Meet the "Scrimpers" - Jen

I'm joined by Jen from couponcatuk today. She's a very inspirational women who despite being diagnosed with MS still loves money saving activities. I'm very excited to talk to her today!

Hello Jen and thank you for joining me on The Frugal Teen for a Q&A session!

Everyone has their different reasons for wanting to save money. What made you start saving money?

I've always enjoyed finding a bargain and when I discovered there were all these different ways to save money, I thought I'd give it a go.

Awesome and have you had many successes? What are your two best ones?

One of my greatest achievements is being asked to run a professional money saving company's Instagram account! I was very flattered to learn that they had been looking at my account for a few months and really liked how I did things. Unfortunately I had to turn it down (even though it would have been a paid role) because it's important for me to balance my full time job (I'm an L&D Trainer) with my home life (which includes having fun with money saving in my spare time - as and when I'm able to). My second I answer in question 4 : )

I love how you seem to have so much fun with saving money. What's your favourite part about it?

Making a difference to other people is probably the best thing. In fact, I'd say that my second proudest achievement would be a message back in December 2015 from penniestopounds.

It really did confirm to me why I do this - for me it's all about sharing tips and hints so other people can take advantage of the savings too.

Aw what a lovely message! Could perhaps share one of your tips with us?

There are some great Instagram accounts to follow which can alert you to some fab deals - I'd recommend alditoharrods, savvykittie, felis_freebies (see her interview here) penniestopounds, soozes_universe, sajul01, thriftymum, frugalqueen to name but a few! Wow what a shoutout. Would you say that social media is an effective way of money saving then?

I think what people find effective is very personal to the individual. For me, I always save money by trying to find the best possible price for anything I need to buy. Furthermore, I will make a big effort to make do with what I have available to me so that way I can avoid spending at all! E.g. I'll see whether I can make something out of what food I have in the house before even considering to buy lunch. I save a lot this way.

What has your frugal lifestyle enabled you to do that previously wouldn't have been possible?

Because of my hobby, I've been able to connect and make friends with fellow money savers online - I love our little community!

That's great! Last question for our readers: how long do you spend collecting coupons or emailing companies etc.?

I used to spend much longer, but since I was diagnosed with MS last year, I had to re-think how I use my time and energy. I still thoroughly enjoy it, but have had to scale things back a bit.

Thank you for joining me today Jen, it's been lovely meeting you!