Coupon Mom

Coupon Queen more than 30 years ago, was touring South Florida to share her savings secrets. On Thursday morning, the New York native filled her cart at an Oakland Park Publix Super Market with fresh cantaloupe, orange juice, laundry detergent, bread, spaghetti sauce and mouthwash, doing the kind of shopping she might have when she was buying groceries for a family of six. The original price of Thursday's shopping trip was $168.52. Samtur paid just $11.77 after combining dozens of coupons with sale prices.

Samtur's combination of experience, eyes that never miss a deal and organization has helped millions of people shave their food bills. She has shared her coupon techniques during countless television appearances and is a contributing editor for Family Circle magazine. She knows her extreme savings may not be possible for every family, but especially now, she said even saving a fraction of what she does on shopping can really add up. 'People say `What's 50 cents?' You know, if you have 10 50-cent coupons, that's $5. If you have 10 $1 coupons, that's $10. That's $500 a year,'' she said.

She watches for simple savings, such as coupons attached to products at the store, larger-sized products offered at the same price as a smaller-sized item, and store coupons that can be combined with manufacturers' coupons -- on top of sale prices. She also cruises food company websites for coupons for free new products and rebates on products she already buys, netting her $200 in cash a month -- but that's something she knows isn't for everyone because it can be time consuming. The yogurt was priced at 70 cents per cup. Samtur had two coupons that made the items free and two more coupons for 50 cents off. She paid a total of 40 cents for four cups of yogurt -- less than the cost of just one at the regular price.