How I Organize my Coupons, or "Let me Show You How Cool I am"

My system for organizing my coupons is based on two things. I don't want to spend tons of time on it, but I want to have the coupons I might use available if I happen to stop at Target on the way home. I also don't want to be the person with the whole top of the shopping cart filled with boxes of coupons/flyers/binders. It's important to me to have a system that is quick and easy to access and use. I've adapted it since I started, but this is that's working for me now.













This is all of my couponing stuff. The purple thing is just a plastic envelope. I put coupons I get in mail, my coupons from the paper, receipts I need to save, anything like that, in there. It keeps everything together and not scattered around my house.






I like to spend an hour or so every week (sometimes every other week) getting my coupons organized. I use the paper cutter to cut the coupons out in strips, like they are on the pages. Then I use the scissors to cut the individual coupons apart. The paper cutter is so much faster than the scissors. Some people only cut the coupons they are going to use, but I cut them all. After all of them are cut out, I sort out the ones I will never use and pass them along to friends. The coupons I think I might use, I put into my book.







This is my coupon book. It's really a photo album from Target. It has 25 pages with 4 pockets on each page. It's my second one. The first on I used had more pages, which I liked better. This one has a elastic closure that keeps it closed when I put it into my purse.














I used Avery Tabs to label the pages for the coupons. My old book had enough pages that I could have had 50 categories, but I've had to combine in this book. Since I use most of my coupons at the grocery store, the grocery categories are a little more specific than the other stuff.













I have Drinks, Breakfast, Fruits/Vegetables, Meat, Frozen, Dairy, Paper products, Baby, Pet, Cleaning, Hair Care, Make-up, Soap, etc. I tried to put them in the book in the order they are in the grocery store.








When I'm ready to sort, I have index cards that have the same labels as my tabs. I spread then out on the floor in the same order (they are numbered) and sort the coupons out on them. I've seen this made as a big mat that you can fold up, but I had index cards already. I keep the cards in the purple folder.










After the coupons are sorted, I put them into the pages. The one in the picture is Drinks. I like to divide them up a little further into the pockets. I put water in one, juice in one, coffee/tea in one, and whatever is left into the fourth one. I also pull them out and check for expired or close to expiring coupons then.








Like I said, I don't like to be sorting through coupons in the store. I try to get my trip planned out ahead of time, but sometime I'll see something on sale that I need or something that will be a great deal that I have a coupon for. I like to bring my book to the stores with me, just in case something jumps out at me. My book is organized so that I can quickly flip to the page where the coupon is and it's small enough to fit into my purse (I carry big purses, but it's about the size of a day planner). I also put pockets on the front and back cover. These are just the sticky CD holders that you can get with the office supplies. In my old book I did the same thing, but with envelopes and double sided tape. It's very convenient for holding the coupons you are going to use or any that you might grab in the store.


This is the blue book from the first picture. It's just a $1 notebook I got at Target. I used card stock to rig up the envelopes in the front. I tried using this at my main thing in the store, but it didn't work for me. It is very handy for making shopping lists and holding receipts, coupons, etc. I mainly use it to make my lists now.


Like I said, I like to be very organized when I go to the store. I hate to be sorting through coupons while my kid runs wild, or be blocking the aisle while other people are trying to shop too. Before I go to the store, I use southernsavers.com or hotcouponworld.com to print off the list of sales and the coupon matches. I also like to have the Publix ad. I make a list of the things I'm going to buy and how many according to what coupons I have. I also add anything I might need.

After I've made my list and pulled out the coupons I am going to use, I put them into my green accordian file. It's very small, a little larger than my check book. I put the coupons that I know I'm going to use in the second slot. I put the ones I might use in the next slot. These are usually coupons that are about to expire or are things I might buy, depending on how much they will be when I get to the store. There are a couple of extra slots I use to put coupons I pick up in the store or coupons that I haven't sorted out yet. I also put my list in there and drop the whole thing into my purse, or even better, my shopping bags so I don't forget them!


When I get to the store and start putting things in my cart, I move the coupons I'm using to the very front. By the time I get to the check out, all of the coupons I need are right in the front, and I can just pull them out and hand them to the cashier. This works very well for me as I never seem to have enough hands to hold the coupons I'm using and to look for one I need. I used to just use the envelopes in my book to do the same thing, but I like having a little more room and division.


This system works very well for me. The only problem I have is that sometime I just don't feel like sorting out the coupons. That would be a problem with any system I use, though. I did try to do the binder thing with baseball card pages, but that was just too big for me to carry around. I have the same issue with using a box and divinders. It's just too much. What do you use? If you have any questions or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Friday Favorite

Vocal Point is a community for moms. They have a message board, surveys, articles, etc. The reason they are a favorite of mine is because they send samples and coupons. The coupons are usually for a free product. I've gotten Frosted Mini-Wheats before. It came with a sample box of cereal, a buy one, get one coupon, plus about 6 $1.50 coupons to share with friends and family. Yesterday in the mail I had a pack that was coupons for Rice Krispies: one coupon for a free box and 5 for $1 off, I think. I also received a coupon for Bounce's new dryer bar for free and several coupons to pass along. I can't remember what else I've gotten from them except for Kashi Waffle coupons. They also don't send out a lot of emails. Maybe once a week, I'll get one that serves as a remind to check the site and see if they have anything I'm interested in. If you have a minute, check it out.

Favorite Friday

Every since I was a little girl, I have loved to read. I used to spend weeks at a time with my grandma, and the first day I was there, she would take me to the store. I got to pick out 4 or 5 books to read while I was stay with her. I had a collection of Box Car Children, R.L. Stein, Baby Sitters' Club, Anne of Green Gables, you name it. Grandma always read romance novels and I read my pre-teen fiction. We had snacks and spent the days reading. I loved it. I still do. (And I've been know to pick up a romance novel of my own from time to time. Don't judge.)

Adult books are more expensive than children's books. I'm weird about going to the library. I don't like the time constraint hanging over me. I just like to have books lying around when I want to pick one up and read it. We go to the trade book store in our town every once in a while, but I like to have a bunch of books to take in to her. The solution: Paperbackswap.com.

Basically I list the books that I have to trade. When you first sign up and list 10 books, you get 2 credits, meaning you can order 2 books. Those 2 are sent to you. When someone requests one of your books, you pay to send the book to them (usually around $2.50). For every book you mail, you get another credit. When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print two pieces of regular paper from your printer which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. For $0.25 you can buy the postage and save the trip to the post office!

I'm sure that you have some books on your shelves that you are never going to read again. List them on paperbackswap and get something new to read. I recommend:

anything by Jodi Picoult
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (really anything by her)
Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Marek Halter's series on Sarah, Ezra's sister and Zipporah, wife of Moses

Coupons...Where are you?

There are coupons hiding all over the internet. Today you can request a booklet from Home Made Simple. I've gotten this one before and it usually has lots of good coupons in it. There is usually a coupon for something free in it as well. Last time my booklet was missing the pages. I think the mailman must have taken them!

Favorite Friday

I've been feeling quite crafty lately. I think it has to partly do with the half finished desk that's currently living in my kitchen. I'm refinishing and painting it. Hopefully this weekend. I'm on the hunt for the perfect knobs for it, but I'm not having much luck. Maybe I'll just make my own.

There are two great sites for getting ideas for your own crafty inspirations. The first one is Craftster. You can see all of the different stuff people have made and posted. Lots of them have tutorials to show you how do to it yourself. If you have a question about a project you're already working on, you can find the answer on here as well. The best thing I've seen was a little kid's play kitchen made out of an old entertainment center.

The other site I like to look at is etsy. Not only can you look at things people have made, but you can just buy them and save your time! I've ordered several things from different sellers. You can also find vintage items on the site. It's great for handmade gifts you didn't make yourself. I always get inspired to make things when I shop here.

Go to one of the sites and find something to express your creativity this weekend. I'd love to see something you were inspired to make!

Harvesting

When we got back from our mini-vacation, this was what was waiting for us. We had fajitas that night using the Mexibell pepper and the green Bell Pepper. Delicious!

Favorite Friday

This Friday I would like to tell you about 2 sites that are both postcard related. The first one I've been reading for about a year, I think. PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where peoplemail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. New secrets are posted every Sunday. I love to read them first thing Monday morning. It's amazing to see that so many people are afraid of or worried about the same things. There are several PostSecret books. My hubby bought me one for Christmas this year and I really liked it.

The second site I want to share is Postcrossing. Basically you send postcards to people and people send postcards to you. I think it will be neat to get them from people around the world. I made a photo collage using Picasa and ordered the postcards from Vistaprint. I'm going on a trip this weekend so I'm pretty excited about picking up fun postcards along the way to send around the world.

It's always exciting to get real mail. Maybe you should pick up some postcards and share something with the world, whether it be a secret or just a view from your window.

Tomatoes!

We've gotten a few things from our garden...a couple of tomatoes, a handful of peas, 2 or 2 radishes. We're going out of town so last night I picked most everything that would be too ripe when we got home. I have some beans that were ready, but they are the first so there were about 5 green beans. I'm going to have to work on the amount of things I plant next year (more peas and beans, probably less tomatoes and zucchini). Here are all of the tomatoes:




There are 3 Roma's and 2 Bonnie's Best, I think.


I imagine that the plants are going to be full when we get home!

I'm working on a post about what I like and don't like about what I've done so far. Look for it soon!

Favorite Friday

Every since I started blogging, I've read other people's blogs as well. There are some that I just read every once in a while, but there are a few that I absolutely love and check everyday. Back at the beginning of the year, I came across Nei nei. Nei nie is a Morman woman named Stephanie who has blogged for years. Her blog gained in popularity this past year because she was almost killed in a plane crash. It was a big story because the blog community rallied to support her.

She is a wife and mother of four. I love reading her blog because she is in love with her husband and writes about it all of the time. It reminds me to be grateful for the wonderful husband that I have and to remember to take time for just the two of us. She was badly burned (over 80%) in the plane crash and is just getting used to her new self. It's beautiful to read about how she is learning to embrace the beauty in her new face and body. This is one of my favorite posts, but they are all good.

The other blog I like to share with you is Nei Nei's sister, CJane. She's also blogged for years. She updated Nei Nei's blog for the six or so months she was in the hospital. Not only that, but she took care of 3 of Stephanie's children during that time. She has the same strong love of family that her sister has, but she's more "spicy". She also have a great sense of style. Everytime she post a picture, I think, "I want that dress, those earrings, that clock, etc." She inspires me to be bolder in my choices about that kind of thing.

These are two of my favorite blogs ever. Go check them out. And come back next week for another favorite!

Free Stuff

Coupon for free Oscar Mayer hot dogs....http://kraft.promotions.com/ombeeffranks/front.do

Free Rachael Ray Nourish dog food...http://www.rachaelray.com/pets/nutrish.php

Great site!

I found a great new Publix site. Not only does it have the sales and the coupon matches, but you can print a shopping list with your items and the coupons on it! Check out Publix4Pennies.

Kraft coupons!

Kraft has recently released some great coupons. You can print them at coupons.com, smartsource.com, and at Kraft. That's 6 sets (2 each) that you can print. This week there are several of the things on sale on Publix...Ritz crackers, cheese, etc. The coupons at coupons.com expire in June, but the ones at smart source don't expire until August. That's 3 months to save!

Almost free cereal and a good recipe

This week at Publix you can get Post Trail Mix Crunch for $.10. There is a printable coupon for $2 off. The cereal is usually $4.19, but it's buy one, get one free this week so that make is 2.10 a box. With the coupon it's only $.10. Even if you only eat a bowl or two of it, it's a cheap breakfast. You can use the calories you save to try out this great, easy recipe for Lazy Lasagna. The raviolis are on sale at Publix for the whole month, plus there is a coupon. This is one of my husband's favorite things. It's makes an easy dinner if you serve it with bread and a salad, plus it makes more than enough for leftover lunches. Try it out and let me know if your family likes it!

Green thumb

I have been thinking since the fall that I wanted to grow a small garden. All of my grandparents used to garden and it was always fun to help them. I wanted my child to have the same experience of eating something she had helped grow. Plus we have a hard time getting her to have variety in her diet (she mostly only eats yogurt) so I thought this might help.

We have a rather large back yard for a house in a neighborhood, but it's all sloped. I started reading on the internet and decided to do raised bed gardening. Think a box filled with dirt. The soil warms up faster, making your plants grow faster. With that narrowed down, I started trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to do it. All of the forums kept mentioning this book called Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I found it at our library and am now going to buy it. Following his method you can grow enough vegetables for 1 person in a square that's 4 feet by 4 feet. The only tools you need are a bucket, a trowel, and a small shovel. It's not about making long rows in a garden that will overwhelm you; it's about tending a small space efficiently to make the amount you could realistically eat. You can read more here.

While I was researching I also found this tool at Gardener's Supply Company. The garden here is set up to be 3 feet by 6 feet. You can either look at and edit a premade template or you can make your own. You can print it out and it includes information about each vegetable its particular needs. It is very helpful if you don't know exactly how much room a pepper plant will take up (about 1 foot). They have plans for making a salad garden, one with all salsa ingredients, etc.

So far I've spent $16 dollars on the lumber to make 2 4x4x8 beds. At Lowe's they'll cut the wood for you and each piece was 16 feet long. I also bought some linseed oil to seal the wood. Lots on internet sites said you could use landscape timbers which are a little cheaper, but there was some conflicting information about whether the chemicals were safe for growing food. I'm trying to do it all organically (we'll see how that goes), so I thought it would be better to stay away from that. I've also bought some peat moss that was $10 for a huge bag of it. I bought 12 cubic feet of Jungle Grow organic gardening soil for about $40. I'm not sure if that's going to be enough to fill the boxes or not (I kind of doubt it) but it will certainly get me started.

As for what we are going to grow, I think we've decided on tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, carrots, marigolds (they keep pests away), and a couple of other things yet to be determined. It's too early to plant about half of those things, so I'm not in a big hurry to get it planted. I oiled to lumber yesterday so it should be ready to nail together today. I'm pretty excited.

I would like to encourage you to give it a try. If you start with just one 4x4 box and you hate it, then you're out just a little time and money. If you like it, it's very easy to add to. It's not too late to get started; in fact, it's just the right time. If you're not sure about growing your own food, you should check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's one of the best books I've ever read.

Embrace the spring fever and plant a garden!

Diapers

Walgreen's has a great diaper deal this week. Even if you don't have babies, maybe you know someone who does (or is about to!), or you can donate them. There is a $5 printable coupon at coupons.com for Huggies Gentle Care Diaper Product. If your Walgreen's takes printable coupons you can get 2 Jumbo packs and a large thing of wipes for $1. Here's how it works:

2 Huggies Gentle Care Jumbo Pack Diapers @ $10
1 Huggies Gentle Care Wipes $6
3 $5.00 printable coupons

$20+$6=$26-$15=$11

When you buy $25 worth of Huggies products you get a $10 Register Reward. This is good on your next purchase. If you need it the same day, just do 2 transactions. Do the math. That's $1 for all of the diapers and wipes! Let me know if you get the deal to work for you!

It's arrived!

Spring is here (I hope)! To celebrate, it's time to bring out the flip flops! The Gap stores (Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap) is having a special give and get event. For every puchase you make, they'll give 5% to Teach for America. The get part is a 30% discount for you on your total purchase! You just print out the bar code here and take it to as many of the stores as you would like. Just think how cute your toes will look in those new Old Navy flip flops. It may be time for a pedicure....

Expired!

What do I do with all of these expired coupons? I mean, I spent time cutting them out and I hate to throw them away. Well, I say use them to help someone else. At military bases overseas, they can be used at the commisary. You can spend a couple of bucks a month to feel good about saving a soldier's family money. If you're interested, you can read all about it here.

Grocery budget

Just to keep myself motivated, I thought I'd give a grocery budget update. I had hoped to spend $100 per week. For January I only spent $300, so that was very good. I've been a little lax here in February, and spent probably closer to $500, but I haven't really been keeping track very well. I guess that's the problem! We'll hope for better in March.

I think that I would like to start a coupon train. By that I mean, I put the coupons that I'm not going to use in an envelop and mail it to you. You take out the ones you might need and add those you're not going to use. Then you mail it to the next person. We could also include a list of those that you would really like to have (a specific item you have to buy or always need coupons for). I know I have a lot of diaper coupons that I don't use, but several of my friends probably could use them. Is anyone interested in this? Leave me a comment and I'll organize it if there's interest.

Free lunch

If you stop by Kashi, they'll send you a coupon for a free frozen entree. I have no idea how these taste, but even if it's just alright, that's a free lunch or dinner. Stop by and request yours.

Cosmetics

If you're out and about, you should stop by your local Dillards. Apparently there was a class action suit against several of the big make-up companies and they were ordered to give away free cosmetics. Google it if you want to know the specifics. Otherwise, stop by, sign your name and select your free product. At my Dillard's there was a small list as a good bit of things were already gone. I ended up with some Ralph Lauren Romance shower gel. Not bad for my lunch break! Let me know what you get!

Suds up!

Head over to http://www.suave.com/nomics/index.html today only to get a coupon in the mail for a free bottle of shampoo or other suave styling product. We use the little kid 2 in 1 at my house. It's smells so good, I use it sometimes!

You got a package

Back in my college days, if you got something in the mail bigger than your tiny mail box, your name was posted on a list so you would know to go pick up your package. This was a very exciting event in my little college community. It could be a care package from your grandmother or it could be an aol cd. Either way, it made you giddy with excitement to see your name on the list. Some of my friend and I used to order samples on the internet just to get stuff in the mail. This was how I ended up with a mypoints account, I think. I used to play around on there occasionally. Fast forward. I read on some blog that you can get points on MyPoints for printing and using coupons. These are the exact same coupons that I've been using and printing without getting points. So I signed up again. I think you should too. Everyone I know can join, we can save money using the coupons, and then spend them on gift certificates we can use to do fun things together. Nothing could be better. Check it out. Let me know and I'll refer you.

Forget resolutions!

Ben and Jerry's wants you to get some ice cream. If you sign up here, they'll send you a coupon for $3 off a pint of ice cream. That makes it either free or close to it, depending on where you shop!

This ice cream is on sale at Walgreen's this week for $3, so you can get it for free!