Couponing

I honestly feel a little shammed writing a post about organization because I just spent the last few hours searching the filing cabinet and every crevice of the house for an important document and came up empty handed. But.. you have to take baby steps right? At least that's what I tell myself.

I'm from the Midwest. We apologize for just about everything that isn't even our fault, we call soda "pop", and we use coupons. I could be totally wrong about coupon-ing (pretty sure that there isn't a verb for coupon, but I'm making it one) only being a midwest thing, but I see a lot of it in my neck of the woods. Some people are hardcore coupon-ers (just made up that word too). I see the women at the store with their HUGE coupon books and they have it down to a the t, where they only pay $53 for 2 grocery carts full of stuff. I'm impressed by these women, because it takes so much planning and dedication.

I'm not hardcore, I'd say I'm a beginner at best. So here in my beginning couponing tutorial.

First some couponing rules that I go by:

*Never buy something just because you have a coupon. This is a huge trap people fall into.

*If the coupon says $2.00 off 2 of whatever product use it during a buy one get one free sale.

*Most stores will take their store coupons even after they expire, just ask.

*I go shopping, make the best choices cost wise, and then look to see if I have any coupons for what I was already going to buy.

*Don't waste your time clipping coupons you will never use. Dog food coupons are a waste of time if you don't have a dog, and no one around you does, and you don't plan on getting a dog before they expire. 

With those ideas in mind, it's always hard to sift through an envelope stuffed full of unorganized coupons. So here's an easy way to stay organized. 

Step 1:

Get your huge stack of coupons:

and some baseball card sleeves:

I bought these from Target. They were only a couple dollars, $2.99 maybe, I don't remember exactly, but I know it wasn't much.

Step 2:

Organize coupons into categories, ie frozen foods, hygiene, baby, feminine care, restaurants, etc.

Step 3: 

Cut or fold the coupons so that they main part of the coupon is seen. ie the $0.50 off Tide. So you can just glance and know what the product is and how much of a discount it is for.

Step 4: 

Create a glossary page that reads what order the categories are in  for quick reference, or for you husband's reference, if you have talked him into using such a coupon book.

Step 5:

Save your hard earned money!