By News Channel 11

Published: July 28, 2009

By Monica Young.
Special to the Journal.

Dawn Larkins shops with marked concentration, moving carefully down each aisle, frequently consulting from a small yellow legal pad of notes she compiled at home. Her hot pink, zippered, three-ring binder sits in the seat portion of the cart, like a cook would lay out a recipe book on a stand.
Last week at the Harris Teeter on South Main Street, Larkin used coupons for Italian sausage, cheeses, tomato sauce and other ingredients for lasagna. She handed over so many toiletry-item coupons that she could create bags full of shampoo, deodorant and other products for a local women’s shelter.
She saved $102.11. She spent $6.43.
This isn’t a one-time thing. On another recent trip she spent $4 and saved $120. On still another she spent $8.44 and saved $53.88.
For two years, long before the recession created daily headlines, Larkins has been “couponing,“ as she calls it. She spends an hour a day at home at it, and can spend from 20 minutes to three hours walking the aisles during one of her four to five shopping days a week.
In such places as Harris Teeter, Food Lion, CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid, people take notice.
“Oh, I get stopped all the time in the stores - at least six people every trip,“ Larkins said. “Last week a lady with two small boys stopped me. She had lost her job, her husband’s salary had been cut by $20,000 and she was starting to coupon. For 30 minutes, I showed the ropes and taught her how to save more.“
Larkins said she got into couponing for the expected reason, to save money. She teaches piano and directs the senior adult choir at Main Street Baptist Church in Kernersville. With two of her three children at UNC Charlotte, she said that the family needed more money to support them. She said that getting another job didn’t fit her busy lifestyle, so reducing family expenditures seemed the way to go.
Overall, said Larkins, who gets giddy talking about her savings, her efforts have reduced her family’s monthly grocery spending from about $1,000 to about $250. Even though Larkins has saved money, she’s also bringing home far more goods, to the point that her pantry and additional storage spaces look like miniature drug stores.
Brett Larkins, 22, a UNC Charlotte student majoring in broadcast journalism while dancing for the Charlotte Bobcats’ Lady Cat dance team, said that she and her brother Jack, 19, a computer science major, know they’ve benefited from their mother’s coupon obsession.
“We sure aren’t complaining,“ Brett Larkins said. “It’s fun to watch. The cashiers seem so surprised to watch the numbers drop when she checks out.“
It’s taken a while for Larkins to develop her level of expertise. Her first forays into couponing, she said, resulted in typical novice errors.
She would go through the Sunday circulars in the paper and clip coupons for the products her family used. Then she would shop that week with those coupons.
As she delved online for more coupons, she discovered there is a science to savvy coupon shopping - a science that results in phenomenal savings for those who follow it. For example, she learned that she had to be willing to try different brands of a product, and that products for which there was a coupon in a Sunday circular are less likely to be on sale the week that the coupon appeared.
In time, Larkins developed her own system. She initially files the entire circular each Sunday rather than immediately clip out the coupons. She then creates detailed lists based on stores’ advertised specials, checking online Web sites and brand Web sites for coupon information, studying store policies and methodically planning each shopping venture.
She has preferred stores that allow for greater coupon savings. Wal-Mart may have lower prices overall, Larkins said, but she discovered she can save more by strategically shopping at her tried-and-true favorites.
Regina Smith is the assistant customer service manager for the Harris Teeter on South Main Street that Larkins frequents. Smith said that Larkins and other serious couponers make a difference for cashiers, who “love seeing how much they save.
“They call the numbers out at the end of ringing it up,“ Smith said. “It gives our kids who work here an example, too. It gives them a head start when they see how much they could save by using coupons, too.“
Around the country, couponing has been a growing phenomenon.
Matthew Tilley is the director of marketing for the coupon-processing division of Inmar Inc., a logistics company based in Winston-Salem that handles nearly all the coupons processed in the U.S.
Tilley said that coupon use has followed the economy. In 1992, the tail end of the last major recession, coupon use peaked with 7.9 billion coupons redeemed. The number fell dramatically through 2006, with 2.6 billion coupons redeemed that year. The number held steady until the last quarter of 2008, when there was a 10 percent increase. The first quarter of 2009 saw a 17 percent increase over the same period in 2008, and the second quarter grew 33 percent over the same 2008 period, he said.
Driving the increase in couponing besides the economy is the Internet.
Kenny Herbst, a Wake Forest University professor of marketing specializing in food psychology and consumer decision-making, said that social networking has made sharing of coupon use a more savvy process for many.
For many, Herbst said, extreme couponing “turns into a scavenger hunt.“
“Even in good times,“ he said, “there are people who like to play this game.“
Brent Shelton, the director of marketing for the 10-year-old Fat Wallet Web site based in Illinois, said that what has changed about couponing are online coupon codes.
In the end, he said, coupons however they are obtained “are used as sales lures by the manufacturers, who see coupons as a great way to spread the word about a product.“
Tilley said that Inmar identifies three types of consumers when it comes to coupons: people who won’t touch them, people who “look under every rock and cranny and who won’t buy anything without them,“ and those like to save but within the time frame they have.
Count Larkin in the “cranny” category.
Between the clipping, the Internet and the organizing, Larkins estimated that she spends an hour a day on her couponing. She’ll typically sit down at her sun-drenched kitchen table, which overlooks an expansive lawn and pristine backyard pool.
“I don’t live a frugal life. I’m not deprived,“ Larkins said. “I just use that money on other things now.“
Her husband, also named Jack, said he thinks that his wife likes couponing for the challenge. “It’s been really beneficial, especially for supplies for the kids. Our toiletries are essentially free. It’s fun to try different stuff, too; although some of it you can understand why they are giving it away free,“ Jack Larkins said with a laugh. “What I like, though, is how we’ve been able to help other people more with what she is doing.“
Dawn Larkins will take anyone interested in learning her methods for free one-on-one tutorials. Her efforts meshed with those of a fellow church member, Bruce Butcher, who has started a food pantry, and with Main Street Baptist’s minister, Mike Willard.
The three have formed a ministry called “Caring with Coupons.“ Larkins will teach a free seminar Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. to show people how to maximize their purchasing power and thus increase what they are able to donate to the church food pantry.
“Other people can reduce their grocery bill by 80 percent, too. This will let them do more with their buying power, including giving more to those in need,“ Larkins said.
Audrey Crozier, 67, tagged along with Larkins one day to learn couponing strategy.
“I’m so enthused. I can save so much more personally, but I can give more to our program at church, too,“ Crozier said. “There are so many hurting people and now I can help more.“

The language of couponing.
Here are some common terms in the couponing world.
• B1G1 or bogo: Buy one, get one free.
• Blinkies: Coupons dispensed near the product, usually from a “blinking” red box.
• catalina: A coupon dispensed at the register when a product is purchased, either at end of receipt or separate.
• IP: A coupon printed from off the Internet.
• MIR: Mail-in rebate.
• OOP: Out of pocket.
• stacking: The art of stacking coupons in a certain order so that they will ring up how you want them to.
• tear pad: A pad of refund forms or coupons found hanging from a store shelf or display.
Source: Dawn Larkins, The Dollar Stretcher.Com Website.
Couponing tips.
Dawn Larkins, who has been couponing for a couple of years, has suggestions for people who want to learn the art and save more:
• don’t fall in love with a particular brand: Try products for which you have coupons. You will be surprised to find new things you like.
• Buy two sunday papers: If you buy the paper at a store, you can guarantee the weekly circular coupons will be inside. The most common circular coupons are Red Plum, P&G and Smartsource.
• don’t immediately clip out the sunday coupons: Stores tend not to put items on sale that are in a particular week’s circular. But a few weeks later a store frequently will put the item on sale, which adds to the savings when you use the coupon.
• check websites: Websites such as http://www.coupons.
.com and http://www.hip2save.com alert people to upcoming deals and the best coupons. The sites tell you which circular had the best coupon for items on sale.
• plan at home: If you try to figure out what you’re going to get when you’re at the store, you’ll be frustrated.
• be ready to shop: Shop the first day of grocery sales, which is usually Wednesday or Thursday.
• know your store policies: Larkin has store policies printed and takes them with her. For example, the first 20 coupons at one store are doubled up to a certain amount. She makes sure her first 20 coupons total less than that amount before she hands over her higher dollar coupons.
Source: Dawn Larki.