Organizing Coupons

What do you do to store your coupons? There are many ways to do it, but two are the most popular. The first is the way that I like to organize mine.

Binder Method
With the binder method, you clip and store your coupons according to date or type in baseball card holders in a 3 ring binder. Separate the sections with index dividers. Here is a picture of the first page of my binder.

I choose to sort my coupons by type and then by date. That way when a new month starts, it is easy for me to clear out the expired coupons. I prefer to use a zip up binder, because you will take this binder into the store with you. Since there are so many little slips of paper in there, it is easy for them to fall out. Being able to zip it up ensures that nothing will get lost. I personally separate my binder into 24 sections, so if I am looking for a specific coupon, it is easy to find it.

Accordion File Method
This method is much more time efficient. You store your whole inserts according to date (the date they came out in the paper). Print out a list of the coupons that came in your insert to keep with the coupons. When there is a sale on a product and you want to see if you have that coupon, just look at the sheet with your coupons to know if it came in your paper. If it did, take out the inserts and clip that single coupon that you need. You will still need to store coupons that you print from the internet, so you will also need a small accordion file, index card box or binder for these coupons. For a list of what coupons came in your newspaper, many people volunteer to write the list and send it to Southern Savers. Around mid week, this list will be published and you can print it for your files.

I prefer to use the binder method. This makes every coupon already clipped for when I need it. If I run into an unadvertised sale at the store, I have the clipped coupons with me to use. I also send my expired coupons overseas, so I will have to clip them anyways. If you are on a strict time limit to spend on couponing, use the accordion file method to save yourself the most time.

Extreme Couponing Show

TLC's new show "Extreme Couponing" has raised a lot of concerns among couponers. This show provides false hope for many people, and it gives everyday couponers a bad name. Very few people are as crazy about coupons as the people on the show. The intention of the show is to show how much you can save. The person has to put together their biggest haul to date. Sure, you can pay nothing for $1,000 worth of toothpaste and body wash and go on the show, but why would you want to? I admit, I find the show highly entertaining, but please do not watch the show to learn the tricks of the trade. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• the store is not going to offer their employees to push your 5 shopping carts
• the store will not be okay with you taking 3 hours to check out
• nor will they allow you to do 5 huge transactions, either at one register or spread across several
• some stores on the show stopped allowing the doubling of coupons
• most stores limit the amount you buy to 10 of each item, per customer, per day
• couponers look down upon one person completely clearing the shelves, like someone buying 77 mustards without it being a special order
• many stores do not allow the doubling of a coupon past their value (ex. doubling a coupon to $1 on a $0.75 item)
• there is a very fine line between stockpiling and hoarding
• because of the show, many stores have changed their coupon policies

The stores on the show view this as press. They are knowingly and willingly breaking their own policies  to show you how much you can save by shopping with them. This is a terrible idea. Couponers and stores will spend forever re-educating people about what the real policies are.

So please don't expect that you can feed your family by buying $1,000 worth of toothpaste and body wash and paying $5 for it. If this is what you like to eat for dinner, then go for it. For the rest of us, if we can save 75% off our grocery bill, that's a good end to a great day.

Couponing Excuses

While talking about couponing with people, I hear a lot of excuses as to why they "can't" coupon. Here are a few of the biggest excuses.

I don't have time.
Wouldn't it be great to add a few extra hours to the day? So you can sit down and read a book, or watch your favorite show, or to start couponing? This will never happen, but couponing takes as much or as little time as you allow it to. Sure, you hear of people spending 40-60 hours a week searching the web, gathering, clipping, wasting their life away with coupons. This is not normal, and by no means do I recommend this. Couponing is not supposed to take over your life in a negative way. For the average couponer, it may take a couple hours combined over the course of the week to make your shopping list, gather and clip your coupons. If you don't have a couple hours over the course of the week, then cut it down to just 30 minutes. 30 minutes is enough time to get the essential coupons together. Obviously the more time you put into it, the more coupons you can print and gather and use. But if you don't have a lot of time, you can still save a substantial amount off your shopping trips. If you can spend 30 minutes to couponing, and save even just $50 off your grocery bill, for most people, that is worth a lot more than 30 minutes of work.

The items I like don't go on sale.
This is just a lie. While not every item will be free after sales and coupons, every item does go on sale. Even if it is just pennies to the dollar off the retail value, that is still a sale. If you have to have that specific item, then stock up when it is just pennies off. Over the course of the year, this really adds up.

I don't have any space.
Yes, stocking up on items takes up space. Most of us live without the ability (or want) to turn the garage into a warehouse or a shower into a toilet paper station. And even if you could, why would you want to? I want to live in the space we have, rather than convert my liveable area to stashing my booty. But if you don't stock up, you will have to go out and buy that item 1 at a time when it's not on sale. So this is a give and take kind of deal. If you have cabinets half full or an area under your stairs or empty space above your washing machine, store items there. Put items anywhere you can. I have a 5 tier shelving unit in my kitchen for my food items. I keep my condiments and jarred items in the cabinets above my stove. I have a 45 gallon storage bin under the counter for all of our health and beauty products. I keep our toilet paper, paper towels and detergent on top of the shelves above our washing machine. Yes, the shelves and bin take up space, but I am willing to give up that small area of space for a large stockpile.

I can't go couponing with my kids.
Not every child will tolerate going on a couponing trip at the grocery store. If your kids run wild in the store, it will not allow you to keep 100% focus on your shopping trip, and you may make mistakes. If this sounds like you, try to bring someone with you to the store to entertain the kid while you focus on shopping. Or leave the kid at home with a spouse, friend, babysitter. Yes, if you have to get a babysitter, you will spend money. But if you pay $7 an hour (just an estimate, I have no idea how much a babysitter costs) and you save $100 at the grocery store, that pays for itself over and over (and you may have kept your sanity at the grocery store!) I am very blessed with a well behaved baby in public, but that is because I know how to keep him happy while shopping. I wear my son in my ergobaby carrier while I shop. It keeps him happy, which keeps me happy.

Another word of advice: Don't be brand specific!
If you've used Dove body wash for years, then it's a pretty good guess that's your favorite body wash. In my whole time couponing, I've never seen Dove body wash go on sale to be completely free, but I have seen other brands for free (and even moneymakers!) If you never try any other brands, you will never know if you like something different. Try to not be so specific. If another body wash will make you $1 to buy it, then buy it and try it. If you end up hating it, oh well, you were paid $1 to figure that out. This is one of my favorite things about couponing. You get to try out so many new products for a fraction of the cost, or even free! You never know, you may find something you like even better!

Coupon Match ups

In previous posts, I explained where to find coupons. Many people have the question, after you find the coupons, what do you do now? Now you save those coupons until those products go on sale. In the couponing community, this is called a coupon match up. There are a few ways to do this. One way is to open up your stores weekly sale flyer. Circle any item that is on sale for 40% or more, and any items that you need now (once you have a stockpile, you won't run into this problem very often). This includes all BOGO deals. After circling all of those items, you now need to find coupons to match those items to see how cheap you can get them. There are many coupon databases online that are available for you to use. You just type in the product (ex. Kellogg's) and all available coupons will appear. If they are from past Sunday newspapers that you don't have, you can order coupons online if you need to. A lot of coupons are also available online. The coupon database will provide the link to the printable coupon. My favorite coupon database to use is Southern Savers Coupon Database. You will gather and clip those coupons along with the sale ad, and you just created your own store list! An easier option is to use a website that does the coupon match ups for you. My favorite website to use is Southern Savers. She does match ups for all my favorite stores: Kroger, Publix, Walgreens, Target and CVS. This is how I create most of my shopping lists. Remember, buy at least 6 weeks worth of items at their rock bottom price to last you until it goes on sale again.

A few tips to save even more money:
Even if you can get high value items for $0.50, if you are not going to use that item, you will have wasted even $0.50 on something you don't need. This is not going to help your savings. If an item will be free, buy it. If you don't need it, donate it. ALWAYS buy items that are a moneymaker. I recently made $2 to buy 40 pens. Do I need 40 pens? No I don't. But that $2 went towards paying for my fresh fruits, and I also have great items to donate, and just in time for the school year too! Remember, couponing is not only a great way to save money for your family, but it is an amazing way to help others. You can donate $10 to a charity, or you can take that $10 and buy over $100 of products to donate. I prefer to help this way because I can do so much more with coupons.