To help families get budgets in shape, nationally known money-saving expert Karen Wilmes, of KouponKaren.com, offers practical tips on utilizing coupons for your most trusted essentials:

• Purchase an extra newspaper for another set of weekly coupons-use just a few and it will be worth the cost. For example, the Healthy Essentials coupon book from Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies will provide over $175 in savings on brands that families trust and use every day, including Aveeno, Band-Aid brand, Johnson’s Baby, Listerine and Neutrogena.

• Check the expiration dates of everything in your medicine cabinet and list what you’ll soon need.

• Reference that list against your weekly ads and coupons to see what you can save money on buying that week. Often, products you find coupons for in the newspaper go on sale in stores weeks later.

Healthy Essentials coupons will appear in newspapers nationwide. If you miss them in print, visit www.HealthyEssentials.com for printable coupons and more.

On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)