Years ago Mari Whitlow, Elisabeth Fielder-Hix and Karla Andrew began using coupons to save money for their families. Little did they know that couponing would also lead them to new friendships and community involvement.  The trio are the women behind the BG Savings Facebook Page, The Poorhouse Princess Blog and BGcouponers.org or as they are collectively known, the Kentucky Savings Group. With their family budgets on target, today they  collaborate to invest some of their time giving back to the community whether through training refugee populations at church in money management or working with community organizations such as Hotel Inc. and Stuff The Bus to stretch food bank and school supply dollars.

Each of the BGCouponers had families to feed: Elisabeth with four children, Karla with three and Mari with six.  Early on they discovered that creative couponing could reduce their family budget nearly $500 a month.

After losing her job at the end of 2008, Elisabeth Fielder-Hix decided to become a full time mom and find ways to save and earn money from home to make up for the loss of her income.  And indeed, with her new knowledge she says she went from spending more than $850 a month to less than $100 a week at the grocery.

A self described “mother-hen”, she soon was interested in helping other families and created a blog, Poor House Princess, to share her ideas for saving “from the grocery store to car payments to mortgages!”.   Poorhouse Princess has sections that discuss techniques such as trading, getting free samples, DIY projects, budgeting, online savings and couponing.  She also began offering a couponing class.  The site describes it as an in depth 2 1/2 hour classes covering everything from Couponing 101 to Practical Family Savings.

Mari, a 14 year couponing veteran, realized at some point that potential savings were dramatically increased when pairing coupons with advertised specials and her savings skyrocketed.  Like Elisabeth, she decided to begin paying it forward by creating the Bowling Green Savings Facebook page.  On it she regularly posts specials and deals in local stores.

Karla, a self confessed computer geek, likewise has spent the past several years staying at home with her children and working from home using her computer skills.  She authors several blogs including TechEd4Kids.com, which seeks to “partner with parents, students and teachers to measurably propel student achievement.”

Inevitably with their internet involvement and common goals these three women became acquainted online and became friends.  They began meeting to swap coupons and talk about their achievements in frugality.  They decided to partner to create BGCouponers.org and eventually the umbrella group KentuckySavingsGroup.com which would steer people to their various sites mentioned above as well as BG Yard Sales. Though all three contribute to their group sites, each focuses on vital functions: Karla is the tech person, Elisabeth the community liaison and Mari the organizer.  It wasn’t long before the three decided to become more active in their community using their couponing skills.  Together they created BGCouponers.org as well a corresponding Facebook Page and Facebook Group.  The site features regular posts by all three women, templates for organizer pages based on local stores, a coupon database and printable coupons. A local price comparison database is in the works.

They’ve also made other friends through couponing.  “One of my greatest friends is in Philadelphia,” said Elisabeth “We chat all the time. It’s kind of neat because you do form relationships all over the nation from blog networks.”

“Geography doesn’t matter. “ explained Mari. “It’s just like anything else, you have a common goal to share – it’s really neat.”

“Extreme Couponing” is a breakout television series that has captivated viewers.  The show depicts housewives who spend full time work hours collecting and organizing their coupons and then clear store shelves of sale items to feed their home stockpiles.  Many of the featured women are reminiscent of another television show – “Hoarders”, differing only in the neat organization of their collections that are taking over their living space.

The BGCouponers have many concerns about the show, particularly Elisabeth who would like to see it cancelled.  For one, though they share their strategies, there is a fear that the show will lead to changes in store policy that will cut into their savings.  They also don’t relish the thought of being labeled “those crazy couponers”.  None of these three have stockpiles.  They consider taking all of a sales product unethical.  And, they say they spend 2 – 3 hours weekly on their personal couponing, compared to the 35-40 hours claimed by women on the show.

“Extreme Couponing” has clearly had an impact.  In preparing for this story, I decided to collect coupons, study Sunday paper inserts for specials, and read several savings blogs.  BGCouponers.org as well as other sites recommends a binder to organize coupons using baseball card sheets.  All three major office supply stores I visited were sold out of the item. One store manager said even their warehouse was sold out.  And, as expected in that short time, stores have already began changing policies.  New signs limiting specials to one per household went up in one local pharmacy recently and according to BGCouponers their grocery of choice is considering an end to their policy of doubling coupons, in favor of gas incentives.  In contrast, one mega conglomerate is currently running ads that they will match all competitors advertised specials as well as accept many of the competitor’s coupons in conjunction with manufacturer’s coupons and couponers have already begun migrating to where they feel more appreciated.  Stacking coupons is where the thrifty couponer finds the most savings.  For example, finding a buy one get on free sale and then using a coupon on both items.  The resulting savings can sometimes be more than the total cost.

Mari, Elisabeth and Karla work closely with the Association of Couponing Professionals and Coupon Information Corporation.  Both are groups emphasizing ethics and education in couponing.  They often blog about the ethics of couponing, emphasizing “take only what you need” and condemning those who use multiple personas to get deals limited to one per person.

Tony Rose of SAM 100.7 recently decided to get in on the coupon craze and ran an Extreme Coupon Contest.  Each contestant was given $50 and a week to see who could purchase the most with it.  Bonnie Farmer of Logan County, an old school couponer won.  Bonnie, didn’t use any online sources, she bought 230 items worth $450 relying only on her Sunday newspaper inserts.  On the show she stated that she sometimes purchases 30 Sunday papers.  All the items from the contest were donated to local charities.

As a result of interest in the contest, Tony Rose began having the BGCouponers on his show regularly on Monday mornings to discuss techniques and ethics.  Soon it was determined that the ladies would help with Tony’s favorite project, Stuff The Bus.  What started as a radio stunt has become a very special occasion for the DJ.  “You will sweat but you will walk away knowing you changed lives” he told the BGCouponers at a preliminary meeting.

For the 6th annual fundraiser, Tony will stay on a school bus for several days – until the bus is completely filled with school supplies.  The supplies are then donated to area schools.  People can donate supplies or cash.  Each time cash is given, Tony’s cohort, Chris the Fulltimer, himmself a savings aficionado goes to local stores and purchases items.  Elisabeth, Karla and Mari will be on hand with a crew of their followers to assist Chris with purchases and savings.  Last year Stuff the Bus raised 6 tons of school supplies.

Karla, Mari and Elisabeth also recently discovered that Hotel Inc. is in dire need of items for their food pantry.   Summer is a critical time for the agency as children are not in school lunch programs.  Families can come to the panty three days a week and put together a three day meal.  They are then expected to pay for their items through donating their time at a rate of $10 per hour.  Hotel Inc. has 36 church partners and 9 business and nonprofit partners. “The sad part of that is their shelves are empty” Elisabeth reported after her visit to the food bank.

The BGCouponers ladies are also currently saving coupons for their upcoming Alex’s Lemonade Stand on August 6.

Mari said “We kind of had to reel ourselves in so we picked a few we feel we can make the biggest difference in.”  And make a difference they are.  Join the ladies in giving back at Stuff The Bus 2011 July 21 – July 25th on Campbell Lane.

For more information visit kentuckysavingsgroup.com to find links to all their other sites and pages.