To see a video of how students are saving money, click here.Some use coupons, some sell their clothes and some show up at friends’ houses in time for dinner.However they do it, students are finding ways to stretch their dollars on food, transportation and clothes during the recession this semester.Nearly 90 percent of Americans and 97 percent of primary shoppers use coupons when shopping for everyday items, according to estimates from a survey last fall by the Promotion Marketing Association’s Coupon Council. Savings totaled about $2.6 billion from coupons used on packaged goods, and those who spent 10 minutes or less gathering coupons per week saved $7 on groceries, according to the PMA.A study by Scarborough Research last year found while most shoppers get coupons from Sunday newspapers, 11 percent of households use the Internet for coupons — an 83 percent increase from 2005. All methods of coupon use have also increased, according to the study.John Michael Lockhart, publisher of Tiger Coupons and other local publications, said there is a strong upward trend in coupon retrieval on the new Internet coupon site, according to site hits.Claudia Campbell, Planet Coupon owner, said her circulation has decreased from nearly 40,000 books to 30,000 this semester because of the recession. But advertisers are satisfied with the number of coupons redeemed at their businesses, she said.Qdoba Mexican Grill manager Ernie Fontenot said about half the sales at the Burbank location are attached to coupon use by students.
“We get so many of those,” he said. “I’m just floored by the amount of coupons they use here.”Karley Vargas, biology freshman, said she doesn’t use coupons because they take too much time to clip.Pluckers Wing Bar manager Ryan Kase said 400 coupons for fried pickles have been redeemed — mostly by students  — since the beginning of August, and about 200 of those are from coupon books around campus.Developing technology could also aid students searching for deals in the future. AJ Berkeley, president of Abita Springs-based TruSM, Inc., is working to create commercial applications for Near Field Communication, a wireless communication technology that uses radio frequency to transmit data from an information tag to a receiver, like a cell phone with an NFC card.Among its many applications is the ability to pick up sale or coupon information. He said     students can hold up their cell phones to products as they walk down store aisles and pick up any sale or coupon offers on those products. He said students can redeem the coupons from their phone and pay with the device using a debit or credit card. But for now, students are taking their own approaches to penny-pinching.”I try to ride my bike more and cook at home,” said Benjamin Haas, communication studies graduate student. He said he uses coupons and reuses plastic containers from product packaging for storage.Michael Suire, Plato’s Closet manager in Lafayette, helped at the Siegen Lane location Friday. About half the store’s customers are college students, and he said every garment students bring in good condition can be traded for cash or put toward merchandise.”We sell things for a third of retail, so it definitely helps for [students’] pockets,” Suire said.Stephen Salzer, 20-year-old  Baton Rouge resident, shopped at the store Friday.”Every time I clean out my closet, I come here,” he said. “Personally, I think it’s better [than the mall]. Cheap clothes — I mean you can’t beat cheap clothes.” 
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