After numerous requests, I've added a Catalina Alert area to the blog Forums. What's a Catalina Alert? It a piece of paper that prints from the Catalina machine notifying you of an upcoming money-back sale on a certain item. These alerts are not published in a store's weekly flier -- the only way to find out about them is to be lucky enough to receive an alert at the register.

I just got back (from shopping, of course!) and confirmed that Old Navy's annual 50% off clearance sale is ON... and it's another great one!

... and you wished you'd gotten some super toy bargains, get yourself to Target as soon as possible. Target stores dropped most of their toy items brought in for Christmas to 75% this afternoon and evening. This is the final percentage drop for toys, and here are some of the things you might find:

Star Wars Mr. Potato Head Artoo-Potatoo
Originally $10.49 - now $2.62

Snap-in-Place Scrabble crossword game
Originally $16.99 - now $4.24

Disney Cars V-Tech Lightning McQueen Learning "Laptop"
(plays educational games)
Originally $29.99 - now $7.48

If you're interested in attending one of my Super-Couponing classes in the new year, I'd highly suggest registering now! :) These workshops tend to fill up quickly.

How quickly? The Huntley Area Public Library opened their registration this morning for their pair of classes later this month. I'm told the phones have been ringing off the hook all day..! In four hours, 187 people registered for Super-Couponing! WOW! (As I write this now at 5:00pm, the number is up to 226!)

Thank you to everybody who sent birthday wishes! With the post-holiday clearances in full swing, a good portion of my birthday was spent chasing the deals! :) If you haven't been out, the week ahead promises prime shopping time for holiday items and toys.

Over the past 24 hours, I have pretty much finished shopping for birthdays and Christmas gifts for my younger children, as well as other children in our circle of friends and extended family too. Incredible but true! Want to see what I found?

Has everyone been out after-Christmas shopping? I have! I can't wait to blog about the deals I've found on toys for next year! :) In my travels though, I noticed that for January, Target has coupon organizers and large letter-sized accordion files in their Dollar Spot for $1 each. These are the same kinds of organizers/files I show in my classes to carry and organize your coupons and inserts, respectively.

And at $1 each, buy a few, as they tend to have these only every 2-3 months or so... and you can't beat that price :)

I can't believe 2008 has almost come to a close. This year has brought so many things... my baby turned 1, my big boy turned 4, and my daughter is officially going to be (gasp!) a teenager in a couple of weeks. But the biggest change of all has been my line of work, which I think you all know. :) If someone had predicted I'd become the "Coupon Queen of Chicago" earlier this year, I would have giggled in disbelief... but I'm not laughing anymore. :) In fact, I'll proudly take that title.

Because the email is already coming in on this one, I'll address it right up front today. Why aren't there any coupons in today's paper? Traditionally, the weeks around a holiday do NOT have any coupons in the newspaper. It's just something that happens each year around all of our major holidays. But fear not... if you've been saving all your inserts, you'll still have plenty of coupons for this week's deals. :)

I'm pleased to announce that I have partnered with Content That Works on a syndicated newspaper column called "The Coupon Queen!" In my column, I'll be sharing coupon tips and tricks in a step-by-step process, bringing a new Super-Couponing lesson to readers each week. These are the same kinds of techniques I teach in my Super-Couponing classes, and I'm very excited to bring Super-Couponing to a nationwide audience via this column.

With another session of Super-Couponing 2: Saving on Everything approaching, I'm receiving email from people asking "If I haven't taken Super-Couponing 1, should I come to #2?" Super-2 definitely builds on the techniques and principles taught in Super-1. There is very little review/catchup between the two classes -- I am jumping right in, assuming everyone is already quite familiar with what was taught in Super-1. If you've not already cut your grocery bill by 30-50% with the techniques I teach in Super-1... quite honestly, you will likely be lost in Super-2.