LEWISTON — Rock concert?

No. Extreme coupon expo.

The confusion is understandable. The Lewiston Middle School was jam packed Friday night with hundreds who came out to learn more about saving through coupons. And like a rock star, Chrystie Corns bounded from one side of the stage to the other, sharing her art with a rapt audience.

Corns’ art is frugality and in that world, she is queen, an expert on how to get more for your dollar. Stacking? Doubling up? Buy one get one free strategies?

Nobody does it better than Corns.

“I haven’t bought toilet paper since March,” she told the appreciative audience of roughly 500.

She won’t need Nivea body wash any time soon, either. Or breakfast cereal or dish detergent or Bengay.

Chrystie Corns is a woman, presently living right here in Maine, who managed to knock her monthly grocery bill from about $700 down to $150. When she speaks, people listen.

The expo, with proceeds benefiting the Sun Journal’s Newspapers in Education, brought out hundreds who forked over $5 to hear some of Corns’ magic. Most of them scribbled furiously in notebooks, trying to keep up during the long and animated talk.

Where and when to get your coupons. Why you should wait for the product to go on sale before redeeming them. How to walk out of a store with an armful of stuff your family needs for just a few dollars or — let’s face it, it’s the ultimate quest — for free.

An overwhelming majority of those in the audience were women looking to bolster already aggressive coupon routines. Scattered here and there, like pennies in a jar of silver, were the men. Some were as rabid about savings as the ladies. Others were dragged to the show by eager wives.

A man named Ron was somewhere in between.

“I’m not quite the couponer she is,” the Lewiston man said. “But I save a little bit here and there.”

He came to the expo with co-workers, Ron said. He took what information he could use out of Corns’ talk and left the rest for the hardcore shoppers.

“It’s tiresome if you want to live that life,” Ron said. “It’s a lot of work. You’ve got to be organized.”

It could be, he said, that women are genetically more disposed to taking care of bargains.

“Maybe,” he said, “they are just better at this kind of multitasking.”

But Corns was adamant. Anybody can learn to use coupons and save hundreds — nay thousands — if they work at it. These days, she said, coupons are everywhere. On the Web, in the newspaper, at the store, on Facebook or sent right to your phone. It’s only a matter of finding them and using them wisely.

“It takes guts to coupon,” Corns said. “Once you start couponing, you’re like a hawk-eye. You’ll see them everywhere.”

Chrystie Corns has appeared in The Learning Channel’s series “Extreme Couponing” and shares her tips and tricks at her blog ilovetogossip.com