They came. They listened. They learned.

Now, many Quad-Citians hope they can begin to really save money at the grocery stores thanks to Jill Cataldo, the nationally syndicated “Coupon Queen” columnist who spoke Saturday at the Moline Public Library about becoming better at using the coupon system when shopping.

“I am a coupon shopper already,” said Katie Thornborough of East Moline who attended the morning session. “My mom was very frugal and clipped coupons. But there is definitely room for improvement.”

Cataldo, whose tips appear in the Quad-City Times each Monday, made her first visit to this area and taught a morning and afternoon session of her Super-couponing class. The event was sponsored by the Times and the Friends of the Moline Public Library. She talked about how to maximize grocery savings and purchase hundreds of dollars’ worth of groceries for a fraction of their cost.

During the morning session before about 160 people, Cataldo shared how she got started as a coupon expert. As a stay-at-home mom with three children, Cataldo, who lives in Huntley, Ill., began working with coupons 3 1/2 years ago. But it was in August 2008 that she taught her first session.

“I taught it at our little library at home,” she said. “They said if I get 20 to 30 people for the first time, it would be good. There was 162 people at the first class. After that, it has taken off like a rocket.”

Today, she speaks three to four times per week all over the Midwest and her column appears nationally in 120 publications, including the Times.

Cataldo covered many topics, including how to “stack” coupons, or use more than one type for each item. In other words, there are various ones available for each product, including store and manufacturers’ coupons. She also advised to never throw away coupons because you never know if you might want to use them later.

Cataldo offered numerous examples of how using various coupons on items already on sale has ended up costing her nothing for those products, and in some cases, ultimately resulted in overages. Overages is money owed the consumer if they can produce enough coupons to actually exceed the amount of the item. In those cases, she said the store will then give the shopper money off on other items being purchased.

Her message seemed to have an impact on her audience.

“She has a lot of good information,” said Amy Thorpe of Taylor Ridge, Ill. “It gives you new perspective on how to use coupons.”

“I learned a lot in addition to reading her column. I am excited to go home and try it, and I am a very frugal person,” Judy Stevens of Bettendorf said.