I, for one take coupon shopping and saving money to the extreme! I have am the proud owner of a free website that teaches consumers how to make the best use of their coupons, and how to get stuff for free or at least on the cheap. Money saving tips go way beyond coupon clipping, and my tips have recently been featured on The Today Show as well as several media segments around the U.S. The need to share these money-saving ways as I discover them has me busy with a weekly podcast where I talk about different ways to save money and live better by doing so! For example, my best shopping trip scored my family $1880 in groceries for only $19 at Albertsons®. I was able to fill my pantry, donate to my church and also to local charities. The best part? I get to share the deals with my community both-on the air and online!

These are some tips that will help you live like a Consumer Queen yourself:

1. Look for coupons outside the Sunday paper -There are lots of other places you can find coupons. Look for coupons on store shelves, inside or attached to products, magazines (such as All You® with over $50 in coupons), coupons by mail and of course online. Some of these have a higher value, which equal more savings!
2. Be Armed – Know your stores coupon policy. Believe it or not some store employees and managers have no idea what their own coupon policy is and this can leave you frustrated and embarrassed at the check-out. Most stores have their coupon policy online. Print this out and keep it with you when you shop. Pretty soon you will find you will have no problems shopping with coupons at your favorite store.
3. Look for Piggy Back Offers – Piggy back offers are great. This simply means saving multiple times with multiple offers in just one purchase. One of the Hottest Piggy Back offers out there is from Fast Fixin®.
   • • Fast Fixins® has coupons on their website at www.fastfixin.com.
     • Print the coupons and save on your purchase.Then cut the UPC code from the bag.
     • For every 10 you mail in you will get a Free Product Coupon. (There is no limit on how many times you can do this
     • Then cut the Home Team Rewards Label from the bag. Participating schools get .30 for each label and they match the 1st $100. So while saving money you can help your local schools out too.

   For example:

   • Take advantage of store coupons and look for unadvertised sales- Most people do not know that you can use a store coupon on top of a manufacturers coupon to maximize your savings. More often than not you can actually get stuff free! Look for unadvertised specials and clearance prices while shopping. Pair them up with coupons and you will find yourself racking up the free and cheap.
   • Get Organized- Organization is the key. Make sure you find something that is comfortably large enough to use to store your coupons. I use a zippered binder and divide coupons up by categories. I use baseball card sleeves because I can usually fit 9 to a page so I can actually flip through and see what coupons I have at a glance therefore saving time and being able to take advantage of sales and coupons I didn’t know I had or forgot about.
   • Diversify your Search – Don’t forget Coupons are not just for the grocery store. You can find coupons for just about anything. Restaurants, Haircuts, Dept. Stores, Kids Activities, Entertainment, Auto care and more!
   • Research- Make sure the coupon information you receive is 100% legit. There are allot of sites out there that do not follow the best practice methods of couponing. I try to make this very clear my site’s on Coupon Information center at: http://www.cents-off.com.

Watch this news clip that covers some of the best deals I have come across:

See more videos of my shopping trips:

$200 Groceries for $30 at Homeland®
Went shopping with Queen Mum and got over $200 in Groceries for $30 http://www.consumerqueen.com

I have made it my mission to help consumers save money in today’s economy, and I encourage other moms not only to share the deals with others, but to give back to their community through food donations!

You can follow my updates on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/consumerqueen , or for more information on how to save big, check out my website at http://www.consumerqueen.com

Thank you, and happy saving!

The Consumer Queen
www.consumerqueen.com <http://www.consumerqueen.com/>
Melissa@ConsumerQueen.Com