[Ian]

Hi ZippysGoddess. You've been a great help with both forums so far.

How did you get started online? I mean, what's your background in it
and what has encouraged you to get involved and help people?

[zippysgoddess]

Well actually it was pure curiosity at first. Some friends had a computer, we didn't, but they only used AOL and their front page, I checked it out and thought, there has to be more to it than that.....

So then my DH decided one year he would buy me a PC with our tax return. When I first started using it, I was interested in how to make it pay for itself by saving us money, or getting freebies. The net was in its heyday then, so gift certificates and free coupons were easy to come by. I made the PC pay for itself in less than a year and we had a totally free Christmas too boot.

The first site I joined was mycoupons.com, a forum like this for deal hunting and freebie finding. Then Joel, the man who owns dealofday.com, who had helped me figure out how to get a freebie for my son for Christmas, spammed me about his site dealofday.com. (I guess I am a sucker for those nice, complimentary spam emails!) I joined the site as soon as it opened, I began to help out with deal hunting and later he sent me an email to be a moderator. That was in 1999 and I still volunteer there as a mod and administrator. (I was actually featured in a Washington Post article because I had over $6,000 in freebies in one year!)

Then, we lost our place to live, the landlord decided to sell it out from under us, my DH had been hospitalized for depression, and was unable to work. We had to move in a hurry with little money, thank goodness for low-income programs. LOL! But suddenly he got approved for SSDI and everything got cut, they don't even give you a chance to get back on your feet. Every month we were scrounging for groceries and I decided there had to be a way to feed my family, even though we didn't make a lot of money. I started reading the posts from couponers and stockpilers at mycoupons and DOD, I thought, hey I can try that. I gathered some coupons and in my first week brought home over $70 in free groceries. So I learned all I could and became a CouponQueen, just like you see on talk shows. I save thousands a year and haven't spent money on most cleaning and toiletry items in several years.

Shortly after this, I began to have problems with my back, they have been getting worse and worse. My doc said no bending, twisting, lifting, stooping, kneeling, standing for long periods of time, sitting for long and etc. She wrote me off as permanently disabled. Since I couldn't find a job that I could do from bed, I had to stay at home. Problem is SSI keeps turning me down, so our income is still very limited.

Anyway, between the drugs I have to take, and what my husband takes for depression and diabetes, I started to worry about interactions and side effects. I began to pick up PDR's and search for websites to get more information. I actually caught a potentially deadly reaction in a new med that was prescribed to my husband, that both the doc and pharmacy had missed.

I have to admit, being disabled, I got very depressed and started to feel useless. I just couldn't do all the things I was used to doing, like cleaning the whole house at once, or carrying a pile of groceries home by hand. But by finding sites like this, I get a feeling of usefulness again.

I love to learn and do research and it means a lot to me to be able to pass on the things I learn and help others. I even have a legal advice forum that I post on to help people with housing information for low-income and such.

Keeping busy also keeps me from hating myself too much! :P

Sorry this is so long, but you asked........... anything else you want to know?

[Cyn]

I just responded on the other post about using coupons. Now I am going to have to check out those other sites--I am always game for saving $$ when I can.

[zippysgoddess]

I figure that even if you have money to throw around, why waste it on things you don't have to.

With my couponing, I have enabled to free up enough money since we moved here to buy a new deep freeze, washer, bunk bed for my son, TV, and dishwasher.

[DEB]

can you teach me how to save money?

[zippysgoddess]

Sure Deb, I am always glad to help. You woud be amazed at how much you can save by using grocery coupons and sale shopping. I never buy generics anymore, I get the name brands much cheaper or even for free.

To start you off, here is an article I wrote and published, it has some great information on how we CouponQueens do what we do.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Coupon-Queens-and-How-We-Do-It!&id=24226

I know it seems confusing when you see these women on Oprah, they get stuff cheap but don't really tell how they do it, so I decided to cut through the bull and make it easier for people to understand.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask away or email me:

verwon@gmail.com

[DEB]

I am just now finding this....I had to look at my recent post to find it. LOL

Gonna check out the link now and will get back with ya on this.

Thanks!

[zippysgoddess]

Meowcome!