do you have a funny, “Hip”, or unique photo to share?! Email us at happyfriday@hip2save(dot)com. Every Friday, I will post one photo, submitted by you and/or another Hip2Save reader, that gives us a glimpse into your frugal lifestyle or simply makes us smile. If your photo is published on Hip2Save, we’ll email you a $10 Amazon e-card!
** Check out all the previous Happy Friday pictures here.
Good for you!!
Thank you so much for sharing and you are an inspiration to us all!
That is just awesome! So many of us tend to increase our expenses when our income increases.
Thank you for sharing this. I agree that it is likely to be controversial but I find it inspirational. Couponing gives us all the opportunity to provide for our families and give back whenever possible.
I love this!
Aewsome! What an encouraging inspiration. I appreciate that you continue couponing & teaching your kids likewise despite what you have. 🙂
I forgot to mention this is a great example of
“A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned”. 😀
If your millionaire would be willing to be featured in a book I am writing about the history of couponing and refunding, have them e-mail me at marypotterkenyon at gmail.com I would love to feature them, anonymously of course, in the profile chapter!
Happy for them, I am frugal even have my own site to help people save, I do not live in a fancy home but its hard in this economy and my hubby being laid off and on all the time to really save a lot, plus my dad is on a fixed income and trying to help him out, I donate a lot of my freebies to charity.
Lisa – I think you are awesome to do so – you are helping the people who need it the most and charities are extremely hurting with our country’s economy being in such bad shape – every donation made helps a TON.
I don’t think life is about how big of a house we have, the brands we wear, how much money is in our account – but about the people we help and the lives we touch – so you rich too in what truly matters 🙂
alea, your post was so nice and so true, especially with the younger people(high school/college age) brands and fancy things seem to be more important than anything
Awesome!! It’s great to always remember the value of the dollar, but just remember to enjoy what you worked hard for! 🙂
I know of more than one person, who died with oodles of money in the bank who lived extremely frugally during their life to have a lot of money, which they did – but they never did anything with it in their life – so what’s the point of working so hard for it, if you never enjoy it.
So True!!!
Awesome!!! I strive to be like her…..
I don’t find this controversial at all. Whoever this is, thank you for sharing you story and showing that hard work really does pay off. Although I grew up in an upper-middle class family, I had to work for everything I had, too. It’s so important to teach your children that nothing in life will be handed to them.
High Five! I don’t think thats controversial at all, you’re not boasting you’re showing what we are all in some way capable of!
Congrats on your saving!!
LOVE IT!!! This is such a testament to the power of responsible spending and responsible saving. My husband and I are working to pay off his law school debt and save for retirement. Though we are at the beginning of our journey (he graduated in June 2011), I hope to be in your position one day. I proudly use coupons, price matching, and any other legal way to cut costs and save money. I can’t wait to show this to my husband and say “See what coupons can lead to???” You Go Girl!
This is amazing and so inspiring. Good for you!!
Congratulations, Shea! You have won a $10 Amazon gift card from Hip2Save. The reader that emailed this Happy Friday requested the following:
By the way, please donate my $10 gift card to the person who comments #14; the day of the month that I married my husband.
Enjoy! Your gift card will be sent via email shortly. 😀
That is awesome!!!
How nice! What a thoughtful, kind, and HIP gesture!
very HIP!
This makes me love the post even more! 🙂
awesome! 🙂 love this!! 🙂
This is an inspiration. I especially appreciate that you don’t flaunt wealth with your children. Thank you for sharing!
We have found that often the people with more money will be the very conservative ones when it comes to spending —- especially when shopping for groceries, clothes, etc. We have a friend that was raised lower working class and is now a millionaire. He told my 3 year old son that he was very glad to see him pick up coins on the sidewalks, on the floor at groceries, etc. as that is the way he started realizing little ways to make money add up. Great job and even greater that your children are not aware that money is there. So happy for you.
Very inspirational, just goes to show that even though a coupon may only be .25 or .50, the savings can add up big!! Good for you and your family!
God Bless you and your family!
All I can say is “WOW”
I have never had money and always shopped clearence and used coupons. In my family they always said if I hit the lottery and won millions I would still use coupons. haha I am proud of that.
My favorite part of her story is that her children do not know they have money. I think that is great. Kids shouldn’t know too much about their parent’s finances. Sometimes when children feel like their parents can afford something, they then feel entitled. Also she want’s her children to be frugal by learning to shop the clearance rack. Kudos to you!!!
Why would it be conterversial?!?! I don’t get it! I think it’s amazing!
I don’t get it, why would that be controversial? I admire you and wish more people would share their success stories. I know many people that brag about how much money something costs, I get so tired of it. I want to brag about what a great deal I got, but instead I’m looked at like there is something wrong with wanting to save costs and that I’m cheap. I have money, but choose to spend it and save it wisely. Keep up the good work!
I completely agree. I know people who constantly say “I bought this and spent this much (some crazy amounts of money). It is so annoying. Then there’s me… “I just spent $2.89 and saved $55!!” To me, this is ok bragging… the other not so much 🙂
Love it!
fantastic!
Awesome!
Amazing!
I think it is just wonderful. God Bless your family! What a great example of hard work and sacrifice. Thank you for sharing with us.
Good article. I’m in my 50’s and my parents were raised in a different time when being financially responsible and saving was much more emphasized than it is today. Not being in debt was important and conspicuous consumption was frowned upon. They passed a lot of that onto me as well as their value system.
THAT is the right way to have money! Smart money management, donating to causes, and making sure the kids are smart spenders too. What an inspiration. I actually got choked up a bit when they said the kids don’t even know it. AWESOME! Congrats to you, and keep it up!!! 😀
But how old are her children? Bet they aren’t teenagers…in other words, they aren’t old enough to realize the cost of the home and material items they have.
really? does their age matter?
HAHA. I teach some dual credit classes in high school and many of kids in high school have NO idea how much stuff costs.
If they are frugal they don’t necessarily have the fanciest home on the block or newest gadgets. I know plenty of people who live beneath their means, and you would have no idea how fortunately well-off they are just by hanging out with them or going to their nice (but moderate) home.
Age shouldn’t matter. 2 years or 15 years, it’s about the values you teach them. I’m sensing some jealousy Kate. Be happy for her. You could/can do it too.
Jealousy? She is just saying that depending on some of the things they may own, it will be obvious that the parents are fairly well off. Obviously a 5 year old will not be aware of the cost of certain items as a 17 year old would be. The person saying the children have no idea how much money they have means much more when the child is older since it means they have been raised that way compared to a 5 year old, who can not understand that type of thing.
And no, not everyone can do that too. I do cancer research despite my work being rewarding personally, there is barely any financial benefit to it(I could make more working in a call center to give an idea, but again, it is very rewarding and things like that come above money). And for this type of work, you pretty much have to live in a city, which means high cost of living. I have no jealously towards people who want to work in careers where that type of savings is possible, but it is definitely not possibly for everyone.
This is a wonderful message that with hardwork and frugalness you can achieve much! Thank you so much for sharing her story and for her sharing her story. This is inspiring!
This is awesome!
This came at the perfect time. I have been watching the news about the new Nike shoes and the 100+ police it took to control the riot at the mall from the people trying to get their hands on them. Ebay is getting bids for 20,000 for a pair of shoes????? What are we teaching our children. It is wonderful to see how you are raising yours!
Yeah, reading about the riot police at a night time release of new Nike shoes was shocking. I can’t believe that people would go out there at night for some way overpriced shoes. When I grew up they didn’t have athletic shoes – just tennis shoes. I can’t remember ever having more than 2 or 3 pairs of shoes as a kid and they weren’t super expensive.
I think it’s only fair to point out that THESE Nike shoes are considered collector items and have a whole culture surrounding them (look it up…). I don’t think collecting a pair of these shoes for $220 is any different than another person collecting antique toys, a special edition Precious Moment, a rare coin, etc. (I could easily say, “that 6 inch porcelain statue isn’t worth more than $5!”) These are more than just athletic shoes to the people purchasing them.
Spending that much on a pair of shoes isn’t something I’d personally do and I think it’s wrong that riots are breaking out over them, but I also understand and respect their culture and desire to have a collector’s item.
Hey, that’s not controversial. That’s smart!! It’s not exactly easy to get that much money in your account, and it’s even harder to keep it. You get that much money and say “Hey, what can a little island in the Bahamas hurt my bank account”? 😉 No, seriously, part of having material wealth is obtaining it in the first place, but part of it is KEEPING it. Couponing makes sure you keep it, so keep up the good work!
fabulous! a true inspiration!
I’m confused…what does this have to do with couponing? I mean, good for you but it’s not like you’re saying “Oh, I took all the money I saved from each trip and put it in savings and now I’m a millionaire.” I just see this as bragging and THAT isn’t admirable by any means.
I would agree- if this were not anonymous! This man or woman didn’t publish their names with it- in fact they requested that the $10 GC code go to someone else who commented on the post, someone who felt inspired enough by the story to comment! It brings to light the reasons to save a dollar here and a dollar there. That a dollar here and a dollar there can add up to a lot more than a few dollars. Who cares if you save a dollar once? It’s the consistent savings that matters. Seeing something like this is a reminder as to why it matters; what one can look forward to achieving through thoughtful spending. Maybe they won’t save $1.8 million, but they can save up a substantial amount.
whoops, I meant disagree 😮
Not every aspect of this site or of the more “frugal” lifestyle involves coupons. And if I had a million in the bank, you bet your fine little booty I would be screaming from the rooftops. Okay, so maybe not, as I’m scared of heights, but I would do a happy dance…..
I think what she was saying is that you can have a normal income and through a frugal lifestyle you can put the money you saved through couponing into savings. Rather than saying “my bill was $10 and I saved $5 oh look I have $5 dollars to buy something more” stopping there and saying “my bill was $10 I saved $5 that means at the end of the day that is five dollars w/o living frugally would in fact be gone so instead I have it and can put it towards saving” . In my area I am considered average income and I tithe (the real tithe of 10%) plus give to other charities. We find it easy to pay off debt but hard to save. So I am totally using this as inspiration not as a lady bragging. Once I started Tithing I didn’t even notice the difference. So I am now in a savings mode and through tightening my belt on other areas I don’t think I should feel the impact of my savings until later in life when I can live comfortably. May I also say that we lived paycheck to paycheck before I quit my job to become a stay at home mom. We now eat healthier and live more comfortably. Couponing has allowed me to be home with our kids, serve more at church, tithe with a cheerful heart, pay off debt, and now start saving money! I am bad at grammer so forgive me for any run on sentences. 😉 Kudos to all that live better now and in the future B/C of frugal living
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10
This is one of the few times the Lord tells us to test Him. He is faithful and will take care of those who follow Him. God bless you Erin as you are faithful to Him.
Laura my first son’s name is Malachi too! LOL I also have a Victory and a Micah! May God bless all the faithful
Kate, You’ve made several negative comments. Get over it!
There always has to be one doesn’t there?
Great story and pic. Just confirms the reasons why I choose to live more frugally.
Kate – it’s not bragging if you are remaining anonymous; it’s related to couponing because saving money helped them become millionaires. Please get over your negative comments which help no one.
Kate, the point of it is that, even with a large amount of money like that in savings and investing, she’s not letting the money go to her head – she’s still saving and being frugal. It’s great that you’re able to get to a point where you’re that financially secure, but if you spend your money left and right, throw it all away, you’re not going to be able to keep that financial security.
It doesn’t do any good to have a lot of money if you just blow it all.
To be fair, I think maybe this is why anonymous thought this topic could be controversial. In past generations, it was tacky to discuss money, and children were not privy to their parents’ financial situation. With the advent of the Internet, the rules of etiquette have changed. We’re all cloaked in anonymity, whether we go by “anonymous” or any other identity we choose to assume, and we can say and do things that we’d never do in our “real lives,” so I can see how sharing such information might be perceived as bragging.
I have to agree with Kate on some of this, I doubt much of this money is due to couponing. The majority seems to be from investments, while I don’t know if she is bragging or not, it is not a totally truthful post. Couponing will not bring you millions, it might give you some room to breath financially though. It is a good financial responsibility story, but not so much a good coupon story.
Anonymous here (I sent this to Collin). Kate, I’m glad you stated your opinion here and I don’t think others should judge you negatively. I agree, my post wasn’t couponing, it was definitely more about the benefits to living a frugal lifestyle (of which couponing is a part of).
Thank you anonymous for your comment. I think that you are a great person for sharing and living graciously! And w/o judging others. But I may add this website isn’t just about coupons it is about saving in all aspects of life and helping others. By your post it looks as if you are saving like no one else so you can give like no one else! Hope Dave Ramsey doesn’t come after me for that comment 😉
What a great story!! It is certainly inspirational to me!! THANKS for sharing!!
That is SO awesome! Alot of hard work and dedication paid off! All the while teaching your children how to get the most abng for their buck. Congratulations!
Awesome and also love mint.com
touching story and inspirational too,iam a foreigner here nd ur land of dreams taught me soooo many lessons!!!!
I’m never going to win Friday photo. This one was good. This one was my most favorite.
Very inspiring story. I love the fact that you are teaching your children the value of a dollar. Good for you!
I think this is inspiring. Would the reader be willing to give any advice? I do couponing too, but sometimes I wish I knew more about how to most effectively manage my time for the best budget pay off. Thanks very much to the reader for sharing and to Collin.
Good story. Best part is the fact u dont tell ur kids about the money. We are a middle class family and I tell my kids we are rich with God’s love, family and because we have air to breathe. Since I started couponing again we can enjoy the daily necessities for less $ because of coupons. I am thankful God and for this site and the ability to coupon shop. Nice to hear other great stories. 🙂
Good for you!!! That is so commendable!
Wow, this is a great story. It gives me hope for my own savings. We paid off our 500K house and have 100K in savings but I want to save MORE MORE MORE just like this person did!!!! We have no debt at all but we can do better!
Anonymous here (I sent this to Collin). Awesome Maggie! Paying off our mortgage was such a milestone, and being debt free in our society is unheard of. Way to go! FYI folks – never trust one of those online calculators do determine how much you can borrow. Only you can decide what you can comfortably afford.
Wow..I find her inspiring..not “all show”!
Meant for this to go under comment 14
I was up at a ski lodge last weekend and I wandered over to the vending machines just to check out the prices. $3.50 for a bottle of pop? Later, I was musing with my daughters that if I was a millionaire, and money was no issue, would I be able to spend that much for a bottle of pop? We all determined that ,no I probably would not. I don’t think I could even enjoy something after overpaying that much for it!
Vending machine prices are HORRIBLE!! That’s when I look for a water fountain!
Awesome!!! We also don’t “need” to coupon, but why pay extra when you don’t need to?
I think it’s awesome!! Don’t be a Debbie Downer!
oops….that was meant for someone’s comment that has disappeared now! LOL