TLC’s Extreme Couponing’s Angelique Campbell reveals the secrets to her biggest shopping trip ever!!!

Angelique Campbell was featured last night on TLC’s Extreme Couponing. She was able to purchase all of her goods without paying a cent and actually walked away with a gift card in her pocket worth $57.51!!! We are going to learn how exactly she was able to pull that off…..

Q: Where did you shop at?
I shopped at my local Fred Meyers.

Q: Is Fred Meyers the store you normally shop at?
Honestly, before the show I only shopped there on the occasion when there was a specific item that was a good deal. But now I have found that it is one of my favorite places to shop!!! 

Q: What is an average shopping trip for you?
I normally do several small shopping trips, at several different stores throughout the week. I normally have a pre-coupon total of around $100-$200 and spend no more than $10 on one trip. However, I have to be honest…since the show and getting pregnant, I have not shopped hardly at all…we are currently mostly living off our stockpile with the exception of couponing some food and fresh produce!

Q: Where  do you get all your coupons?
I buy several every Sunday papers, I do get some from local newpaper recycle bins(if the coupons that week are amazing),I have several friends who exchange coupons with me, and I obviously print LOTS of coupons and look for them everywhere I go!!! 

Q: How long did it take you to prepare for that shopping trip?
I actually was preparing for some sort of a shopping trip for the show for about a week…however, I didn’t get a call saying TLC was filming me for the show until two days before they came…and I didn’t know for sure what store I was shopping at until the day before TLC started filming! So I had to hope that if I special ordered my items at the Fred Meyers by my house that I would get approved to shop there. Thank God it all worked out!!!

Q: How were you able to buy all that Similac formula in a single transaction? Doesn’t the coupon state Limit 1 purchase per transaction?
To be honest I didn’t know until the morning of the show if I would be able to purchase the formula or not. On the morning of the show I called the number listed for the manufacture and explained that I was filming for TLC and that I was purchasing approximately 140 bottles of formula to donate to local women’s shelter (Hannah’s House). The manufacture answered my question like this “the limit on the coupon is not for us (the manufacture) it’s for the store, so that they do not have to except multiple coupons in one transaction, since the coupon is such a high value”…she then continued with “we will reimburse the store whether they are used in one transaction or many, it is up to the store manager whether or not they want to except them.” I was excited to hear that answer, but actually made the lady on the phone repeat her answer once again “we will reimburse the store, ask your store manager.” So of course I looked over at the store manager and the district manager who were standing next to me listening to my conversation with the manufacture and asked if they would except the coupons all in one transaction. They approved it!!! So YAY, I got all the formula and was able to give about 60 bottles away to friends who needed it (and shared their coupons with me 🙂 ) as well as donate about 80’ish bottles to Hannah’s House!!! 

I also want to notate, that I did not just use Similac coupons to get the formula. I also used about $150 in those checks that they mail you. You can combine those checks with coupons to sweeten the price of your formula!!!!! 

Also, the store did not approve the use of that coupon specifically just for me because I was on the show…anybody can call the manufacture of a coupon or ask a store manager…Like I always tell my kids “IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK!!!”

Q: Do you feel like you followed the stores/manufacters coupon policies?
Yes, I feel like I tried very hard to follow their policy to a T. I did not receive any overage for any of the products that I bought. I did use that Similac coupon, however as explained above I did get permission from the manufacture, the store manager and the district manager!

Q: What are you planning on doing  with all those goods?
I have already donated almost all of the items I purchased on the show! I have one more load I am waiting for a donation center to pick up from me. However, I did keep all the fresh produce, organic milk, meat and about half of the Couscous I purchased on the show!

Q: How did you receive all that money back?
I received the $24.50 back on the second transaction because I had the transferred prescription credit applied to my account…It was $24.50 because I used $.50 of the credit towards my purchase and the remaining amount was a credit of $24.50 as shown on the show. The amount of $33.64 that they gave me on the gift card on the third transaction was because of two things…first I had a $25.00 credit from a prescription transfer on the first transaction and secondly, I used $60.00 in Catalina’s to pay down my balance to $.61 (on the first transaction). I knew that something was wrong when I had to pay so much money in Cats but I was being filmed so I just paid it. At the end of my third transaction I found a huge stack of coupons that were supposed to be scanned on the first transaction that got missed…so as per their policy they scanned them in and reimbursed me for the missed coupons 🙂 Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion 🙂