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March 7, 2009

'Good Cents': ‘Couponing’ making a comeback

By Brian Boyce

TERRE HAUTE — Listening to friends with husbands out of work, it dawned upon Beth Montgomery that the lost art of “couponing” needed a resurrection.

“If you know how to use coupons, you can get almost everything really cheap,” the former pharmaceutical marketing researcher and current housewife in Fishers said. “I have not paid for toothpaste in over a year.”

And thus, Montgomery and her mother, Susan Royer of Terre Haute, launched IN Good “Cents,” which started out as a blog for chatters scoping out the freebies, samples and other deals at area stores.

But within two weeks of the launch, she had 110 friends on Facebook and more than 250 daily visitors.

“I’m kind of shocked,” she said Saturday afternoon. “I just started this a couple months ago and now I have about 600 who visit it.”

Casey Baesler understands.

“Oh, definitely,” he said amidst the busy checkout aisles of Baesler’s Market on Poplar Street.

With unemployment up and money on the mind, Baesler said the economy is driving bargain hunters to the coupon sections of newspapers.

Of the 10,000 circulars recently distributed by the store, Baesler guessed about 75 percent had already come back through the lines with their 20,000 weekly customers.

And even Baesler himself, whose dad owns the store, said he’s using coupons these days.

But it’s no surprise to Montgomery, who said she’s cut her family of four’s monthly grocery bill from $800 to $160 by combining manufacturer’s coupons with store coupons and “stacking” them with other deals offered.

“I get almost all of my toiletries free,” the 30-year-old mother of two with one due in July said, noting her 4-year old daughter has picked up on the game and scouts coupons for cookies in the newspaper.

And from the blog to the home, Montgomery is now teaching classes, similar to Tupperware parties, for friends and family.

“Instead of selling you stuff, I teach you how to use coupons,” she said, adding that she already has five courses scheduled.

Baesler said that with the economy’s drop, some food prices such as milk and eggs, are falling as well.

Customers seem to be sticking to sale items and a lot of online coupons printed off the computer are making their way into the store, he said.

Montgomery said that contrary to popular opinion, buying in bulk isn’t necessarily cheaper than going to a retail store.

A study she conducted herself found that when store and manufacturer coupons are “stacked,” one can save 33 percent going retail as opposed to bulk.

The secret is in the planning.

“I usually go to two groceries and one pharmacy,” she said, explaining that she doesn’t have time to hit every single sale at a variety of stores. “I wish I could go to all the stores and get the best deals but my daughters would go insane.”

But Montgomery said there are “five things you can get absolutely free at Walgreens,” which not only knocks off the money spent but the time allotted as well.

Blogs similar to hers are popping up across the Internet, and Montgomery reminds people that some coupons are regional or only apply to certain stores.

“You have to make sure the blog that you’re looking at matches the sales at your store,” she said, noting that milk prices seem to be much cheaper in Cincinnati than in Indiana.

But so far, the Hoosier mom has been getting milk for under $2 a gallon with coupons, even despite the sticker price ranging higher.

Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

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