Jill Cataldo


Nationally-syndicated money-saving columnist
Blogger, workshop instructor & savings enthusiast
Read by more than 20 million people each week

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Attention, new coupon shoppers…want to learn to save big with coupons?

By:

As my site has been receiving a great deal of traffic from new visitors searching for information on Super-Couponing and Extreme Couponing, I want to welcome our new blog members and brand-new coupon shoppers!

I’m Jill Cataldo, your blog host and coupon mentor. I’ve been teaching Super-Couponing® workshops since 2008, and via the techniques I teach, you can easily cut your grocery bill 50-70% and more with coupons.

Whether you learned about this site from a web search, a television segment, a friend, family member, or a stranger in the grocery store (who undoubtedly was buying a cart full of groceries for a ridiculously low amount of money, pointing out all of the FREE products they got!) … you’re in the right place to learn how to radically cut your grocery bill.

Ready to learn? Attend a Super-Couponing class or learn via my Super-Couponing DVD workshops! In only one hour, you’ll learn how to shop like you never have before, saving 50-70% (and more!) on your groceries. All of the questions you likely have will be answered in a workshop that’s fast-paced, fun, and never boring. (Watch Super-Couponing workshop video clips online!)

This isn’t the coupon clipping of our parents’ generation. We don’t cut any coupons until the week we use them, and we’re not wasting hours each week managing hundreds of little pieces of paper. You’ll learn how to save big in the least amount of time possible — minimum effort, with the maximum payoff.

But back to the blog! Since its inception in 2008, I’ve always striven to maintain an easy-to-use, beginner-friendly, ethical and instructional coupon blog. Newbie questions are welcome here — we were all new once! It’s my mission that my blog be the kind of website I wished I’d had when I was learning to coupon shop.

Each week, I post a weekly feature called “Deals of the Week.” It’s a write-up of all of the best sales (everything FREE or very cheap with coupons!) at seven major supermarkets and drugstores each week! Unlike other coupon blogs, which typically show individual coupon deals in a deal-of-the-day format that requires users to click and scroll through many pages to read each deal, my all-inclusive “Deals of the Week” puts ALL of the best deals in one place, on one page for you, categorized by store to make couponing simple, quick and easy.

It’s also written in a beginner-friendly format (“print this, cut this, and get this free”) and is a great tool to help you plan your shopping trips each week. “Deals of the Week” is posted every Monday morning. (Learn more about how to use Deals of the Week.)

With over forty thousand registered users here, and tens of thousands of more followers each week, you’re joining one of the most vibrant, active, web coupon communities specifically focused on teaching beginners to coupon.

Visit our Forum to ask questions, talk with other coupon shoppers, or post deals you find too!

Again, welcome… and you’ll never shop the same way again!

Comments

  1. Just wanted to say thank you very much! I was invited to see one of your DVDs at a church about a month ago and I think my bills will be going down this month already. Before, I would not even look at coupons and just shop at Trader Joes and Walmart.

    This is by far the best website and the effort put into it every week, most definitely shows.

    Thank you!

  2. Jill,

    I’ve been sending everyone to your site. I check often!

    One quick question..when doing a black belt deal if the product only scans two prices: reg. and pp. Which do you use? Reg?

    I’ve been super couponing since November, but just this last GM deal at Jewel was I brave enough to do the black belt. You’re the best!

    I have my phone to send me an alarm to call and get into one of your Super Couponing 2 classes in April! I have to call on Tue. ;-)

    heather

  3. I’ve been following your site since Oct 2008 after attending SC 1 in Woodstock. I’ve never offically said thank you so tonight from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU JILL!!!!!!! I love this website and try to guide everyone I know to your site and/or your classes. The other day at work someone was listening to my coupon stories and said, “don’t you feel weird using so many coupons?” My reply was “don’t you feel silly paying full price, becuase if you don’t you should.” Again, thanks a million!!! Because of you and the other bloggers on this site I’ve learned that there are coupons for just about everything, that you should never have to pay for toothpaste and that if you are willing to do your homework—-saving money can be done. Thanks again!!!!!!

  4. Thanks Jill for all of your help so far. I have been doing this for a few weeks and it has been a blast. My hubby is even getting involved. I am going to one of your classes in April and I can’t wait!! Thanks

  5. Ok this may be a stupid question but I’m going to ask anyhow. If you use the YourBucks to get a catalina last week (ie: suave shampoo) can you do it more than one time (ie: again this week)? Or is it a one time deal?

  6. Just wanted to let you know 3/15 catalina was down at Jewel on Hwy 14 in CL. Have not heard if it is fixed yet.

  7. Hi Jill and fellow couponers,

    In a matter of only three weeks I have managed to slice my grocery bills in half or more, to the point of sending my husband to Jewel to pay for his entire $26 order in YourBucks, then at KMart this week, showing him how I purchase $23 worth of stuff we actually NEEDED, only to pay 19 cents. Well, he’s hooked, and tonight he was happy to take me and our son on a dinner/movie date with the money we “would have” spent on groceries today :)So thank you all for your help!

    That being said, here’s my actual question. I have Jewel and Dominick’s down, but when it comes to “national catalinas” and getting meijer to pop out catalinas, I don’t understand and I haven’t tried yet. Is there a “preferred card” of sorts for Meijer? How do I sign up for those?

    Can’t wait to attend your class in McHenry!

    Thanks so much!!
    Jess

  8. I was scanning through these comments and read the ones about Your Bucks and was SOOOOO EXCITED for a minute there! All I could think was, “OMG! Your Bucks are back?!?!? How did I miss that? OMG! YOUR BUCKS ARE BACK!”

    But then I looked at the date of the post and thought, DANG! 2010! Shoot.

  9. I found your dvd at the Aurora Public Library about a month ago.

    In any case, since starting this, I have more fun grocery shopping but am still a bit overwhelmed trying to get organized.

    I DO have more groceries for less money than ever. Just this last week, I saved $29.00 off my grocery bill and got $71.00 worth of groceries for $42.00.

    For just being a starter, I think that’s pretty good!

  10. Thanks, Jill for all you do. I just started couponing in late October (remember all those “black belt” deals?) One week alone, I spent $125 and saved over $1,000! I can’t wait for more of those deals to come again. Thanks, again.

  11. As a very busy mother of 6 kids (4 are boys!), I just wanted to thank you! I attended your workshop in the city last night and left with my head spinning — but in a good way!

    I am so excited to think about the money we’ll now be saving!

  12. Jill,
    I just wanted to say thank you so much for what you do. I have struggled with trying to stay in a budget of $130 a week for a family of 5. You site has given me the tools to be a smarter shopper. I am able to do much more with my money since I found you. Keep up the great work!!!

  13. I have been couponing with Jill since I found her You Tube videos on Jan 1, this year. I have done really REALLY great things for my family and friends – however, I am stuck at saving about 66% (I know, tragic huh?) LOL

    I see you guys saving closer to 90% and am wondering what I am missing or if it just takes more time.

    THanks for any response.

    Kati

  14. I just started couponing this week, so I’m still trying to figure all of this out. If I have a manufacturer coupon for B1G1 free + another manufacturer coupon $1/1 can I use them both together on two items? Or would I need three items? I guess I don’t really get the BOGO thing yet. Help?

    Also, does it take a few weeks of accumulating coupons to see a big difference in your bills? For me this week, I didn’t have most of the coupons (from March or February) that made the deals great this week. About how long does it take before you have a good coupon base? Also, for a young married couple is 2 newpapers per week enough? Or should we buy more?

    Sorry for all the questions! Any help you can offer would be great! Thanks!

  15. I just began couponing about a month ago. I finally noticed a difference after last week (3 weeks). There are still coupons that I don’t have (from March) that I wish I did, but I’d say in about 3-4 weeks, you’ll start ‘feelin’ the fun’! I only use one newspaper and it’s been enough for a family of 3. Have fun and welcome aboard! :)

  16. Hi Jill,

    I’m so happy I found your blog! I’ve been pouring through the articles over the past few days and have learned a great deal here verses some of the others. The icing on the cake is you list Da Jewelz and Domz, which are stores I actually shop at.

    Do you ever list savings at Certified stores (like Tony’s and Butera) or fruit markets (like Stanley’s or Cermak Produce)? It’s been my experience Tony’s is the absolute lowest everyday prices for hamburger and chicken quarters *if* you buy the 5lb bags (good for barbecues or using a vacuum sealer). Butera, OTOH, is good for the deli counter, as Dad swore by shopping there for that stuff. And as for Stanley’s (the flying watermelon!), they’re cheapie-cheap on organics, many times lower than their conventional produce and DEFINITELY better than any supermarket. (With Stanley’s though, the organics are usually from Whole Foods and close to over-ripening, so it has to get used up or stored [frozen/canned/dried].) We also shop at Strack and Van Til, since the Elston store is walking distance from us.

    I wouldn’t say we’re ever going to go the extreme end of couponing, as we have some product loyalties, and some stores don’t do coupons (like Trader Joe’s and Aldi). We also live in a small Chicago apartment, and the pantry is also where the furnace is, and the rest of our storage space is for clothes, camping gear and our business stuff. So sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever get the crazy deals like I see some people doing.

    However, my husband has applauded me for years on how much we save our family even with the very minimal storage space we have. I get *good* hotels on Priceline all the time for no more than $30-40, as we do lots of business traveling. We hit 4-6 different grocery stores every week while we’re already out *and* in that area (no extra gas!), and with certain exceptions, we only buy what’s at least on sale. We also negotiate our bills to get the lower rates when we find out someone else got that.

    I’ve been called cheap in the past, but I would say decidedly frugal. I still buy designer jeans (because they actually FIT!), and I won’t buy cheap makeup (extremely sensitive skin and [hidden] psoriasis). But with adding this couponing deal, which I used to just toss with the receipts, I’ve already seen some savings. So thank you for this!

    Just thought I’d put it out there, and yeah, to see if you post about any of those other stores. Thanks!

  17. My Preferred card is tied to Urban Fresh, which was Jewel’s attempt at opening a mini Whole Foods. My card always works at Jewel, but some sites I’ve noticed don’t recognize the card. Avenu seemed to go through okay.

    My question is, when I go with the Avenu list, will my Preferred card actually have those items on it? Does anyone else have the same card I do? https://www.yelp.com/biz/urban-fresh-by-jewel-chicago (for reference)

    Sorry with the questions!

  18. Hi Jill & everyone,

    I’ve been using coupons for years, but never the way Jill has shown to do it. This week I started really couponing to earn free items such as the Dove men’s deodorant for .99 at CVS and the Nivea body wash at Wal-mart for $3.00. This may be a dumb question but I’m sorta confused about the taxes. When I purchased these items, they were not exactly free. I still had to pay taxes which is fine, but I was charged for the taxes on the regular sale price. I just want to double check if that’s correct. I live in the Chicago SW suburbs. Thanks! Any more info about this would be much appreciated!

  19. Hello,

    I just joined the website yesterday after watching extreme coupining on TV. It has really influenced me. But I am so confused about how the super couponing works. I have lots of questions, but the most pressing one is…..suppose an item was on sale- $10 for $10, and you hav a coupon for say .50 off and you want to buy say 20 of the items. Now, do you essentially need 20 of the same coupons? if yes, where will you get all 20 coupons from? and will the store accept 20 coupons for 20 of the same item? bcos most of the coupons I see will say “limit one coupon per transaction” or something of the sort. Next question – how does doubling work – my favorite store down here in MD will double coupons up to .99, but I don’t know what that means to me? Please help, I need to understand how all this works before I appear stupid at the register. Thanks

  20. I’m a relatively new couponer and I gotta tell this you people who understand me. Today I went to CVS and Walgreen’s and bought:

    4 bottles of Xtra Laundry

    2 packs of those CVS nuts

    2 Clean & Clear Body Washes

    My out of pocket after coupons, offers, ECB, and CVS dollars off my next purchase was … 9 cents!!! NOT kidding!! :)

    Thanks Jill! :)

  21. I live in a town where NONE of the stores around me do double couponing. (Closest one is over an hour away)They won’t even do their coupon with a manufacture’s coupon. It’s either one or the other. Also, they don’t double a coupon up to ANY ammount of dollars. It’s .40 off and THAT’S IT! No doubling to .80. I’m finding it EXTREAMLY hard to get any deals on anything. I tried a “couponing” grocery trip last week and didn’t buy anything I didn’t have a coupon for and made sure all of those things were even on sale (had about 30 coupons with me). The total bill was $60 and some change, I still had to pay $52. It was VERY frustrating and the hours I spent cutting did not feel justified since I only saved about $8. Either I’m tremoundsly horrible at this or I’m not doing it right. PLEASE HELP!!!

  22. Hi Jill, I attended your recent class at MixinMingle and was wowed! I just have one question that I think you addressed but I can’t recall the answer. If a catalina coupon says “redeemable at Walgreens” but is a manufacturers coupon, can I use it at any store? Or do I have to use it at Walgreens?

    Thanks so much.

  23. Thank you so much for teaching me to coupon the right way! That said, I’ve gotten alot of my friends involved and I would really like to help out my in-laws who are mainly spanish speaking, therefore we have a language barrier. Is there any spanish sites or does your DVD come translated? Any help would be much appreciated.

  24. i never get one what do you have to buy to get them.
    checker today said must be what i buy he evidently didn’t know.
    thanks.

  25. Hi:
    I am new to couponing. I have been diligently cutting coupons and starting my collection. I am not sure I can save that much based on what I buy. Any feedback would be appreciated. I don’t buy alot of processed foods. I buy alot of fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh meats. I do buy some cereal and boxed foods but they are usually all natural or no preservatives, which I don’t typically see coupons for. I also buy organic milk and eggs.
    I am saving buying stuff at Walgreens and Rite aid. I am not seeing the savings at the grocery. The only grocery in my area is Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie. Winn Dixie does seem to have good sales however I notice they are very overpriced. so say you get a BOGO breyers. The price for one is 7.00 that is the price for 2 at Wal-mart. I don’t think there is any store here that doubles coupons. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Nancy

  26. Jill, I see that you spend $40-60 a week on groceries, but do you only go to one store a week? I see your blog on all the sale items and then I feel like I need to hit at least 3 of the store or I may miss out on a good deal. When totaling everything up like Walgreens, Jewel an Dominicks, I am not anywhere close to this amount. I also have 3 children. I sometime feel that I may be spending more due to going to three places than before. I tell myself that this is the week that I will cut back and only by produce and dairy, but that is never the case. I am still saving over 50% or better on most of the shopping trips. Do you have any suggestions? What exactly do you do? Thanks for all of your information. I have been following your site since May and have a good stockpile of things. I used coupons before. but never like this. I am having a lot of fun.

jillcataldoheadshotI'm Jill Cataldo, founder of Super-Couponing® workshops and author of the nationally-syndicated newspaper column and video series "Super-Couponing Tips" enjoyed by over 20 million people each week.

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