Wednesday, Jul. 02, 2008

Rantin: Coupon Commandos save the day

With a shrewd eye and sharp scissors, friends pull inflation’s fangs

Kelli Bayne and Carrie Barrett have saving down to a science.

When shopping for groceries and other household items, the two friends share a motto. The way they see it, a bargain price is the only acceptable price.

Even cashiers — awestruck by their cost-saving tactics — have been known to offer up high-fives as the women check out at the front of a store.

Meet the coupon commandos.

“There is no reason anyone should pay full price when you don’t have to,” Bayne said of the cost-cutting campaign she embarked on two years ago and has nearly perfected with Barrett’s help.

As more consumers are clipping coupons as a way of cutting costs, the two stay-at-home moms are among a superbrand of savvy shoppers who have turned the practice into an art form.

Consider two of their recent shopping trips:

• While at Publix, Bayne paid only $38.74 of what normally would have been a $100.37 bill, saving $61.63.

• While at CVS, Barrett bought eight items (including diapers and other baby supplies) for $3.17, saving $53 on her total.

Those kinds of outcomes are not uncommon for the two women. They regularly get the best deals by combining coupons with store discount cards, two-for-one sales and other special promotions.

The 27-year-old Bayne, of Irmo, started clipping coupons seriously a couple of years ago out of necessity. As a young bride, she was looking for ways to supplement her husband’s income.

“I started reading about how to save money with coupons,” she said, adding she soon found she was saving as much as she spent.

Eventually, she shared some of the tips she had picked up with friends, including Barrett, who lives in Chapin.

“She was telling us about it, and she offered to show us how she did it,” said Barrett, 27.

Barrett was a quick study, and soon the two women were sharing cost-saving ideas. Today, they maintain an ambitious routine that requires keeping a close watch on weekly coupon offers and then combining those offers with individual store sales.

“It’s just paying attention,” Barrett said.

Bayne and Barrett realize that many people can’t devote the same time or energy they do to finding the best deals, but they said more consumers could benefit as they have with relatively little effort.

“That’s money (saved that) my husband and I can put toward debt, student loans or paying for a baby sitter so we can go out on a date,” Bayne said.

Barrett credited coupons as one of the reasons she can stay at home with her children. “My husband looks at my couponing as me working,” she said. “He looks at it as a part of my job.”

But the two don’t want the lessons they have learned to be well-kept secrets.

Bayne regularly shares her saving tips with friends, and the two women have set up a joint e-mail account where money-conscious shoppers can seek advice or share their own ideas of saving money.

Shoppers with suggestions or questions can e-mail them at couponhelper@gmail.com.

“There is no reason everyone should pay full price when we don’t,” Bayne said.