Clip and Save: ‘Super-Coupon Queen’ Coming to Town

If you’re one of those who can’t be bothered with coupon clipping or think the time spent collecting them isn’t worth the savings, please smack your forehead.

Think about it this way: clipping or printing a coupon is the equivalent of free cash being handed to you.

Sure, that 25-cent coupon for a loaf of bread doesn’t seem like much. But if you buy bread every week, that coupon savings adds up to $13 for the year, and that’s just on one single item. Multiply those savings by all the items you buy regularly, and we’re talking about the potential for hundreds, even thousands of dollars staying in your pocket to be saved or spent elsewhere.

Like I said, free cash.

Jill Cataldo has made a living out of couponing, and she’ll be here next week to share her wisdom. On Thursday (Sept. 29), the “Super-Coupon Queen” will host a workshop at the Prisco Community Center that promises to change the way you shop forever.

You may already be familiar with Cataldo, a married mother of three who resides in Huntley. The founder of Super-Couponing®, she’s been featured regularly on virtually every network across the country and writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column, The Coupon Queen, that is read by more than 20 million people each week. ABC’s Nightline labeled her "Dear Abby with coupons."

Each week, she reports the best grocery deals and coupon savings in Chicagoland on her blog, which pulls in more than 30,000 readers, and her DVD is selling like hot cakes.

It’s been quite the ride for Cataldo, who began couponing out of necessity three years ago when her third child was born and she sought out ways to cut her diaper bill.

“It was really about the diapers being a budget buster,” Cataldo said. “This was a way to offset being a stay-at-home mom.”

She saved $5,400 the first year she began coupon-clipping.

Her husband, Doug, who works as a Web developer at the local library, suggested she try teaching a coupon class there. “I thought, ‘Why not?’” she said.

Library officials told Cataldo a crowd of 20 or 30 would be a success. By the time registration ended, 162 people had signed up.

“I knew I was onto something,” she said.

She now hosts hundreds of workshops each year that sell out regularly. Her 70-minute workshop at Prisco promises to be fast-paced and fun, involving audience participation and prizes to boot. Cataldo gears her courses, DVD and blog toward those who have no idea how to do couponing and says the principles of couponing can be learned within an hour and practiced one or two hours a week.

Her “secrets” are just right for this penny-pinching era. As the economy continues to struggle, more and more consumers are jumping on the frugality bandwagon. Those little clips of paper can save a family thousands of dollars a year.

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’ve got some clipping to do.

Jeff Long is the public relations manager for the Fox Valley Park District. Contact him at jlong@fvpd.net