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My Coupon/Refund Story

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This is My Coupon/Refund Story

I got married young, at the age of 16. My mom had always used coupons and sent off for refunds but I didn't really pay much attention to it. When I got married she introduced me to the hobby and gave me a box of cut and sorted coupons as well as some refund forms and the qualifiers that I need to go with them. This was in 1982.

I was hooked right away. Not long after I found out about Refunding Makes Cents magazine and subscribed to it. It was all over then! LOL
I just bloomed in my coupon/refund hobby. I made trades, trades, and more trades, and was able to continually mail in for more coupons, free products or refund checks.

In 1985 my husband got a job in Oklahoma City and we moved from here in Kansas. It didn't take me long to find fellow refunders in the area. Most of them I found in ads in the RMC magazine and looked them up. I had so much fun, especially with one of the gals that I met. We would drive around looking at the curb side trash for refunding treasure!
While living in Oklahoma City is also when I attended my first refund convention. Boy, when I walked in there di I feel totally unprepared! These women had brought boxes and boxes of things to sell and trade. All I had was a handful of items. Thankfully, it was a 2 day convention and I was able to pick up lots of forms that I could go home and make my own complete deals with to trade the next day.
I attended a couple more conventions there in OKC before we moved back to Kansas.

Once back in Kansas, my hobby was still alive. I started my own form exchange, advertising it in RMC. I had several subscribers, who paid to get the monthly list of what forms I had available, plus they mailed me forms for credit. After a few months I added a qualifier exchange to the mix.
I can still see that huge flat box that I kept under my bed with the forms and qualifiers nicely filed to fill orders. My mind slips me as to how or when I quit doing the exchange.

By now I am divorced and remarried, and missing those conventions like you wouldn't believe! I see one on OKC. I convince my new husband to drive us to OKC so that I can attend. It was loads of fun, we camped at a nearby KOA, although I left him for hours to entertain the children 5 of them) while I went to the convention.
Once home, I decided to start hosting my own conventions, which I did, with great success until they were "outlawed" I had them 4 years in a row before that happened.

At my last convention everyone was talking about the internet. It had just begun at that point to spread worldwide. They were talking of how many coupons and things there were getting on the computer. I was really jealous! LOL
In 1996, we finally got the internet at home. You know what the first thing I did was.....started searching for Kellogg's, Proctor & Gamble etc to get ahold of some of these coupons. I ended up finding a lot more than coupon related stuff...the rest of that story is history. hehe.

Here it is 2008. A lot has changed over the years. Coupons that are in the paper seem to expire before you barely have a chance to use them. Gone are the days of no expiration date. Forms to send for refunds are nearly non-existant. But, I plug away. I sit here today with piles of Sunday inserts that need to be cut and sorted. I tend to work on cutting and sorting coupons while I am doing my other things on the internet.

I use a website forum to match sales ads with coupons which has been a real blessing. I belong to a few coupon trading groups on yahoogroups as well as a private trading group. I occasionally check in on some of the other coupon/refund boards as well. About the only refund I do each month is the Walgreens in the form of adding it to my Walgreens gift card. At least there is still that. I picked up a refund flyer at Dollar General yesterday. I am always on the lookout for refund offers, especially for food.

I imagine that I will always consider myself to be a coupon/refunder despite the lack of materials. I have recently enjoyed reading others savings stories to encourage myself to keep up with my coupon cutting and sorting.

Thanks for reading my story.

Enjoy the links below that are coupon related. Ebay is a great place to buy coupons that you can use as well as sell coupons that you don't need.

Do you have a good coupon website or forum that you use? Please add it to the list below.

***Intro photo belongs to me, purchased through fotolia.com and uses fotolio's standard license***

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Good Coupon/Refunding websites or forums

Please add coupon or refund websites/forums that you use in your hobby.

My Coupon/Refund Story

This is My Coupon/Refund Story

Good Coupon/Refunding websites or forums

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