Published: Sunday, July 10, 2011
Coupon queen shares some of her secrets
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Shaun Sartin / Chicago Tribune
Coupon specialist Jill Cataldo speaks to a group of consumers in Vernon Hills, Ill. Cataldo is among the foremost experts on coupons, from a consumer perspective.
CHICAGO -- Some of the 2,500 people who came to hear Jill Cataldo talk about coupons started lining up four hours before she took the stage at the performing arts center in Charleston, S.C., in March.
Cataldo's sold-out speech was touted as the largest event of its kind ever held in the United States.
This crowd was big, but Cataldo, an entrepreneur and mother of three, is used to the attention. She has secrets to share that are just right for this penny-pinching era: how to use those little clips of paper to save a family thousands of dollars a year at the supermarket.
She's the first to admit she's not the only one teaching about coupons, having been in the coupon-advice game just three years. But there's something about her.
"She sees how coupons can affect a person's sense of self-worth and how they can impact their family -- how couponing is a very valuable way for them to participate in the economic well-being of their household," said Susan Gear, a group vice president at Catalina Marketing, which flew Cataldo to Florida to talk to its sales force of 150.
Cataldo, 37, is a frequent guest on radio and TV and in print publications, including an appearance this year on ABC's "Nightline." Media, along with consumers, jumped on the frugality bandwagon as the economy took a dive and coupons quickly went from crass to cool.
She writes a column, a blog (JillCataldo.com) and appears on radio.
In just a few years of writing the blog, Cataldo has connected personally with her readers and earned their loyalty. In 2009, her blog readers -- complete strangers except for the back-and-forth in email and blog comments -- organized a picnic for Cataldo and her family at Castaldo Park in Woodridge, Ill. (They liked that the park's name was similar to Cataldo's.) Nearly 100 people showed up as a group thank-you for all she'd taught them about coupons and smart shopping. They came bearing cakes decorated as coupons.
"So many of them feel like they know me as a person," she said.
With the syndicated column, blog ad revenue, consulting gigs, workshops and DVD sales, Cataldo's revenue sources are many and varied. She won't say how much she earns per year, but if any one of those revenue streams dried up, she would still be comfortable, she said.
Of course, comfortable is relative. Cataldo doesn't generally want for much.
Her family of five -- along with an elderly black Labrador retriever named Nigel -- live in a 1,500-square-foot ranch house they built opposite a dairy products distribution center. It's a great location when you have young sons who like to watch trucks, she said.
Her office is fixed up a little now, but she worked for years surrounded by unfinished walls and extension cords snaking across the floor -- one powering a Kiss-themed pinball machine, circa 1979.
Even with her success, Cataldo says has no plans to move to a bigger house or enlarge her lifestyle. "This is our forever house," she says.
Jill Cataldo
Job: Coupon instructor, blogger, newspaper columnist
Age: 37
Family: husband Doug; children Angelica, 15, Ben, 6, and Will, 4
Side jobs: Designs concert-souvenir guitar picks for the rock band Kiss and writes copy for the band's tour books
Best coupon tip: Don't use coupons the week they come in the Sunday newspaper. That's when store prices on couponed products are likely to be highest. Save coupons to match a store sale.
Odd jobs: Worked curbside pickup on a recycling truck for two summers in high school. Taught aerobics in college.
Best saving story: Bought her first house right after high school. She lived there while going to college.
Cataldo's sold-out speech was touted as the largest event of its kind ever held in the United States.
This crowd was big, but Cataldo, an entrepreneur and mother of three, is used to the attention. She has secrets to share that are just right for this penny-pinching era: how to use those little clips of paper to save a family thousands of dollars a year at the supermarket.
She's the first to admit she's not the only one teaching about coupons, having been in the coupon-advice game just three years. But there's something about her.
"She sees how coupons can affect a person's sense of self-worth and how they can impact their family -- how couponing is a very valuable way for them to participate in the economic well-being of their household," said Susan Gear, a group vice president at Catalina Marketing, which flew Cataldo to Florida to talk to its sales force of 150.
Cataldo, 37, is a frequent guest on radio and TV and in print publications, including an appearance this year on ABC's "Nightline." Media, along with consumers, jumped on the frugality bandwagon as the economy took a dive and coupons quickly went from crass to cool.
She writes a column, a blog (JillCataldo.com) and appears on radio.
In just a few years of writing the blog, Cataldo has connected personally with her readers and earned their loyalty. In 2009, her blog readers -- complete strangers except for the back-and-forth in email and blog comments -- organized a picnic for Cataldo and her family at Castaldo Park in Woodridge, Ill. (They liked that the park's name was similar to Cataldo's.) Nearly 100 people showed up as a group thank-you for all she'd taught them about coupons and smart shopping. They came bearing cakes decorated as coupons.
"So many of them feel like they know me as a person," she said.
With the syndicated column, blog ad revenue, consulting gigs, workshops and DVD sales, Cataldo's revenue sources are many and varied. She won't say how much she earns per year, but if any one of those revenue streams dried up, she would still be comfortable, she said.
Of course, comfortable is relative. Cataldo doesn't generally want for much.
Her family of five -- along with an elderly black Labrador retriever named Nigel -- live in a 1,500-square-foot ranch house they built opposite a dairy products distribution center. It's a great location when you have young sons who like to watch trucks, she said.
Her office is fixed up a little now, but she worked for years surrounded by unfinished walls and extension cords snaking across the floor -- one powering a Kiss-themed pinball machine, circa 1979.
Even with her success, Cataldo says has no plans to move to a bigger house or enlarge her lifestyle. "This is our forever house," she says.
Jill Cataldo
Job: Coupon instructor, blogger, newspaper columnist
Age: 37
Family: husband Doug; children Angelica, 15, Ben, 6, and Will, 4
Side jobs: Designs concert-souvenir guitar picks for the rock band Kiss and writes copy for the band's tour books
Best coupon tip: Don't use coupons the week they come in the Sunday newspaper. That's when store prices on couponed products are likely to be highest. Save coupons to match a store sale.
Odd jobs: Worked curbside pickup on a recycling truck for two summers in high school. Taught aerobics in college.
Best saving story: Bought her first house right after high school. She lived there while going to college.
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