Jill Cataldo - Smart ways to save on shopping, home, travel and living well!

New Super-Couponing Tips column: Pricing games stores play

“I shop at a store that is constantly having sales set up like this. If you buy one item, it is $5.79. But if you buy two of the same item, the price is $6 for two…”

Updating our rooftop antenna: 70 HDTV channels in Chicagoland

Three years ago, I reviewed one of Antennas Direct’s outdoor HDTV antennas. I felt it had a lot of potential, but it just didn’t pull in the same number of channels as our old…

Shopping and Saving next >< prev

Coupon Matchups: Mariano’s Deals of the Week 8/21/19 – 8/27/19

FREE Kind Bar, .99 Birds Eye Steamers, .99 Crystal Light, .99 Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, .99 Tree Top apple juice, .99 Turkey Hill ice cream, $1.42 Nabisco crackers, $1.99 Roundy's butter

Coupon Matchups: Jewel-Osco Deals of the Week 8/21/19 – 8/27/19

.79 Armour Lunchmakers, .99 Dannon yogurt, $1.49 Quaker Chewy, $1.66 Kellogg's cereals, $1.88 Jay's potato chips, $2.49 Smithfield bacon, $3.99 Farmland bacon, $3.99 Tide Simply

Coupon Matchups: Walgreens Deals of the Week 8/18/19 – 8/24/19

.59 Renuzit air fresheners, .74 Palmolive dish detergent, $1 Pringles, $1.62 Oreos, $1.99 Lysol, $2.50 Revlon Colorsilk haircolor, $2.99 Angel Soft bath tissue, $2.99 Jack Links jerky, $2.99 Gain

Coupon Matchups: CVS Deals of the Week 8/18/19 – 8/24/19

.66 Renuzit cones, .79 Scope mouthwash, .99 Colgate toothpaste, $1.66 Special K cereal, $1.94 Tide Simply, $2.50 Revlon Colorsilk haircolor, $2.94 Tide Pods, $2.99 Schick razors

Coupon Matchups: Meijer Deals of the Week 8/18/19 – 8/24/19

$1 Kleenex, $1.50 Dole fruit bowls, $1.62 Nabisco crackers, $2 Blue Bunny ice cream, $2 Bomb Pops, $2.99 Tide or Downy, $3.33 Tombstone pizzas and FREE Pepsi, school supply deals

Coupon Matchups: Mariano’s Deals of the Week 8/14/19 – 8/20/19

.49 Huggies baby wipes, .49 Kellogg's fruit snacks, .49 Kraft BBQ sauce, .99 Betty Crocker fruit snacks, .99 General Mills cereals, .99 La Banderita tortillas, .99 Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

Coupon Matchups: Jewel-Osco Deals of the Week 8/14/19 – 8/20/19

.38 Annie's Mac and Cheese, .79 Totino's Pizza Rolls, .99 Capri-Sun , .99 Lysol toilet bowl, .99 Lucerne cheese, $1.38 General Mills cereal, $1.49 Kellogg's cereal, $4.49 Scott paper towels

Current National Catalina Offers: August 2019

Here is a list of Catalina offers for the current month. Most of these are believed to be national offers, though in each product's case, I am noting the store that the alert printed at.

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: August 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle...

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: July 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle...

Current National Catalina Offers: July 2019

Here is a list of Catalina offers for the current month, including brands like Almay, Gerber, Lean Cuisine, Nature Valley, Stouffer's and more...

Try Primo Taglio for a perfect summertime deli platter

It's officially summertime, and Chicagoland has the humidity and temperatures to prove it! I love this time of year, as summer means spending lots of time in the sun, eating outdoors...

What’s an ice cream and pasta lover to do?

One of my longtime readers was flipping through the new 6/9 SmartSource coupon insert, and she saw something interesting. Did any of my other Chicagoland readers spot this too?

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: June 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle them...

Current National Catalina Offers: June 2019

Here is a list of Catalina offers for the current month, including brands like Barilla, Cerave, Cottonelle, Gerber, Keebler, Purina and more...

Current National Catalina Offers: May 2019

Here is a list of Catalina offers for the current month, including American Greetings, Bolthouse Farms, Morningstar, Ortega, and more...

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: May 2019

If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle them, as all of the coupons inside each insert have expired...

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: April 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle them...

Current National Catalina offers: April 2019

New Catalina offers for February include brands like Breyers, Band Aid, Dole, Enjoy Life, Keebler, and more...

$5.50 Men’s winter boot clearance at Meijer

It's the right time of year for a winter boots clearance! Right now, the Algonquin, Illinois Mejier has many pairs and styles of men's winter snow boots on clearance for 90% off...

Great bedsheets bargains spotted in-store at Target – just $5.98!

These lower clearance prices haven't hit online yet, but if you're headed to Target, you may find even better deals on sheets in store. Over the past week, we've found sheet sets up to 70% off!

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: March 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle them...

Current National Catalina offers: March 2019

New Catalina offers for February include brands like Gerber, L'Oreal, Purina, Stouffer's, Windex, and more...

Expired coupon inserts to remove from your files: February 2019

Here's a list of all of the coupon inserts that have expired within the last two months. If you have any of the following inserts in your files, you can pull them out and recycle them...

Home and Style next >< prev

An Easy Bake blast from the past

A commercial for the children's Easy Bake oven came on television. My youngest son watched as the girl on the screen baked up a mini cake, and he said "Why don't they make something like this for boys?"

Finally… time for a new washing machine!

My longtime blog readers know how deeply I despise my current front-loading washing machine. Its low-water wash cycles fail to get our clothing adequately clean, and I learned to keep a bucket in the laundry tub...

A budget book for my daughter’s college life

While there are plenty of software solutions for personal budgets, there's something to be said for the simplicity of a budget book -- and she liked the idea of a book that would also organize her bills...

A wasp-free climber and swingset makeover

For whatever reason, wasps have decided to make our children's backyard swingset their home. The number of wasps living in every concealed crack and crevice in this thing was astounding...

Summer camp wardrobe by… Menards?

The camp our kids attend has a good way to group and keep track of the kids. Each cabin is assigned its own color, and the colors are also the campers' team colors for the week for all of their sports and "color war" play....

Are you prepared for a disaster? Look what hit my town!

We never know when an event may happen, and our community was certainly reminded of that this week when a sudden 70-mile-per-hour windstorm struck the town I live in. About 15 minutes before the storm...

Our experience with Ikea’s home delivery service

This was our first experience with Ikea's appliance home delivery, and unfortunately, it did not go well. Ikea contracts with a logistics company to handle the actual deliveries. They, in turn, assign delivery to contractors...

I hate my front-loading washer. Here’s how I “hack” it.

I've written at length about my misadventures in laundry with my front-loading machine before, but if the laundry's really dirty, it often comes out of the washer nearly as dirty as it went in...

Our daughter’s college journey: Weighing costs and education

"Have you shared any tips from shopping for colleges with your oldest daughter?" I've been receiving a few emails and messages asking about the path we chose for our daughter's education. and I'd be happy to share...

We put a glass top on our wooden kitchen table

Whenever you have something new that you've invested some money in, aren't you inclined to try to keep it as nice and new-looking for as long as possible? We discussed getting a piece of glass cut for the tabletop...

The Queen has arrived, and our laundry is clean again!

My new Speed Queen arrived about a week and a half ago, and I waited to post about it until I'd had some time to play with it, and decide if this machine is everything that I hoped it would be...

A living room refresh for less: Warm and bright colors

I love the leaves changing, the cooler weather, and the fall holidays. Fall colors are some of my favorites! So, when At Home® stores invited me to give our living room a fall refresh on a budget, I was in...

Food next >< prev

Ham, Apple, & Cheese Roll-Ups

Can you believe August is right around the corner? I hope you've been enjoying your summer as much as we have. We've spent many so many days outdoors -- we've been packing lots of coolers for lunches on the go...

Soothing a cold with Creamy Garlic Chicken Soup

I recently came down with a cold that seems to be taking longer than normal to shake. My days and nights have been filled with decongestants, cough drops and syrups. As we head into cold season...

My must-have products for low-carb eating

There's definitely an initial learning curve in figuring out what you're going to eat. Anything with high amounts of sugar is out, and for this former high carb eater, that meant saying goodbye to cereal, fruit juices...

Recipe: Honey Citrus O Organics Chicken Shish Kebabs

Summer grilling season is in full swing at our house! These long summer nights are perfect for cooking and eating outdoors together as a family. I love grilling out whenever possible...

My favorite low-carb recipes for things you’d think are “off limits”

While my first few weeks of low-carbing consisted of a lot of meat, meat, and more meat, I quickly started exploring Keto and Atkins versions of things we regularly enjoyed eating...

Create the ultimate gift basket with Signature RESERVE

If you've browsed the aisles of your local Jewel-Osco store recently, you may have noticed a new brand on the shelves: Signature RESERVE™. Signature RESERVE is Jewel-Osco's exclusive, ultra-premium brand...

Sweet Island Ham & Pineapple Snackers

I partnered with Buddig as a Deli Mom and create snacks with deli meats that aren't sandwiches! This time, I took a reader's suggestion to incorporate the sweet flavor of Hawaiian rolls with another Buddig lunchmeat treat...

Bargain-priced low-carb/keto flours at Farm & Fleet

If you're following a low-carb or keto diet (as half our household is,) here's a discovery I made recently that you'll be interested in. Farm and Fleet sells both coconut flour and almond flour, and the prices are much lower...

Recipe: Sweet & Savory Signature Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp

These shrimp are the perfect blend of sweet and savory flavors, and they get a little extra kick from Signature Kitchens' Stone Ground Horseradish Mustard...

My low-carb life: 25 pounds down (and counting…)

We quickly set a start date, agreeing to start our weight loss journey on August 1st and compare results in three months on November 1st. Further sealing the deal, I got the smaller-sized jeans for myself as an incentive to do this...

Be Snacksational: Pineapple-Coconut Glazed Sugar Cookies

Here's an easy-to-make after-school snack that will get you in a "Snacksational" mood! My children love frosted cookies, so I created a tasty, frosted fiber-filled treat that gets some of its sweetness from yogurt...

Try Primo Taglio for a perfect summertime deli platter

It's officially summertime, and Chicagoland has the humidity and temperatures to prove it! I love this time of year, as summer means spending lots of time in the sun, eating outdoors...

Travel next >< prev

Our Walt Disney World trip – Part 2: Staying on-site, staying off-site, and tips for buying Disney souvenirs up to 70% off

We split our stay between Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and the Downtown Disney Hilton Lake Buena Vista. You also won't want to miss these tips for buying Disney parks merchandise and souvenirs up to 70% off...

Jill’s shared her savings methods with:

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