Ericka Chatman continues to help people understand the art of couponing through her website: Ericka Saves. (Photo property of Ericka Chatman)
By: Jacob Elyachar
Couponing is currently sweeping across the United States.
From shows like Extreme Couponing and segments on morning news shows including TODAY and Good Morning America to newspaper sections dedicated to coupons, thousands of people have coupon fever. Recently, coupon fever hit a new high thanks to the World Wide Web as hundreds of websites have popped up dedicated to help people get their coupon fix.
One of the most diverse coupon sites is erickasaves.com. From her multiple deals to previews on what to look out for during the Sunday newspaper, Ericka Chatman can help the average person learn about and eventually conquer the art of couponing. Recently, I sat down with the Internet coupon queen for an interview where we discussed how she got into couponing, her first couponing experience and why should people try extreme couponing.
Jacob Elyachar: How did you get interested in extreme couponing?
Ericka Chatman: I got interested in couponing when I was a broke college student and I wanted to find a way to save money. However, I am not that extreme like the ladies that you see on Extreme Couponing.
JE: What was your first couponing experience?
EC: The first experience that I had with couponing was when I bought a bunch of newspapers and asked everyone I knew to give me their newspapers. I checked the ads and started practicing what the coupon blogs said about matching sales with the coupons.
So I scanned through the Walgreens ads and I found that Tylenol Precise heating pads were on sale for five dollars. The coupon I had stated that there was five dollars off of one and I found 16 coupons from the papers I collected. When I went to Walgreens, I bought 16 Tylenol Precise heating pad packages and managed to get all of them for free.
JE: Why did you wanted to start your venture: erickasaves.com?
EC: Once I started couponing and saving money, I wanted to teach my friends how to do it. I started telling them about deals, how to coupon and match sales. They started to save money and they suggested that I posted this on Facebook. Then, more people began sending me messages in my Facebook inbox, so I started the Ericka Saves fan page.
After that, I started my own website, erickasaves.com, in April but I have been saving for over a year. I have been able to stockpile toiletries, foods and anything else that I really need. This lead me to be able to get more bills paid. As a college student, I am worried that student loans are going to catch up to me. So I wanted to be more comfortable position and couponing has helped me get to that level and I have literally saved over hundreds of dollars per month doing it.
JE: What makes you stand out in the world of couponing?
EC: What makes me stand out is that I am sincere and I generally want to help people. I am young, in my 20s and I do not have any children. Also, I am still in school and I work. Most women who coupon are housewives that do not work and they have a lot of time dedicated to this.
JE: What inspires you to coupon?
EC: My future is what inspires me to do this. One day, I do plan on being married and having children and I know that I want to be in a stable financial situation and be able to provide for them. By doing this, I am able to do more and save more money and hopefully do more things that I wanted to do when I was not on a tight budget.
JE: Can you please share some success stories from people who have used your website?
EC: I have a lady who has a family of eight. It’s her, her husband and their children. Before she started couponing, I told her to start matching sales and she started saving $20 to $30 and when she actually started couponing, she started saving about $100 to $150 a trip. Usually with couponing, you save 50 to 75-percent with foods, but with toiletries, you can save up to 75-percent to 100-percent off.
JE: Why should people go to your website: erickasaves.com?
EC: People should visit erickasaves.com because I post daily deals which include anything ranging from magazines to vacation spots. I also post information on items that what you can get for free. In addition to couponing, I also share do it yourself projects from time to time and really affordable cheap recipes. Finally, I also have a coupon database where you could match stores with sales and also have printable coupons on the website.
Ericka Saves is a rising coupon website that offers everything from DIY projects to printable coupons. (Logo property of Ericka Chatman.)
To visit Ericka’s website, click on the following link: http://erickasaves.com/
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