Make change: Clinton resident swears by coupons

Font Size:

By Erin Tiesman | Monday, July 28, 2008 12:49 PM CDT | () comments

Tonya L. Riggs is an avid coupon collector and subscribes to an assortment of money-saving newsletters .(Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

VIDEO: Making Change: Coupons
Time spent cutting coupons saves Clinton resident money. …
Watch Video

CLINTON, Iowa — Is it worth spending an hour a day clipping coupons out of newspapers and downloading them from the Web? Clinton resident Tonya Riggs thinks so.

So far this year, the single parent and homeowner prides herself on having saved $149.56 using coupons when grocery shopping.

In one trip alone, Riggs saved nearly $40.

The local Sunday newspaper is still the best place to go for coupons, but Riggs goes a step further. She subscribes to newsletters and checks out books at the Clinton Public Library that give tips for a consumer-friendly lifestyle.

“I like to go further than the basics. I like to look at the things that nobody thinks about, and that’s where some of these newsletters come in handy for great ideas I’ve adopted myself,” Riggs said.

The titles alone give it away: The Simple Dollar, Wise Bread, Everyday Cheapskate and The

Hillbilly Housewife.

She’s picked up ideas such as a homemade recipe for laundry detergent and extending the life of a vacuum bag.

“One of the newsletters I read said (to cut the vacuum bag) at the top and dump it out, and then staple it back together and reuse it and keep folding it down until you can’t fold it down anymore,” she said. “That’s clever! I mean, vacuum bags are four or five bucks for a package of three, so why not make it last longer?”

She said the birth of her son Luke prompted frugal living.

“When they’re a baby, everything is expensive. You’ve got the formula, the diapers, the baby stuff — it adds up,” Riggs said. “I started doing coupons in a big huge tub, but back then the coupons lasted so much longer than they do now. Now I have this [coupon organizer], which fills up quickly but they only last about a month. So I get them online and out of the newspapers.”

Her tasteful, eclectic and coordinated décor is comfortable for Riggs, who found many of her home items at garage and moving sales. “The best item I bought at a garage sale would have to be the Hoover Wind Tunnel Vacuum I picked up for only $4,” she said.

Riggs holds her own annual garage sales. When the Clinton JC Penney closed, she stocked up on clothing fixtures and hangers, and even picked up a pink checkout counter that she uses at all her sales. Once or twice a year she and her friends gather up old clothes and belongings to sell, and they place a large ad in the local newspaper.

Spending money is not important, she said, to have the life she wants.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.