Northwest Herald article
Submitted by Coupon Maven on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 5:45am
Sharing the art of saving
Jill Cataldo gets a lot of attention at the supermarket.
Cataldo, a 35-year-old mother of three from Huntley, is one of a rising number of so-called coupon divas who have turned saving at the grocery store into an art form.
Diapers drove Cataldo to become a maven of saving. Three years ago, she heard in the news about the extreme savings available by using coupons. Read more.
(The print edition has more photos and a sidebar with my full grocery list from the trip too... and the Herald also has a video webisode from my shopping trip too!)
Jill, you are awesome!!
Let the naysayers say what they want...you can't please all the people all the time! If they don't get, that is their loss. Those of us who have been fortunate enought to go to your free seminars, have learned from you and are happily implementing your methods and now helping ourselves and others, we get it.
Jill, we can't thank you enough for all you have done and are doing. I hope you can let these few negative comments go, that they not deter you from what you are doing.
We should be nominating you and Stephanie as CNN Heroes or get you nominated for the Nobel Prize in....Economics?? waddya say people???
Good job Jill!
I have to admit some people in my family are a little cynical when it comes to this. This morning I had a few of them call and say, "is that your coupon diva?" Yes, yes it is, my coupon diva! hehe. It's fine if there are naysayers because it gives us a chance to get the food on sale! Also one of the comments pertained to coupons for gas. That's funny because I got my gas for 20 cents cheaper from Jewel with all my rewards. Evil laugh...muuuauaaaaahhhhhaaaa!
Good job I second that!
I enjoy those comments because they can keep paying full price and sighing loudly behind us in the stores. I used to think a sale priced store brand was a good deal.
As for the items with coupons, my free with $3 overage Easter ham and 89c full meal turkey Thanksgiving dinner are proof there are great deals to be had on more than Hamburger Helper.
I wouldn't go back to the old way of shopping for anything. Not only do I have enough, I have an abundance to help others also.
Oh yes
I have a .30 off per gallon reward from Dominicks on my card now too after all the shopping I've been doing over the last few weeks! So yes, we can save on gas too - because those rewards are based on the PRE COUPON price of our items.
When the Crystal Lite deal was running at Jewel, I got .50/gallon in gas rewards there... and the store was paying me to take the CL home. That was a fantastically fun deal... and the kicker was that I don't drink Crystal Lite! I ended up over $200 ahead on that deal, plus got gas .50/gallon cheaper.
But you guys are absolutely right - if they're not interested in learning, let them complain. We will certainly continue to enjoy all our good deals :)
Where's the Gas?
Where can you use the gas rewards? How do you find out how much you have in gas rewards? I shop mainly at Jewel now because of your teaching! I laughed at the comments about saving at Wal-Mart, if those people actually took your class, they would not step foot in Wal-Mart for food ever again! That's ok more for us then at the Jewel! Can never say thank you enough for all you've done for us :)
Rewards
For Jewel, you have to shop at a Jewel that has the gas station attached to accumulate them. On that trip, I just got lucky because I happened to be in South Elgin shopping, which has the gas station.
With Dominick's, you either accumulate Power Pump rewards (in increments of .10/gallon for every how-much you spend (I can't remember the percentage off the top of my head) or you accumulate points toward a BP gas card. If you shop at a Doms that has no gas station in the vicinity, you get BP card points instead.
Because I shopped all over the burbs for this deal, I have both PowerPump and BP rewards attached to my Doms card right now. That's pretty cool. :)
Each receipt at Jewel/Dom
On the bottom of the receipt it should show your tally. It actually accumulates which is nice. I'm in Woodstock and I just started shopping at Doms so I don't know where the closest Doms gas station is. I'd love to find out because if I'm close to one at some point, I'll get some really cheap gas.
It's funny because I haven't changed the food I buy all that much. I just get it for a really good price now. To quote my niece, "Whatev!"
Made me smile!
I was so excited when i opened the newspaper this morning and saw you on the cover! Way to go Jill! Thank you once again for all you do!
What the heck
What the heck is wrong with people. Go read the comments under that story, is this really what people think about coupons? It's all junk and you save more at Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart must do a heck of a job marketing themself as "big savings."
I don't want to hear any of these people complain about the cost of food, it's like they go out of there way to ignore the best ways to save.
Sorry to vent Jill. I think what you do is incredible and has changed my life totally for the better. But people seem so insensitive and stupid.
I just did....
First off congrats Jill.Great article.
Second please forgive me but there are ALLOT of stupid people.Just read those comments and see for yourself.I like the idiot that said if you had a real job you would not have to clip coupons.Excuse me?I think you(Jill) are very busy working.Besides taking care of your family you are teaching classes.And I think you also had a at home job as well.I don't have a job I get paid for.I am a stay at home.That means I am a cook,landscaper,house keeper,professional painter,electrician,nurse,driver,personal shopper,and I volunteer.Oh and I do clip coupons and save a ton of money thanks to Jill.