Community Highlights: Meet Brenda Anz of SavingOurWay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brenda Anz. 

Hi Brenda, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My name is Brenda Anz, Latina business owner of SavingOurWay, a savings community focused on the world of coupons. I am a native San Antonian that has lived much of my life on the south side of San Antonio. I grew up in a family of 6 where money was always tight. We lived in a 1100 square foot house with no air conditioning. My mom made our clothes, shopped at thrift stores, and collected Centeno’s saving stamps to save money. I can still remember the excitement of using the savings stamp books to buy school supplies and clothing. 

I guess you can say this sense of savings has continued into my own family of five. I started couponing over 11 years ago in order to stretch the dollar in a one-income family. Couponing allowed me to stay home with my kids while they were in school. As I learned more about couponing, I realized the savings opportunities and that others in my community could benefit from the knowledge I had gained. I started up SavingOurWay, leveraging Facebook at first. I was amazed with how fast I gained followers, before I knew it I had over 50,000 members. People were interested in learning more. At that time, I was caring for my grandmother who encouraged me to take couponing to a different level and to get more engaged with the community. She gave me the push I needed to turn my coupon passion into a business with a focus on community involvement. I created the www.savingourway.com website and started sharing more savings information, offering coupon courses, and giving back to the community through donations to organizations like the Battered Women and Children Center, the Bexar County Re-entry program, and the BiblioTech Digital Library Donation Drive. Recognizing that it wasn’t cheap to get access to the coupons needed to save, I partnered with San Antonio Express News and the Houston Chronicle on newspaper coupon insert deals to offer my members. They also sponsor my coupon classes. 

I am so excited about my latest opportunity. I have joined the great team at Scooby Van of San Antonio as Vice president of Business Development. The Scooby Van of San Antonio is an important non-profit organization focused on bringing communities together through literacy by giving free books and Scooby snacks to underserved youth 

Couponing and helping people have always been my passion. With over 200,000 SavingOurWay social media followers and 11 years of experience as a coupon life coach I am committed to giving our members the tools and knowledge to save money using store, digital and manufacturer coupons. I created partnerships with savings programs like Pogo Pass, Ibotta, and Fetch and built a community of active conversation, sharing, and excitement. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Throughout my journey, there have been many challenges. How do I begin? How do I get out to the community? What programs and partnerships do I create? Where do I focus? How do I make this happen without going broke? Creating a business vision and the partnerships needed for success is not easy. 

I started with the SavingOurWay Facebook community focused on San Antonio first which allowed me to share with the community and learn from them what they wanted. Over time I realized the partnerships I needed to get more savings out to my groups. I partnered with coupon programs, entertainment savings programs like PogoPass, money-making apps like Ibotta and Fetch, along with the San Antonio Express News and the Houston Chronicle. Working with community outreach programs focused on donation drives and more recently joining the Scooby Van of San Antonio has become a natural progression for me. 

And then there is Covid. Wow, was that a big challenge! People lost their jobs; several were working from home with their children moving to virtual learning. Families were seeing their grocery needs increasing with the whole family home. Tack on that the grocery stores had limited access. Money savings deals were needed more than ever. I had to change how I shared with the communities, moving everything to digital platforms, moving to virtual coupon classes, and sharing more on digital savings programs. Creating that close virtual relationship with my communities was important. 

As much as I wanted to follow my passion for coupons, savings, and community involvement, I also had to figure out how to do it without going broke. It takes money to create and maintain a business. Costs come with maintaining a digital presence and website, marketing, and meeting with business partners. My goal has never been to make a lot of money but to make enough to keep this going. It takes hard work and a lot of drive. Looking for opportunities and making things happen, along with creating strong partnerships and working with great people has been key to my success. 

I love what I do and am grateful to be able to do this. It has been a rewarding journey, even with all the challenges. 

We’ve been impressed with SavingOurWay, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am known as an extreme coupon coach committed to helping my community. My goal has been to create an active community focused on knowledge sharing of savings techniques. I have built an empowered SavingOurWay team and strong partnerships that fosters healthy collaboration and innovation. SavingOurWay is a savings community focused on everything coupons. I enjoy seeing my subscribers excited to learn, ask questions, and share their experiences. This is my favorite part of my job, watching others get as passionate as I am to save. Join the SavingOurWay community on savingourway.com and any of our social media groups to learn how you can make the most of your money. We are available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. Find out about store coupon policies, store promotions like the HEB Catalina Promotions, and many other ways to save. Take advantage of my online and in-person coupon classes. 

I try to be there for my subscribers and the communities I support. I do this using many channels, like digital channels, magazine articles, and through radio shows. I have created a strong, interactive SavingOurWay digital presence. I am a monthly article contributor on Savings Tips for the Live From the Southside Magazine. Another channel I have taken on is my radio show called SavingOurWay Hot Topics on 99.1 FM GenX. I had no experience with radio or writing articles. The radio equipment was very intimidating yet I did what was necessary to learn it fast. I love the interactive radio experience and am now running 2 shows a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Children are our future; it is important to make sure every child is given the support and tools needed for success. Literacy is core to that success. That is why I am so excited about my latest opportunity. I have joined the great team at Scooby Van of San Antonio as Vice Chairman of the Board and Vice President of Business Development. The Scooby Van of San Antonio is a wonderful non-profit organization focused on bringing communities together through literacy by giving free books and Scooby snacks to underserved youth. With sponsorship from PogoPass, we are increasing our reach to the communities of Austin and Waco, Texas. Check out scoobyvansa.com for more information on how you can support this great program and pay it forward. 

I am very proud of the progress I have made to build the SavingOurWay community and am looking forward to continuing to “pay it forward” through important programs like the Scooby Van of San Antonio. 

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Supporting the community through savings tips and education along with giving back to them thru donation drives and programs like the Scooby Van of San Antonio. I want to improve people’s lives. Life can be tough. It is so important that we as community influencers give back and pay it forward. 

Contact Info:

• Email: savingourwayinsa@gmail.com
• Website: www.savingourway.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saving_our_way/
• Facebook: https://twitter.com/SavingOurWaySA
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/savingourway?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWZdQPrXW0GLPcTcOrSLLEg
• Other: www.scoobyvanofsa.com