Just this month, TLC’s ‘Extreme Couponing’ featured Desirae Young, a couponing expert who does not hesitate to jump into giant dumpsters just to look for coupons. Young, who has a food stockpile of about 24,000 items in her home, says that all the grocery items she has collected were free or almost free. That achievement is attributed to how well she has organized and maximized the use of her coupons.

Young’s couponing strategy was tried out on a mom of four kids, Latisha Tate. Tate, who admits having a hard time managing her grocery bills, which total about $200 a week, says that she did not know where to start to save even though she tried collecting coupons before. With that, Young gave Tate the assistance that she needed and both women went grocery shopping armed with Young’s coupons.

While they were checking out items at the store, looking for good deals, the two were able to take advantage of the store’s current sales and matched the coupons with items that were on sale. For instance, they were able to buy hot sauce that normally costs $1.25, and they got for only 25 cents. They were also able to get four bottles of marinade which normally costs $2.99, but they paid only $1.00 for it.

At checkout, the cashier told them that all grocery items totaled to $196.43. After using Young’s reward card and coupons, they only had to pay $35.19 for all of it, saving Tate about 80% of her grocery money. Inspired by their recent grocery shopping, Tate said that she will give couponing another try.