"Once I cut the coupons I want, I give the rest to my mom," said the administrative assistant, 44. "After she takes a look at it and cuts out the coupons she wants, she passes the remaining coupons to her younger sister, Cal, and (Cal's) daughters."

Uehira and her family aren't alone when it comes to this weekly obsession. The Promotion Marketing Association Coupon Council reports that U.S. shoppers saved more than $3 billion last year by using coupons, and estimates that about three out of four American consumers ages 18 and older used at least one coupon last year.

All these budget-minded folk have other money-saving tricks up their sleeves, too, including strategies for finding the best sales on groceries and clothing.

Advertiser readers told us how they stretch a dollar, especially here in high-priced Hawai'i.

Uehira swears by her clipping strategy and says she and her family members save hundreds of dollars every year with coupons. "It's not that we need to use coupons, but it's fun to see how much money we can save," she said.

Chamaigne Ralston of 'Alewa Heights goes a different route, and avoids the coupon game.

"Clipping coupons here in the Islands isn't as good as the Mainland," Ralston e-mailed. "I used to use coupons there because some days were designated as "double" coupon days, so you actually got double the face value of the coupon. That's when clipping coupons was fun."

Ralston, 41, is a part-time student and full-time mom of five children. With a large family and only one income — her husband is a fire captain — Ralston scours newspaper ads daily to plan her budget-shopping strategy.

"We never shop for anything unless there's a sale," she said.

Ralston, Uehira and other readers offer more on their thrifty techniques:

Grocery savings

• "Make a shopping list and stick to it," e-mailed Alison Okumura, a program analyst and mother of two girls. "We do not — at least try not to — impulse shop."

• If your supermarket has a program for frequent customers, become a member. Ralston is part of Foodland Super Market's Maika'i

Program, which regularly grants members special discounts. "For instance, last week I was able to use my rewards at Foodland. For three coupons, I got a large bottle of Best Foods mayonnaise (worth $3.90) and a package of frozen shrimp (2 to 3 pounds, worth $14), for free!"

• Explore the stores out there. A Foodland regular, Ralston sometimes strays from the local chain supermarket to explore smaller stores for deals. Among her favorite discoveries: Grocery Outlet on Dillingham Boulevard, which recently offered a half-gallon of chocolate ice cream for a mere 99 cents, and The Freight Merchant on School Street, where Ralston recently scored a case of soda for $6.

• Buy in bulk. "We buy items we use frequently in bulk (at) Sam's Club," wrote Okumura, 30, of Mililani. "Generally, the price we pay is better than the sales price at local supermarkets. Also, since Sam's Club does not take Visa anymore (we always used our HawaiianMiles Visa card to earn frequent-flyer miles on Hawaiian Airlines), we now go to Wal-Mart and charge up our Reusable Shopping Card once a month that can be used both at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Theory: We save money at Sam's Club by buying in bulk, AND we still earn HawaiianMiles that we can use for free flights. Nothing better than getting something for nothing."

• Eat before shopping. "My mom would say don't go shopping on an empty stomach or you'll want to buy everything," e-mailed Jessica Paku, a 34-year-old homemaker from Kane'ohe.

Clothing

• You don't have to pay department-store prices for clothes. Ralston, whose five children are 10 to 19, often shops for her kids' clothing at Ross, a discount department store, or Savers, a high-end thrift store. When Ralston does shop at Sears, she goes straight for the clearance rack, she said.

• Remember: Clearance racks are your friends. Like Ralston, Paku searches clearance racks for her kids' school clothes. "We even look for clearance shoes," said Paku, mother of four. "We buy enough to get them started in school, and after that, we go to garage sales. The next time they get brand-new clothes is at Christmas. The kids don't seem to mind, because they can blend in their new stuff with the stuff we get at garage sales. Once in awhile we'll go to the thrift store. We do what we can to save a buck here and there."

• Keep in mind that babies grow up fast. First-time mom Shannon Garlutzo, 33, gave birth to her daughter Feb. 6 and went all out with new outfits, buying everything pink or pastel and with butterflies or flowers, she said. But after only three months, her daughter outgrew everything, so Garlutzo had to give away bags of clothing with price tags still on them, as well as shoes that her daughter wore just once or twice.

"My tip to other first-time mothers out there is to buy clothes two times bigger than the size they currently wear," e-mailed Garlutzo, an accounting manager from Wahiawa. "I have found great bargains at Ross, but you have to have a lot of time to look into the racks. I found a great, well-known-brand sweat jacket and pants outfit for $3.49. What a steal!"

• Consider swapping clothes with friends. When Ralston's children were younger, she would exchange clothes they outgrew with some of her closest friends, who had children. There's nothing wrong with swapping if the clothes are still in good shape, Ralston said.

Etc.

• Ask eateries that you frequent if they have some type of preferred-customer card. Many, such as Subway Sandwiches and Salads and Dave's Hawaiian Ice Cream Parlors, offer stamp cards, which entitle customers to discounts or free items after a certain amount is spent, Uehira said. Clothing stores, from Hot Topic to Armani Exchange, also offer similar discount cards.

• Limit the number of times you eat out. "Both my husband and I bring lunch (to work) every day," Okumura said. "If we ate out every weekday for lunch at $6 apiece, it would cost us over $3,000 per year. Also, we eat out for dinner, at most, once per week."

• Plan parties on a budget. Garlutzo recently threw a baby shower for one of her girlfriends and took pride in her thriftiness. "I found a lot of my supplies and prizes at the Marukai 99 Superstore," she e-mailed. "A suggestion when purchasing prizes would be to try and find things that are sold as two pieces, four pieces or even 10 pieces, so that the prize cost comes out to be as low as 10 cents a prize.

"One more thing, on the Internet there are a lot of free printable games, invitations, etc. The site I used for the shower was www.familyshoppingbag.com. This site helped me save a lot of money on invitations and other party supplies. I found the items I wanted and went crazy on my color printer."

• Take advantage of season sales, such as back-to-school and after-Christmas sales.

"During the summer and fall, or whenever school supplies are on sale, I purchase extra pencils, pens, erasers, glue ... etc., so that when someone needs something during an off period, I don't have to pay the exorbitant nonsale prices," Ralston said.

• Give yourself an incentive to save. Uehira and her family regularly travel to Las Vegas.

Between trips, Uehira specifically puts away money saved from coupons and other discounts. For example, if she goes to Longs Drugs and buys something that's a dollar off, she puts that dollar she saved in a jar, she said. Since her last trip to Vegas last November, Uehira has banked nearly $350 from her thrift-mindedness. The cash will go toward her next trip to Sin City.

Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.