My Mom has actually started helping me out behind the scenes a bit over the past few weeks, some with the match ups and she is going to be doing more articles about the history of couponing, various crafts around the house that you can do on the cheap and more. She wrote this fun little “background”, crazy how couponing has changed so much since the 70s and 80s!
Introducing Mom 🙂
Hey Couponers, I thought you might enjoy a little insight, or maybe we should call it hindsight, as to why Wheel n’ Deal Mama does what she does. Being the mama of Wheel n’ Deal Mama, I just could be an expert on her background, especially the part of it that happen when she was under the age of two. She was a precocious little critter, and I have a feeling that if we had owned a computer and the internet existed back then she would have probably been posting her own blog then as well. I know she liked to answer the phone a lot; I was pretty sure she was a switchboard operator in a past life.
In those days, switchboards were pretty high tech, and in saying that I am not even indicating that she is old. We all know how technology has changed in the past thirty years.
Perfect timing
Even though coupons have been around for well over 100 years, they had a big expansion phase in the 1970’s, right in time for an upcoming couponer to start learning. Books came out with instructions on how to save big and come out way ahead by learning all the tricks of coupons and double coupons. What I remember most is it required saving every box that had a coupon or boxtop that might be redeemable. Since I was a stay at home mom who wanted to have a bit more buying power, 
I jumped on the coupon bandwagon with a little knowledge and a lot of determination. I even bought a neat little coupon caddy that was divided into labeled sections, ready to tote my money saving slips to all the supermarkets that offered the best savings.
Wheel n’ Deal and mama
Because it was just the little version of Wheel n’ Deal and me (the mama) a good portion of the time while her Daddy was at work, she demanded to be an integral piece to the daily routine. She was more than curious as I began saving every box I could empty or find. We lived in a townhouse apartment with a half bath, the kind with just a toilet and a sink, located under the stairs. After weeks of more news print on my hands, and the little one’s face, than I had ever experienced before, and boxes reaching to the ceiling as they hid the toilet, it become apparent that some organization was needed. My little bathroom became the pending basket for all those boxes I never got around to dealing with. Remember, there was no monitor with a desktop and folders to keep things sorted. I also had to keep the door shut so the future Wheel n’ Deal Mama would not try to do that on her own.
Foreshadowing the future
Either for lack of interest on my part, or because we missed using the toilet that had at one point been convenient, the extreme couponing thing did not last long. I ran a classified ad in the newspaper for anyone interested to come and relieve me of my stash, or should I say empty my cache. By the next day, a very nice, serious and organized, extreme couponer arrived to load them in her car. She was delighted, but I think the little one was a bit disappointed by the event, especially now that we all know what she does so well.
Time flies
It does make me wonder if things would have been different if we had owned a computer with internet access back then, instead of that small bathroom. I am sure that the young version would have picked it up as fast, if not faster, than I did. Thank goodness for smart kids and fast technology!
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