Ep 423: How A Coupon Influencer Found Herself In Debt

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

In 2010, Lauren Cobello (formerly Lauren Guetman) created an entire brand as “the coupon lady” after she shared her story of how she got her family out of $40,000 in debt by couponing and budgeting. By 2016, she was posting multiple times a day, wrote a few books about couponing and budgeting, and was filming family finance videos with her kids and her husband as main fixtures in her online universe.

But here’s the thing about creating a brand and a community around your personal story — sometimes that story falls apart. By 2017, Lauren and her husband split, leaving her to navigate life as a single mom of four….and back in debt again. For a while, she continued to post to keep her brand alive but felt completely inauthentic doing it. Listen in to hear how she reinvented her career — and the personal finance hacks she still utilizes to keep her monthly budget in check.

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:05:26 - Lauren's Personal Debt Experience and Recovery

00:09:41 - Therapy and Financial Healing

00:10:34 - Strategies for Managing Money and Avoiding Impulse Spending

00:16:14 - Couponing and Meal Planning

00:21:00 - Career Transition to Media and PR

00:29:12 - Mailbag

Takeaways:

• Get real with yourself and take control of your finances by focusing on what can be controlled.
• Meal planning and freezer cooking can save money on groceries.
• Building a brand using books and media can be a powerful strategy for business growth.

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The HerMoney with Jean Chatzky podcast is sponsored by Edelman Financial Engines. The podcast team and its host are neither employees nor clients of EFE, however, the show does receive fixed compensation and is a paid endorser and therefore has an incentive to endorse EFE and its planners. To learn more about the sponsorship, please visit PlanEFE.com/HerMoney.

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