Excerpt: 'Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom'

Oct. 27, 2005— -- Stephanie Nelson enjoyed a successful career in corporate America and dreamed of being able to balance both work and motherhood. That dream didn't last long. She resigned from her job in marketing shortly after the birth of her son -- cutting her family's income in half and drastically altering their lifestyle.

Instead of picking up whatever she wanted at the grocery store, Nelson, who many Americans know as the Coupon Mom, became a "strategic shopper" and based what she bought on the coupons she cut. Now Nelson, a mother of two boys, runs her own website which helps others "unravel the marketing and merchandising techniques used by grocery stores."

Her method is based on three principles: 1. Know your grocery prices. 2. Know your store savings programs. 3. Know your grocery coupons.

Nelson writes that $315 billion dollars are wasted in discarded grocery coupons. Her message is simple: start cutting and you may reclaim some of that money.

Read an excerpt of "Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom' below.

America knows me as the Coupon Mom. One minute I was discovering ways to save money for my family at the grocery store, and the next I was the Coupon Mom on national television. I now teach people how to save money on their groceries -- lots of money every week. Week after week.

It seems like only yesterday, but ten years ago I was working in a corporate job and struggling with the desire to be at home with my new son. Quitting my job was financially impossible. After all, my husband and I had the perfect plan: we would buy a new home and have a baby; after a few months I would go back to work, hire a babysitter, and progress smoothly in my career without a hitch.

Once I held my son, however, I knew I had to be home with him full time. Finding a way to do that became my challenge.

I took the plunge and resigned from my job. Our household income was cut in half, so to keep my new job as a stay-at-home mom, I needed to find ways to reduce our spending in all areas. It didn't take long to realize that the area with the greatest savings potential was at the grocery store. I didn't know it at the time, but food -- groceries -- is the second or third largest household spending category for most families. I did not go back to the corporate world. Ten years later I am still a stay-at-home wife and mother.

Having come from a career in consumer sales and marketing I found that "unraveling" the marketing and merchandising techniques used by grocery stores and manufacturers was a lot of fun -- like solving a puzzle. And my method worked! In fact, it worked so well that I decided to start a website where I could help others start saving money on groceries too. Over the past five years this project has been far more interesting and rewarding than any corporate job I ever held, and it still allowed me to be home with my sons (yes, we had a second child).

Now I want to teach you how to become a "strategic shopper" like me, using the system I created. You will use your store's weekly sales ads, the coupons in your Sunday newspaper, and my website CouponMom.com, where I do all the hard work for you and millions of other shoppers across the U.S. every week.

My strategy is based on simple principles that work in every area of the country, not only in the big cities. And don't worry -- you won't have to compromise your quality standards to save money on groceries.

Here's the key: saving money on groceries is not about changing the way you eat, it's about changing the way you buy the foods you like. You will learn new, easy shopping strategies, but you won't sacrifice healthy choices for the sake of saving money.

This is not another grocery savings book recommending a complicated coupon organization system that takes hours each month to maintain. And it is not necessary for you to go to several stores each week to find the best grocery prices. The typical shopper is much too busy to invest that kind of time in grocery shopping. Instead, Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom is for busy people like you and me who want to save money but need to do it efficiently.

The key to saving money on groceries is to understand the three basic principles of strategic shopping:

1. Know your grocery prices

2. Know your store's savings programs

3. Know your grocery coupons

Once you understand how these three principles work and how to combine them to save even more, you will cut your grocery spending dramatically no matter where you buy groceries. Plus, you'll get a bonus. I'll also show you how to become a strategic giver! In my quest to save my family money, I discovered needs in my own community. I didn't realize it, but the cupboards of my local food pantry were bare. I decided then and there that on my next shopping trip I would use my coupon strategies to add a few extra bargains to my cart. Delivering those items to the food pantry changed my life.

I began teaching my friends and family how to purchase food for charity by combining grocery coupons and low prices. The remarkable success of these efforts led me to create Cut Out Hunger, and my website makes it easy for people to save dramatically not only on their own groceries, but also for items to donate to charity -- all for just pennies.