Categories: Travel

Inspired by Clark, this teen has saved thousands and now helps others do the same

He’s known as “The Coupon Kid,” and he helped bring the couponing movement to the UK. And it all started when he was just 15 years old.

When Jordan Cox’s parents divorced, money was tight. Cox soon realized that many of the things he had taken for granted would now be out of reach financially. He stumbled upon money-saving and couponing videos on Youtube and quickly became hooked. “I was so in awe of these people and how much money they saved, that I decided to try it myself,” he says.

Clark was one of his inspirations, he says.

Inspired by Clark, teen saves thousands and now helps others do the same!

The first time he tried using coupons, he saved around £5 (roughly $7 USD). He was just warming up, though. Within 6 months, he says, he did “some great shops including £105 ($120ish) of groceries for just £1.62 ($2ish), our whole Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for just 10 pence (15 cents), and a £50 shop ($60ish) completely for free! I was hooked!”

Because of the money he helped his mum save, they were able to once again afford nicer things, as well as take a few vacations.

Meanwhile, he was posting his success stories on Facebook, where he began to gather a following and field questions from others hoping to save money. He caught the attention of Britain’s largest national newspaper, and a story they wrote about his couponing exploits turned him into a nationally recognized money-saving expert at age 16.

More interviews followed, and Cox kept using coupon and saving money. In 2013, he scored what he says was his “biggest shop ever – £600 ($1000 at the exchange rate at that time) for just 4 pence (10 cents).” Even better, it went to a good cause. “All of that food fed 150 people in a homeless shelter for Christmas,” he says. “Couponing had never felt so good!”

That story went viral. Still in school, he found himself with what was practically a full-time job teaching people how to save money. Now 19, he works for the biggest money saving website in the UK, MoneySavingExpert.com which is run by Martin Lewis, whom Cox refers to as “the UK's Clark Howard.”

Recently, he discovered it was cheaper to get from the north to the south of England by flying via Berlin, Germany, than it was to get a one-way train ticket home. The video he created sharing that tip went viral as well. In fact, he says that video has received over 300,000 view and his blog posts have garnered “over 1,000,000 views in 6 months.”

Since he first started testing his money-saving strategies four years ago, he says he’s “saved over £10,000 and (has) likely saved the nation £100,000s, if not millions, as the coupon redemption rate is at its highest ever level.”

Even better, he’s nurturing a new generation of financially savvy frugal shoppers. Following his example, many of his fans are younger, and often use mobile apps to save money. “I personally love helping younger people the most as they can use money saving as a life skill to take with them for their many years of life,” he says.