Before a trip to Meijer, most would just grab their credit card and go. But Emily Furney, a photography junior at Lansing Community College, spends hours looking up deals online, clipping coupons out of newspapers and making spreadsheets before each trip.
After watching episodes of “Extreme Couponing” on TLC, Furney said she became fascinated with saving money through coupons, or “couponing,” in the Lansing area.
“I used to watch the show about extreme couponing, and then my boss started getting into it, too,” Furney said. “Sitting across from a desk with her three days a week for six hours got me into it.”
Although Furney admits the hobby can be time-consuming, her hard work has paid off. During a recent shopping trip to Meijer, Furney said she brought her total from $43.30 to $4.32 solely from using coupons.
“I think a lot of people think … you have no life if you do it, but it takes maybe three or four hours out of my week, which I might be spending watching TV,” Furney said.
In addition to working three local jobs and going to school full time, Furney coupons to pay for school and fund her own photography business, Emily James Photography.
“I like owning my own business and working with clients who are personal with me and come to me because they like my artwork, not because they’re coming in to eat at a restaurant again,” Furney said.
Her boss, Kristy Taylor of Kristy Photography in Lansing, said she pushed Furney to start clipping coupons by sending her pictures of items she had gotten for free.
“My husband and I are very blessed,” Taylor said. “But I still really like saving money, and I know that with Emily, she’s a college student … so any way she can save money is awesome. So I would gently push her and let her know about deals.”
Furney said preparing for a shopping trip takes hours of planning.
“I get online, and I see what kind of deals they have out there, and I clip all the coupons for the deals that I want to get,” Furney said. “I have a spreadsheet of the sales and what I’m going to get, and then I have envelopes for (each of) the stores (I plan on going to), and I put the coupons in them for each store.”
Johnathan Harris, Furney’s boyfriend, accompanies her on her frequent shopping trips, which he often finds amusing.
“She’s saving a ton of money, so it’s kind of nice to have more money in the pocket,” Harris said. “But at the same time, it’s kind of funny because she has a stack of coupons that looks like a book to me.”
In the future, Furney said she hopes to eventually be able to sustain herself on her photography business.
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