Amy lives in Utah County. To protect her family's privacy, we can't tell you more than that. In certain circles, you see, Amy is a bit of a celebrity -- she's really good at helping Utah Valley residents save money. Actually, it's not just people who live in the shadow of Mount Timpanogos. "We have users from as far away as Florida," Amy said. "Anybody can come to the Web site and sign up for the free e-mails."

The Web site, which is owned by the Daily Herald, is SavvyShopperDeals.com. Amy is the Shopper. And her free e-mails provide something that most families could use: extra cash. Well, not literally.

If you get the e-mails, however, and follow the program, then you could end up spending a lot less at the supermarket than you're used to.

As many families struggle with diminished income or employment problems, the popularity of shopping smarter, and especially of using coupons, has increased. The Wall Street Journal Web site SmartMoney.com reported at the end of last year that the popularity of couponing sites like Coupons.com and SmartSource.com is booming.

"Before I started the Savvy Shopper program," said Lehi resident Susan Tea, "there were five people in my household, and I would spend $600 or $700 a month on groceries, toilet paper, diapers. Now I can spend as little $200 to $300 a month, and I have six people in my family.

"My spending has been cut by over 50 percent since I started doing Savvy Shopper."

Tea, who's 30 and a stay-at-home mother of four, said that she isn't even in it for the money. She's having a blast. "It's just fun to go to the store and get $100 worth of groceries," she said, "and walk away having spent only $15. It's an adrenaline rush."

The secret to the Savvy Shopper program is something that might not be completely thrilling to everyone: coupons.

Before your eyes glaze over, however, think about some of the numbers. "On average you get about $200 worth of coupons in the Sunday paper," said Amy. Now what if you had five copies? That's $1,000 worth of coupons every week, $4,000 worth of coupons every month.

"Let's say you use 30 percent of those coupons," Amy said. "That's $1,200 in potential savings every month." Who doesn't like the sound of that?

There are other benefits: If you use coupons to buy in bulk, then you can store whatever you don't need to use from week to week. "You can be a couple of months of food storage ahead just by using the program," said Phyllis Bradford, a single mother of four who lives in Orem and often uses the Savvy Shopper information to stock up. "Sometimes I drive my kids a little nutty."

Perhaps the best thing about couponing is all of the items that you don't pay a nickel for. Yes, the free stuff. F-R-E-E. After honing her shopping skills while living in Los Angeles for 11 years, Amy moved back to Utah Valley in 2006 expecting to disappointed. "I thought, 'There's not going to be as much free stuff,' " she said. Instead, she said, there are free items in Utah Valley stores every week.

It's not just food and household items that are (sometimes) free. Amy's Savvy Shopper classes, which she does several times a month, are also free. (There are also about to be more of the classes, too. Amy recently enlisted a handful of other women to help her keep up with the demand for classes by becoming Savvy Shopper trainers who can teach additional Savvy Shopper classes.)

"Free's my favorite word," Amy said. "People will tell you that sometimes in my classes, I start singing the word free by the end.

"It makes me so happy."

Know Your Savvy Shopper

• Name: Amy

• Age: 36

• Education: Brigham Young University (advertising and marketing)

• Family: Married with three children

The Daily Herald's Savvy Shopper isn't just smart about saving money at the supermarket. Amy and her family lived in Los Angeles for 11 years after college so that her husband, Tim, who works in construction, could ply his trade in Hollywood building movie sets.

When they moved back to Utah, Amy and Tim didn't look for a place to live the way that most people do. "We're so cheap that we built our own house," Amy said.

That's not the only way that they saved money. "We lived in a fifth-wheel trailer for a year while we built it," she said. "Then we turned around and sold the fifth-wheel for exactly what we paid for it. We had free rent for a year."

Amy took charge of the Daily Herald's Savvy Shopper program in May 2006 after making a name for herself posting tips at SavvyShopperDeals.com. "There was a contest on the Web site to see whose post could get the most responses," she said. "A friend told me I should enter."

Savvy shopping comes naturally to Amy, who used coupons in college (she graduated in 1995), but didn't really start to hone her skills until after moving to Los Angeles and being confronted with higher food costs.

Amy had a newspaper subscription and began to scour the Sunday paper for coupons. Then she found out she could adjust her subscription so that she received additional copies of the Sunday paper at a discounted rate. (The Daily Herald offers a similar subscription benefit, as do many newspapers.)

"That really was the moment for me that I made the connection," she said. "I thought, 'I can save a heck of a lot of money.' And it just grew from there into something bigger."

So many of her friends started to rely on Amy's nose for savings that she started an online group to keep them updated. Taking command of SavvyShopperDeals.com after returning to Utah (before attending BYU, Amy grew up in Orem) essentially meant getting a job doing something that she already enjoyed.

"Honestly, I love doing this," Amy said.

During the time that Amy and Tim were building their home, she said, "I sat at the little camp table and did e-mails. It was the only thing that kept me sane, for a year."

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The Tools

There's a lot to learn from Amy, the Daily Herald's Savvy Shopper, about saving money -- but here's an overview of some of the key elements of the Daily Herald's Savvy Shopper program. You can learn more at SavvyShopperDeals.com, or by attending one of Amy's free classes.

Shopping Wizard

This is a Web-based tool at SavvyShopperDeals.com that helps you sort through each week's discounts and deals. Sales data is updated each week. "The data is live when the sales go live," Amy said. "If someone wants to find the best price on milk, they simply type in 'milk.' "

You can sort your search results a variety of different ways, to pinpoint exactly what you want to purchase, and where to find it for the best price.

Coupon Binder

You don't have to search your wallet or purse for the right coupon if you use Amy's "binder method" of organizing your coupons. Clip coupons, then save them in a three-ring binder using the plastic sleeves that card collectors use to organize baseball cards. Coupons are available in the newspaper, as well as through places such as direct mail and various online sites.

Learn more about coupon organization at SavvyShopperDeals.com.

Multiple Sunday Papers

To maximize the power of shopping with coupons, you need to maximize the number of coupons you have. If something that you buy often is being offered at a deep discount, then you can stock up while it's cheap by making multiple purchases, using multiple coupons.

"The majority of all coupons that we use come from the Sunday Daily Herald," Amy said. "I encourage people to get multiple copies."

Visit SavvyShopperDeals.com to view special subscription offers for Savvy Shopper participants.

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If you go

Savvy Shopping 101

What: Meet Amy, the Daily Herald's Savvy Shopper, and learn about using the Savvy Shopper program.

When: 7 p.m. on July 9

Where: Macey's, 880 N. State St., Orem

Cost: Free

Registration: Seating is limited. You must register online at SavvyShopperDeals.com to attend.

Info: SavvyShopperDeals.com