“Extreme” money-saving tips offered at VGCC’s Coupon 101 workshop
Savvy shoppers across the country are using increasingly sophisticated coupon techniques, with numerous web sites and television programs devoted to helping consumers save money. In that spirit, a new Vance-Granville Community College workshop will provide local cost-conscious residents with various couponing strategies that could reduce a family’s grocery expenses by as much as 80 percent.
The “Coupon 101” workshop will be offered once on each of the four VGCC campuses: on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the college’s Main Campus in Vance County, on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Franklin County Campus near Louisburg, on Tuesday, March 27 at South Campus between Creedmoor and Butner, and on Tuesday, April 17 at the Warren County Campus in Warrenton. The three-hour course will meet from 6 until 9 p.m.
The instructor will be Melody Page, a former high school math teacher and Nash County native who hosts “Extreme Ways to Save,” a local television program in the Rocky Mount area.
Page will share with participants several of her “secrets,” such as how to work drug store customer rewards programs to get health and beauty items for free; where to find coupons and how to organize them; how to work grocery store sales cycles; coupon policies and rules for local stores; and how to get “paid to shop.” Page said that she began her “couponing” experience about five years ago “in the midst of a personal financial crisis brought on by the downswing in the economy.” Excited about the huge savings she was experiencing, she began to share her strategies with friends and family. Soon, Page was asked to speak for area churches and civic groups, and “Extreme Ways to Save” was born. She now teaches her strategies monthly in various venues, hosts a local television show, and oversees the “ Extreme Ways to Save ” web site and Facebook page. She has been featured in several local publications and is a contributing writer for an area newspaper.
The cost of the course is $20, and Page predicts that each participant will save that amount many times over by using her tips.
For more information and to register for the Main Campus session (Jan. 24), call Gabrielle Norfleet at (252) 738-3275; for the Franklin Campus session (Feb. 21), call Anthony Pope at (919) 496-1567; for the South Campus session (March 27), call Derrick Cameron at (919) 528-4737; and for the Warren Campus session (April 17), call George Henderson at (252) 257-1900.
