Scissor Happy

My coupon philosophy, circa 2008: Don't waste your time.

Not only are they marketing ploys to get us American sheep to buy more things we don't need, but pulling out a wad of coupons at the register pisses off everyone in line behind you. Besides that, they're dorky. Even my grandmother won't use them.

That's all changed now.

Without coupons, I would have spent $140 on groceries last weekend. But, thanks to what I and a class of a dozen other twenty-somethings learned earlier in the week from Sarah Roe, the 918 Coupon Queen herself, who blogs at 918couponqueenblog.com, I paid $115.

I don't know about you, loyal readers, but I can think of many, many things more fun to do with a 20 spot than spend it on baby wipes and overpriced boxes of cereal.

For me, 17 percent of my weekly grocery bill going into my bank account rather than some kid's cash register means a better chance that my husband and I will be able to retire before we're 87. For Roe, saving on her grocery bill was a matter of feeding her family or herself.

As the Roe family struggled for the first year of her youngest son's life to unravel the mystery behind his life-threatening food allergies, they spent $600 per month in groceries to feed him and only him.

"We ended up going three weeks without buying groceries for my husband and me," she said. "We were too busy paying medical bills and trying to buy food that our son could eat without getting sick.

"It was then we realized we had a problem. Not eating wasn't going to work out too well," she laughed.

Roe headed to the local library, picked up some books on how to use coupons and localized the strategies. In no time she slashed her grocery bills upwards of 50 percent.

"The first time I did it, I bought $120 in groceries at Homeland for about $19," she said, "which was great, because all I had in my pocket was a $20 bill."

Word of her savings traveled fast. Lucky for us, Roe was bursting to teach others what she had learned about saving cash on anything and everything with coupons--groceries, clothing, restaurant food--even the embarrassing stuff like condoms and yeast infection meds.

Thus, Coupon Queen University, Roe's paid offerings of public and private coupon classes, was born. It wasn't long before Roe, the blog and the buzz caught the attention of the local media, which earned her some real estate in the local daily newspaper and some airtime on a morning newscast.

"It just exploded," Roe said. "I never dreamed it'd be this big."

Today's economy has caused a generation that, heretofore, hasn't had to think twice about job security or the stability of money market funds to take another look at what clipping coupons has to offer.

"I dove in and never looked back," she said. "I ran with it. I even converted a friend who said she'd never use coupons. She saved a wad of cash at Whole Foods on her last shopping trip."

Now she's espousing the benefits of a frugal lifestyle to the world on her blog, pennyprincess-alicia.blogspot.com. She brings her readers news of free offers, coupon advice and hands-on ways to save on household expenses, such as how to make a homemade batch of laundry detergent.

"My motto on my blog is, 'Helping you save money one penny at a time.' Even if you all you save is one penny, those sure will add up," she said.

Learning to use coupons effectively is a lot like training for a sport. There's practice involved, and investing time is a must. Plus, you have to learn the lay of the playing field. But, like more and more people nowadays, Roe and Herrington have had more time than money.

"You do have to do some work, and it does take more planning than your usual grocery trip," Roe said, "but, it will work if you're faithful to the techniques. It's totally possible to cut your grocery bill in half."

Though shoppers who are more than just coupon curious should sign up for a Coupon Queen University course (and fork over $8 for the pleasure), Roe served up some tips to turn the average, passive grocery shopper into a coupon-packing lord of grocery bill destiny.

Penny Princess Alicia Herrington shared her tricks, too, and I'll chime in where the beginner's beginner could use some pointers:

-Buy one Sunday newspaper per family member. Sunday newspapers pack some major manufacturer coupons, which can be matched with coupons issued by stores as well as with routine markdowns. Having extra coupons on hand always helps, too, especially when stumbling upon a combination of these three types of savings could land you some free stuff.

-Only use your coupons when the items are on sale. Know what that means? Stockpiling, baby. To be able to catch items on sale and have coupons handy for those same products takes a few weeks' worth of clipping.

-Learn the coupon policy at favorite stores and make the most of it. When it comes to wielding coupons, what you don't know can hurt you.

-Don't be afraid to try new stores, especially those with reputations for high prices. Sometimes those stores offer the best deals in town, thanks to their individual coupon policies.

-Hop on 918moms.com and check out the free store match-ups (the buzzword in the coupon community for those instances when store coupons, manufacturer coupons and sales overlap and spell rock-bottom prices). The women behind the site that is all Tulsa moms, all the time, prepare lists of match-ups each week in the 918 Coupon Queen forum.

-Lick the brand loyalty. Gotta have Kraft? Then you're not getting the best deal when you're in the market for cheese. "You can't be brand loyal," Herrington said. "If you can get something for free, then that's what you should do. Thanks to a sale, a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon, I walked out of Walgreens the other day with eight free bottles of shampoo--it was Garnier, but who cares what brand it was? Shampoo is shampoo is shampoo--it's the same with food."