Events and Activities : CP FRIENDS OF LIBRARY PLANNING TO HELP YOU MAKE ENDS MEET

Center Point Friends of the Library is hosting a beginning couponing workshop Sunday, October 2, at 2 p.m. in the Library basement. The $10 fee covers the class and couponing starter kit. Seating is limited to 40 and registration is due by Monday, Sept. 26.

The afternoon will begin with an introduction to couponing, then a question and answer period followed by refreshments, idea and/or coupon swapping and socializing. Melanie Jones of Center Point will teach the class. Melanie, a friend of a Friend, has been couponing seriously for almost a year, since the company she worked for went out of business.

“I was suddenly a stay-at- home mom and I loved it so I had to figure out how I could keep doing it,” Melanie said.

She’s the mother of two pre-schoolers and has cut her grocery bill by 65% to 75% since she started serious couponing. Melanie will talk about couponing organization, terminology, places to go, seasonality and etiquette.

Serious couponing takes a certain amount of serious work and time but it doesn’t have to be serious. When shopping Melanie often wears a t-shirt that reads: “Warning! Do not stand behind me in line!”

Registration for the couponing workshop, which includes a $10 check to Friends of the Center Point Library, name, phone number and email, if available, for each participant, may be dropped in the Friends box at the Library checkout or mailed to Friends at P.O. Box 54, Center Point 52213, by Sept. 26.

Besides deciding to offer the couponing workshop, Friends, at its September 1 meeting, elected officers for 2011-12: Christina Lahr, president; Marj Pepin, vice president; Sharon Hannen, secretary; Roberta Gilchrist, treasurer; and Deb Maue, alternate officer.