While she used to get her savings by cutting coupons out of magazines, now she finds the vouchers via digital apps.
Holly, who is an expert on The Sun’s Squeeze Team, helping families get more from their money, says: “I use a range of digital coupon apps to get money off my shop.
“Shopmium is great for all-around savings, Smash is a newer one that I like the look of.
“CheckoutSmart is good for saving on drinks, while GreenJinn is good for getting money back on healthier foods.”
You can often get a freebie just for signing up.
Other freebies are given away by brands launching a new product — for example, if they are keen to get people to try it.
Holly, 37, who is married to sports massage therapist Callum, 33, and mum to Bonnie, one, Zac, two, Bella, ten, and Mollie, 11, says: “Some months using apps I can get £200 of free stuff.”
The apps often work in a similar way.
On Shopmium, for example, you select your chosen store and it shows a list of items you can get discounts on or even get for free.
Holly says: “It’s a bit like a shopping list as you can see all the items, then add them to your trolley.”
After you have bought the items, you scan the barcodes and upload a picture of your receipt to the app, and within 48 hours the cashback is in your bank account.
The apps may also let each adult in a household have an account so you can use them to snap up even more offers.
Holly says: “You should also have the supermarket loyalty apps, so you can get an extra layer of deals. The Lidl Plus app is one of the best and gives you different coupons which it suggests, based on what you buy. You can also get a free bakery treat on your birthday.”
She adds: “This is the best time of year to get savings from digital apps.
“There are a lot of limited-edition products that companies want people to try then come back as a repeat customer.”
Yellow stickers
Signing up to individual retailer and restaurant apps or newsletters and following them on social media can give you great deals too, says Holly.
Ember Inns offers a free drink just for downloading its app.
Holly, from Great Yarmouth, says you can give freebies away to your local food bank if you don’t need them.
She added: “I’ve given away £10,000 of products over the years to charity.”
And it’s not just food bargains you can find.
Holly says head to lil-lets.com/uk to get a free trial pack of tampons or huggies.co.uk/drynites/register to get a free sample of DryNites pyjama pants.
Using the apps is just one way Holly finds savings.
She also visits supermarkets in the evening when fresh food that is heading out of date has reduced-price yellow stickers.
She explained: “I chop it up when I get home and freeze it in portion sizes.
“I bought a vacuum sealer, which keeps the food extra fresh and means I can fit more in my freezer. I then mark up each item with a marker pen and eat it in date order.”
