Actress and entrepreneur Sarah Michelle Gellar has fame, fortune and a multimillion-dollar food mix business. Still, Gellar is frugal; so frugal, in fact, that she clips coupons.
"I cut coupons to this day," Gellar tells CNBC Make It. "I'll never forget, one time I was at Bloomingdale's and they had these coupons — Bloomingdale's has really good coupons — and I was taking them all out, I was doing holiday shopping. And someone behind me turned around and said, 'I can't believe how long you're taking. Why are you using coupons?'
"I remember looking at her like, why should I pay more?" Gellar adds. "Like, if there's a coupon there, I'm going to use it. Just because you're successful doesn't mean that you should be errant in your spending. I've never believed that."
Gellar, 41, is well known for starring in '90s cult favorite show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and in iconic pop culture movies like "Cruel Intentions." In 2014, Gellar, a mom of two, co-founded Foodstirs, an organic-baking mix company.
While she may have the funds to make frivolous purchases, it's in Gellar's nature to be smart about spending.
"I still don't like writing big checks, I don't like making big purchases," Gellar admits. "I will go back and stare at a leather jacket for a couple days before I even purchase it."
Gellar says even her husband — actor Freddie Prinze Jr. — will admit she's better with money than he is.
Mostly.
While she has an electric car now, Gellar says she used to diligently look up gas prices and drive as far as she needed to get the cheapest gas.
"[Freddie] would say, 'But you're driving farther, you're using gas to get there,'" Gellar says. "He balances convenience and cost more than I do."
"So sometimes my principles are a little off."
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