HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Have you ever had a hobby?
“I never in my life had a hobby,” said Ivy Rehm.
That is, until now.
Rehm’s hobby is couponing.
Watch full report from Larissa Scott
“It’s an addiction. It’s the best addiction to have because I’m saving money,” said Rehm.
She’s a stay-at-home mom in Hillsborough County.
Two years ago, she decided to give couponing a try.
“I like that it gave me something to do,” said Rehm.
After some research, she was hooked.
“It took me a few hours and I became obsessed... My who life is basically couponing other than like my family,” said Rehm.
It's an obsession turned into a passion.
“I mostly get a lot of like body wash products, you know soaps, deodorants,” said Rehm.
She’s on a mission to help as many people as possible.
“I’m like a new couponer. Yes, I’m very fresh into it but that’s why I think it’s good for me to help new people too because I just learned it as well,” said Rehm.
“I see so many struggling people talking about 'I can’t afford groceries, I can’t afford this,' but I’m like so are you trying to do anything about it? Or are you just going to the store and paying full price for everything?” She added.
She’s not paying full price. She's saved thousands of dollars.
“In the two years I’ve been couponing, I know I’ve saved over $15,000,” said Rehm.
Once she figured out how to coupon, she turned to social media to share everything she’s learned with her account, Coupon Made Simple.
“That’s why I made Coupon Made Simple because I want it to be simple. I started making tutorials and just anything I could do to really like help that community learn how to really dive in and coupon,” said Rehm.
She believes there are misconceptions about couponing and wants people to know it’s not as complicated as they think.
“I think because there was like these couponing shows in the past that it kind of showed us this extremely wrong impression of couponing, especially these days. So that was kind of like the old school way of couponing and now it’s completely different. You’re not standing, holding up a line. You’re not cutting out coupons. You’re not bringing a book of coupons to the store. It’s so less stressful,” said Rehm.
What she uses are apps.
She encourages people to download apps to the stores they most commonly shop.
Before you go shopping, check the app for available coupons.
“Prices are going up, you know? We want to save money. Everyone wants to save money right now, especially on groceries because it’s something that we have to have,” said Rehm.
After you shop, she recommends using a rebate cash back app where you can upload your receipt after making a purchase, and get cash back.
She’s even made money using coupons and rebates.
“And you’re like I just made $3.25 like what? And I got this free item? It’s seriously the best feeling. I call it a coupon high, it’s like the best high.”
A high, that she hopes other people can get too.
“Why not save money? Why not be able to get free food for your family, you know?” Said Rehm.
Couponing started as a hobby for her.
“I’ve saved my family so much money, I’m helping people, like I never want to stop,” said Rehm.
But this hobby is now so much more. It's brought her a purpose.
“I have all these people like 'Hey thank you so much, like you’ve save my family so much money,' It literally brings me tears because it’s like wow I’ve done that for you? ” said Rehm.
She encourages everyone to just do some research and give it a shot.
“I had no idea about it and once I learned, it really changed my life. So I think if I could just say hey, just open your phone and just do a little research, I promise you it will change things for you and I know the prices of everything is going up right now so it’s really important that we do spend a little extra time to save money,” said Rehm.
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