By Debbie Ann Hilton
Point Park News Service

Every Sunday, Holly Wagner scours her local newspaper and searches the Internet looking for manufacturers’ coupons that could potentially save hundreds of dollars each month on her family’s grocery bill.

Wagner, a stay-at-home mother of three, discovered the value of redeeming coupons after watching the TLC show “Extreme Couponing,” which focuses on the art and science of couponing at the grocery store as a way to save money.

“Right after I saw the premiere of Extreme Couponing I knew that I could do it if I put the time in,” Wagner, 30, a food consultant from Plum, said. “I started doing matchups for Giant Eagle and used an empty food pantry to help store extra food in my house. Last month, my biggest haul was getting $600 worth of groceries for $150.”

Nationally, coupon clippers like Wagner have taken over checkout lines at grocery stores in record numbers, earning record savings.  Shoppers said they like couponing as a way to cope with the economic downturn, which has caused many families to do more with less.

Wagner said she shares her savings with family and friends and those in need.

“I would say half of what I buy at the store is donated or given to friends and family, and the other half we live off,” Wagner said. “Things have been tight for our family in the past three months, and we have lived off $100 a month in groceries utilizing what is in our stockpile.”

Wagner’s couponing obsession has rubbed off on her 27-year-old sister, Carly Darling Bouch.

“I started couponing to save money after I was married to my husband for just about six months,” Bouch, 27, an office manager from North Versailles, said. “It started to become to the point of extreme when my sister starting helping me to understand the deals and how to score big in the grocery stores.”

Shoppers look through coupons for extreme discounts. Photo by Barry Reeger, Tribune-Review.

Bouch doesn’t just keep the deals to herself though. She uses her skills at couponing for charitable means as well. She not only helps family members save money but also provides much needed merchandise to those who are feeling the effects of the economy.

“My stockpile usually sits in a closet but recently a family friend’s daughter needed supplies like razors, toothpaste and cereal for college so I was able to give some to her,” Bouch said. “I also supplied a needy family that I worked with in the past as well.”

Another extreme couponer, Andria Alexander, has turned her expertise into a profitable business.

This energetic wife and stay-at-home mom from McCandless does not just scour newspaper clippings and internet websites for her own savings. The 34-year-old created simplyfrugalliving.com, an online instructional website for people interested in saving money.  She has also created classes to teach individuals a way to feed their families on a low budget.

“I offered my first Extreme Couponing class in March of this year,” Alexander said. “I had several people asking me to share my tips and I decided to try offering them in a class setting.”

Her class, “Extreme Couponing,” which Alexander offers twice a month had just 16 attendees in her first session. Since then she said she has taught 10 classes with an average attendance of 50 people and presently has over 500 alumni in the Pittsburgh area.

Alexander’s advice for potential couponers: “Start collecting the Sunday paper coupon inserts, set a weekly budget, find the stores that offer double coupons and only buy the things you need.”

Of course, not everyone is so excited about shoppers redeeming dozens of coupons for dozens of products at the checkout line. Wegmans, a popular grocery store chain in Erie, is among the many grocery shops that are tweaking their policies to prevent savvy shoppers from ruining the store’s supply for other customers.

One local grocery chain, Giant Eagle, unveiled a new coupon policy a few weeks ago to help respond to the increase in redeeming coupons. The store’s new policy limits the number of coupons per day per item and doesn’t permit stacking of electronic or photocopied coupons with manufacturers’ coupons.

“It’s a tough economy, and I see coupons as one way that families can fight to make sure that dollars stretch further than they thought possible,” Alexander said. “This sure has been true for our family.”