Published July 13, 2010
Erin Gifford launched CouponCravings.com in May 2008. She uses her blog as a space to share all the fantastic deals, freebies, and coupons she finds with her readers in order to help them save money.
In addition to offering savings advice on her own site, Erin also belongs to Wal-Mart's Eleven Moms. She splits most of her time between managing CouponCravings and handling PR for Ziplist, a grocery- related-start-up company.
Erin currently lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and four children.
Interview Transcript
BeFrugal: How long has Coupon Cravings been around?
Erin Gifford: I actually started just a little over two years ago. So, it has been a lot of fun and there has been so much growth in the space. When I first started, there really weren't that many people blogging about bargains and deals, there were not too many. But now there are.
I think with the economy, and you know, there are just so many bargains and deals and freebies to be found. There are a lot more people out there doing it. And, it's a lot of fun because there is a lot of camaraderie with other bloggers too. I love it.
BeFrugal: Yeah, it's such a tight community. So, are you a one-woman-show or do you have help?
Gifford: For right now, I am kind of a one-woman-show I would say. I have a different day job as well, and I do the blog in the evenings. And you know, it's a lot of fun; I enjoy it. I get on and I blog, or I get on Skype and I talk to some other frugal bloggers, or I go on Facebook and kind of interact with people who read my blog. So, I love it.
BeFrugal: Have you had any good tips from your users?
Gifford: I guess lots of readers, they offer tips all the time. Either they see a deal or sometimes they find a coupon code that would make the deal even better. Or they have been to the drug-store and they saw my deals and they got there and they happened to see another product in the shop, and that had a great deal as well, and they told me about it. So it's great.
And I know a lot of my readers read the comments as well. So you know, they like to blog to some of the other readers. Again, it's kind of generating that sense of community on the blog.
BeFrugal: Since you are very interactive with your users, do you find that your site's traffic varies with the seasons? Are people being less frugal in the summer?
Gifford: I think there is definitely a seasonality with blogs. And, I think my blog, at the heart, is about shopping and finding deals, whether it's online shopping or retail shopping. I think Q4 is definitely the biggest time of the year you know, so October, November, December, for shopping. And I think that is reflective in the blogs as well.
I remember last October, November, December, I was posting a lot about holiday deals or bargains at the grocery store on Christmas lights, you know different things. And I definitely noticed a lot of traffic as people were really looking for these things at that particular time of the year. And you know, now like summer, a lot of people are taking vacations and I think back to school will be a big time.
Again, these people are looking for very specific items, so I think that during the times and seasons when people are looking for very specific things, whether holiday-gifts or back to school clothes or valentines gifts, I feel like these are the times when I see more spikes in traffic. But definitely, Q4, end of the year, is much more traffic I would say.
BeFrugal: Being a fulltime mother and a coupon blogging guru, what is a typical day for you like?
Gifford: My God, a typical day. It's always such a funny question. I always wonder what other people's typical days are too, but no one really has a typical day, everyday is different.
But I have four kids, and fortunately I have an Au Pair who lives in my house as well, who helps out with the kids during the day. But I actually have an office job two-days-a-week; I work for a start-up that has an online shopping list. And so, that's a lot of fun. I do kind of PR, marketing for them.
And then, kind of the other days, I either blog or to be honest, I like running errands. I think when you have four kids, there are just that many more errands to be run, you know. I think it was Tuesday, I was everywhere you know; I had to take my kids to get a hair-cut, they had to go to tennis, I had to get the car inspected to get the safety sticker, I had to go the grocery store in the morning. Just a whole bunch of stuff.
So, night time is kind of the really dedicated time I have, because you know, I can't really run the errands at night. The hair-cut place isn't open at night, and my kids are sleeping anyways.
BeFrugal: So, it seems that you are pretty active outside of your blog. So, you say that by default, you have to spend a lot of time in the evening doing it. Are you able to choose projects or are you so nice that you just do everything that everyone asks?
Gifford: Oh my gosh, no way. It's really hard, because I think the longer your blog is in a particular space, and I think the more traffic you get, I think the more emails you get with give away requests and link-up requests, and that kind of thing. It's really hard to do a lot of stuff.
And unfortunately, I get a lot of emails from other bloggers, which is great, you know telling me about deals. But it's so hard to go through so many emails that I use an RSS reader. I don't know if you use that, so I just kind of have everybody in that reader, and then it's so much easier and so much faster to see what the hot deals are out there from the different bloggers who email me.
But I have to be selective; I mean there are a lot of brands out there that are really looking to bloggers because it's such a hot space right now, the blogging space, that I really try to be selective with who I work with. That it's a really good match with what I write about.
I guess that the kind of brands that I have, that I have been most closely with over the last years, so Wal-Mart, where I'm kind of one their Eleven Moms. And that's a good brand, because they are all about value shopping, and my blog is all about value shopping. So, they are very well aligned. I am about saving money, so you know, it's just a good fit.
BeFrugal: Well, I am glad you mentioned Wal-Mart, because I was going to ask you a little bit more about some of your other projects. So, for those that aren't familiar with Wal-Mart's social media campaign that you are obviously a big part of, can you expand on that a little?
Gifford: Yeah. Wal-Mart started the Eleven Moms about almost, I think it was actually two years ago this month. And basically, it's funny, I think it started out as ten moms and they called it the Eleven Moms, but now there are twenty-one moms, so go figure. But actually, and I think it's funny, they just changed it to call it Wal-Mart Moms. They thought it was becoming too confusing to be Eleven Moms because they were no longer eleven moms. I don't think they were ever actually eleven moms.
But it's been a great opportunity to work with Wal-Mart and kind of hear about what they have going on in terms of providing value for their shoppers and their different sustainability initiatives. And, by sustainability I mean the different green and environmental initiatives they have, which I found fascinating.
For example, I went on Bentonville last year which is Wal-Mart's head quarters, and they had some people talking about sustainability. And, there were two things that I went just like wow, that's amazing.
One of them was that it really was Wal-Mart who lead the change with their merchants. I can't remember what laundry detergent it was, but do you remember it was years, not even that many years ago, the laundry detergent bottles used to be so big. And Wal-Mart kind of cast their retailers, or sorry, their merchants, with making them smaller and making the detergent more concentrated so they could use less plastic in those bottles, and they could fit more bottles on the trucks. That means less wear and tear on the roads, and that means they are using less gas. It was just really like, wow. That's really cool.
And then, the other thing they did was actually with booster car seats. I don't know if you have kids, but a lot of times the car seats, they come in this huge box, and it just takes up a lot of space, and you are wasting that that paper and then cardboard for the car seat. But now, they actually, the way they package them is, they just put them in like a black bag. That's what the car seat, the booster seats come in now. So, now, same with the detergent, they are not having to stock these boxes, but where you used to be able to put two car seats in a truck, you can put ten in now.
So, I mean I am not trying to make a big deal out of it, but it was amazing. Just kind of the work they were doing in this arena. So, I thought that was really interesting, and I liked to be able to share that with my readers from time to time.
BeFrugal: Now, on to the coupons a little bit; tell me what do you think is the main reason most people pay more than they need to on various products?
Gifford: I think that they just don't realize that they can find these deals, and they don't know about any kind of deal forums and websites that make it easy by actually putting the matches together and letting them know here is a printable coupon, it's right here, here is a great deal on toothpaste, and kind of putting them together.
Because sometimes it's like oh, I need toothpaste, I guess I will get it wherever. And toothpaste, to be honest with you, it's kind of expensive. Even if you go to one of the discount retailers, it's still like three dollars. But, a lot of times, you know CVS and Walgreens and the drug-stores, pretty much every few weeks you can get it for free after rebate or free after a printable coupon and an instant rebate.
I think they just don't realize it really is that easy. I remember when I first started blogging, and I had been to one of the other blogs before that, sorry, this is really when I first got into coupon fever, and I saw that I could get, I can't remember what it was, it might have been toothpaste or something like that. I remember I was all nervous going into the store, into CVS, because I just thought no way, this isn't going to be free, there is a no way. I think I paid out of pocket like $2.99, and then I had a coupon for a dollar, and then I got back $2 in Extra Care Bucks. And, I was just on top of the world. I couldn't believe it, I don't know why. It was amazing but I just didn't realize it before.
And, I think there are just a lot of people, they don't realize, and they kind of automatically assume the drug-stores are the most expensive place to get toothpaste. They are probably going to their grocery store, discount retailer, and actually paying three times more for that same toothpaste that I am by going to the drug-store for and taking advantage of these weekly deals.
And you know, at the start of the conversation I talked about there being a lot more frugal bloggers out there now. I mean, I think that's great for kind of the average person getting into couponing now, because it's that much easier now to find these coupon matches and to find this information on how and where to get these great deals on items they buy everyday.
I think a lot of people too think oh, coupons are only for packaged goods like french-fries, which is true. But then, I got four kids, my kids eat french-fries, so I am looking out for that coupon. But I mean, there are a lot of coupons for shampoo and deodorant and your toothpaste, and I am pretty sure everybody uses those too. So, you probably want to save money on those items as well.
BeFrugal: Do you have something, a memorable deal that you found for your family, or maybe that a user has provided, something that really sticks out where you just go wow, I can't believe this deal?
Gifford: Well, I remember, it was probably over a year ago now that it was at Harris Teeter, which is a local supermarket chain in my area. It's popular in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and so Harris Teeter, maybe about every two months, they have triple coupons. And I remember toothbrushes were on sale, toothbrushes for, I think they were on sale for $2, and I had a 75 cent off coupon, okay. And so, they tripled. That meant I got them free. Does that make sense? So, they weren't going to give me money back, but they tripled to $2.25 for every $2 toothbrush.
I remember I had bought, you could actually buy coupons online, there are sites like TheCouponClipper.com, and TheCouponMaster.com, and you can buy these coupons. You are not really buying them, you are actually, you know the money you spend is for the time this women takes to cut the coupons and send them to you. So I had bought twenty coupons, and I just remember being so excited because I got twenty free toothbrushes, and I mean who doesn't need toothbrushes? But, I just remember even the cashier was like wow, look at all these free toothbrushes. They are usually like $2 or $3, and I got twenty, so that's like $40 or $60 I just saved on something I will definitely use.
I am actually kind of sad because I think I am on the verge of running out of toothbrushes now. I think I have maybe two of those free toothbrushes I got. And they were the kids' toothbrushes and the adult toothbrushes, and some of them are value packs and I got them all for free. So yeah, that one always stands out in my mind.
And, there was definitely a time too I think when I first started doing this and getting super excited. I would share with my in-laws or I would share with my husband, I would be like look at all the stuff I got and tell me how much do you think I paid for it? Like, that would be the game every week.
I would have twenty toothbrushes, and it was like four cartoons of ice-cream, and I was like how much do you think I got, how much do you think I paid, and I think it was like $2 for all that stuff. They just don't even understand. But, you know, it's fun to kind of talk to your other frugal blogger friends because they understand and they are excited for you as well. So, it's fun.
BeFrugal: So, last question, and this is sort of a family/frugal question. With a big family and having a focus on saving money, what's your Go-To Meal for the family, and are you able to find coupons for the ingredients?
Gifford: Oh my gosh! I wish I had more Go-To Meals. It's kind of sad. You mean like, what kinds of things do I make for my family or do I save money? I don't know. I can tell you that I have a few favorite dishes, but I wouldn't say this dish I am going to tell you is my favorite dish, but it's my standby Monday dish, and it's spaghetti.
Cooking honestly is not my favorite thing to do, and you know, spaghetti is such an easy dish to make, but it's kind of my ease-into-the-week dish. I am like okay, it's Monday, I am just off the weekend. I have got to start getting to cooking for the week, I am going to start with spaghetti. So, I usually do that.
But then I actually have this one cookbook that has cook-once-eat-twice type meals. And basically it was Pork Tenderloin that I grill. I think it was like Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin which is really good, and you marinate it and you cook it. And, you have the Pork Tenderloin one night, and then the next night, you cook enough for two nights on the grill. And the next night you make Pork Fillets. So, that's what we had last night; we had Pork Fillets.
It was on Tuesday we had the grilled Prok Tenderloins, and then, you know that's pretty easy and quick to make in itself, and then next the next day, you just kind of cut up all the meat that you have already cooked and then you turn that into Prok Fillets. So, I love those types of meals that are, like I said, cook, what is it, cook once.Those meals that you can make enough in the first night and then transform it into something a little bit different for the second night. And so, those are really easy, and I honestly wish there were more cookbooks where all their meals were like that. So, I think that is really easy.
BeFrugal: So, I lied, I have one more question. Are there some restaurants out there that seem to have, that you are familiar with anyway, or that your readers come across, that seem to have a really great deal going that makes it easy for you to go in and spend a few dollars?
Gifford: Oh my God, it's hard to say. I would encourage your readers to get on Facebook because a lot of these chain restaurants are on Facebook, and they are always offering free types of coupons. Like for example, right now, I don't know if you have the Famous Dave's chain where you are, but it's a national barbeque chain and they are giving away a printable coupon for, it's like buy one get one free coupon for the first 100,000 people who sign up to be a fan of Famous Dave's. So, you know that's kind of cool, and again, I know a lot of the blogs post about buy one get one free coupons.
I know T.G.I. Friday's a lot of times offers free appetizers. And, I can tell you that my tip here would be, if you have got a favorite restaurant, get on their mailing list and their email list, because you know just for doing that, a lot of times they will send you a coupon for a free meal on your birthday. I think Red Robin, which is another chain does that. You get a free burger on your birthday. And, Benihana, that's another national chain, they will give you a free $30 gift certificate on your birthday. And, there are a lot of chains out there that will give you something free.
A lot of times, it's free with purchase, you know free cookie when you buy a meal or free drink or something like that when you buy something. But, I mean that can save a lot of money. And, there are a couple of other sites I would suggest: one is KidsMealDeals.com. You go to that site and you can type your zip code and they will tell you what restaurants near you have kids eat free specials and what nights of the week they offer them. And, another one is FreeBirthdayTreats.com, and you can go there and you will be able to find out what types of goodies you can get on your birthday. So, those are two great sites to keep in mind.
****End of Interview****
To hear more deal-saving advice from Erin and to find some of the latest grocery, retail, and restaurant coupons, be sure to check out Erin's blog CouponCravings.com.