These women climb aboard ‘coupon train'

As you read this, they are sitting at their kitchen tables, having pushed aside their morning papers and are snipping away through their Sunday coupons.

Toothbrushes, camisoles, mustard — a few quarters here and dollars there adds up for some of Yuba-Sutter's most serious coupon clippers. Plumas Lake resident Barbara Hintz and Yuba City residents Regan Syres and Caroline Shackelford say they average $1,000 a month in savings through conscious clipping and sale spotting and sharing the deals through a "coupon train."

Once each woman clips her coupons, she sets aside what she won't use. When the train envelope arrives in the mail, she stuffs them in, pulls what she wants from the other women's discards and sends the envelope on to the next person.

The group came together nearly 21⁄2 years ago when Hintz posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a few traders to start a train. She heard about a similar group that cost money to join and figured why not do it herself for free.

Syres and Shackelford both answered in eagerness and are the only two who stayed aboard for the duration.

"We've seen 20 people come and go," Syres said. "Flakes. They do a couple trains and then they disappear."

By spending one to two hours a week snipping, surfing the web for deals and planning their shopping, they save hundreds of dollars. They garner great deals on toys, clothing and household items, always get toothpaste, shampoo and other hygiene products for free, and shave 50 to 70 percent off their food bills.

Combining manufacturers coupons with store sales and register rewards actually earns them money to use for other products.

"It's totally worth it," Hintz said.

Snip, snip

The women's reasons for clipping share similar threads.

Syres and her husband have an electrical contractor company in Yuba City, and when the economy started to tank, so did their income. With four kids, now ages 3 to 15, something had to be done.

"It was either find a job or find ways to save the pennies we have," she said.

Shackelford is a kindergarten teacher, and her husband is about to retire from the Navy Reserve. But they, too, have four children, from a 4-year-old to a son who is 22, and money is tight.

"Seeing at the bottom of a receipt how much you save is a kicker," she said.

It's also a family affair.

Come coupon day, Hintz's 2-year-old son busts out plastic toy pliers and makes snipping motions alongside her, and Syres and her 6-year-old daughter slice through ads together. Shackelford's 4-year-old son likes to be sent on scavenger hunts for coupon items in stores.

In the coupon train, they have plenty of pet peeves, with expired coupons topping the list. Sloppy snippers are another, and Syres, who is known for her perfect along-the-line cuts, will go through other clipper's envelopes and shave off unnecessary paper — which saves postage, she staunchly defends.

They subscribe to multiple newspapers, religiously monitor savings-tracking websites and blogs, and Syres even follows deals on Facebook.

"You have to make it a priority in your brain — I am going to save any way I can," Syres said.

It does take some dedication and initial expense. In addition to newspaper subscriptions, it costs about $3 to send each padded envelope through the mail — though Syres has been known to drop envelopes in people's mailboxes herself to save postage.

Organization is key, they say. Hintz sorts her coupons by category, and Syres and Shackelford sort by store aisle, stashing paper discounts inside their shopping lists.

When they approach the register with an stack of coupons at the ready, most reactions are favorable.

"Nine times out of 10, they are like, 'Oh honey, get your save on!" Hintz said.

But sometimes, people look at the women like they are dregs of society. It's the transformation at the register that changes opinions.

Once, Syres recalls, a woman at Target shot her looks of disgust at the checkout line. But as her coupons dwindled her $240 register total until the store actually owed Syres 18 cents, the customer asked for a lesson.

"Kill them with kindness," Syres said. "Offer them a coupon and it's like drugs. They'll be hooked once they see your total go down."

All adds up

Few people realize the potential savings, even if just from a coupon or two a week.

"What if I walked up to you and gave you $2? That's what you'd be doing with coupons," Syres said.

They also refuse to stockpile unnecessarily or buy what they don't need, no matter how good the deal.

"I have to be able to shut the closet door," Shackelford said. "My shower is a shower and my garage looks like a garage. I have limits and we don't go beyond."

Reality shows are not realistic, the women say. It makes coupon clippers look like crazy hoarders and gets people interested for the wrong reasons.

"They are not doing it for their families," Hintz said.

In addition to stretching valuable dollars, their stealth shopping habits allow them to enjoy recreation they would not otherwise have, such as trips to the sand dunes or camping at Fort Bragg with their families.

And all three love to spread a little coupon karma out in the world.

They stack extra coupons on top of items in stores or hand them off in grocery aisles, and they share their stockpiles with the community.

Hintz gives hers to mothers who say they don't have time for couponing or gifts coupons to young parents at the mall during back-to-school shopping, and Syres makes riverbottoms trips with her church to donate toiletries.

Shackelford does most of her shopping at Beale Air Force Base, where employees work for tips, and she always hands off a healthy thank-you when they carry her groceries to the car.

"When you save that much, you can afford to give a little more," she said.