Jill Cataldo

Looking for this week's best deals on what's free and cheap with coupons in Chicagoland? I post deals on Mondays each week.

If this is your first time here, please read Using This Site for a quick overview of how to save your weekly newspaper coupon inserts to make the most of this week's deals. (Note: We save the entire insert each week, then only cut the coupons we need for this week's shopping trip!)

Why Mondays?

There are three reasons that "Deals of the Week" appears each Monday morning:

1. Our rule of thumb is that the best days to shop are when stores' sales cycles overlap each other. In Chicagoland, Sunday-Wednesday are the days when three of our major supermarkets' sales cycles overlap, with two sets of sales running these days instead of one. This is also something I explain in great detail in my Super-Couponing classes.

2. Coupons appear in the Sunday newspaper. By waiting to write up each week's deals until the Sunday paper arrives, I can include the most recent, up-to-date coupon matchups in "Deals of the Week." I also personally shop many of the sales I write about on Sundays, visiting the stores to catalog prices on sale items and making sure the deals I write about are working and available in the stores for you.

3. To motivate you to become a Super-Couponer too! "Deals of the Week" is a one-stop, all-inclusive, beginner-friendly writeup of ALL of the best grocery and drugstore deals in one place, on one page for you, categorized by store to make couponing simple, quick and easy. If you think of the proverb, "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day..." my Deals of the Week writeup is like that fish. You can simply read it, follow along, and "eat!"

However, as you learn to coupon and become a savvier shopper, you may find yourself not wanting to wait until Monday morning to shop. As the proverb continues, "Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime," and when you're able to pick up an ad and spot great deals yourselves, you learn to find the sales and match coupons on your own. After a while, you'll find that you need "Deals of the Week" less and less to help plan your trips. You've "learned to fish!"

If you would like to shop sooner, cruise the Forum posts -- new deals are posted every day, but my big summary of weekly deals is live Monday morning.

Also, consider coming to one of my Super-Couponing classes! Most are FREE in the Chicagoland area, and you will learn how to find deals like these on just about everything that you buy! AND... my class is now available on DVD too! Watch a preview clip and find out how to order.

See you back here on Monday morning for the deals!

Can I see previous week's deals?

Absolutely! Visit the Deals of the Week Archive to view deals writeups from 2008 to present.