Okay, a lot people organize their coupons in different ways. I do what is most common, sort of.
I have two three ring binders. One huge one with the storage for pens and stuff. That is my main one. Inside that, I have dividers and baseball card holders. My dividers have 12 sections and I use 11 of them. Some people use more, some use less. My sections are as follows: Refrigerated goods, frozen goods, baking isle, cereal isle, seasonings, canned/boxed goods, ready to eat foods, beauty products, health products, cleaning products, and all else. Okay, so obviously yogurt goes in the fridge and chex goes in the cereal, but to make it easier, I have noticed that most stores keep a lot of items on the same isles. So you will find kids gummy snacks in the cereal isle, therefore in my binder it goes in the cereal section. Vitamins go in the health whereas deoderant goes in the beauty. Simple enough. You can find what works best for you if you decide to do this.
My other binder is much smaller. It's a five-star as well, but it doesn't zip, it's has a cloth edge where the bindings are, and it comes with paper and dividers. Two of the dividers have a thing so you can slide in normal papers and it has a part to hold 3x5 cards. Three of the dividers are kind of like manilla envelopes. I use the two dividers for when I prep and plan to go to a store. So I go through all of my coupons (I will explain this in the next post) and pick out what I am going to use. The printed list I make (you don't have to print) goes in the main part and the coupons all go in the 3x5 part. The other sections will be for store coupons. Such as Walgreens, Target, and restaurant coupons I get.
Another organization method I have seen is using one of the small old fashion organizers that fans out. They sell them now specifically for couponers or you can buy one for 3x5 cards or whatever. A lot of people in my town use those it seems like.
The last type of organization I have seen is the full on file holder. It's where you take a filing cabinet with several files. The drop in ones with the hooks are used for months. The individual files hold magazines and coupon inserts. The people use them put the name and date on them.
The only thing I can stress to help cut back on time when going through this is to keep a master list. If you have a gadget handy, there are apps to store information. I have a coupons app on mine (not the coupons.com app which will let you browse and send coupons to your e-mail) that tells me when mine are going to expire or have expired. It seems like a hassle, but believe me, this saves time. I'm not sure if you need to do this if you do the huge filing cabinet, but I would assume most do. There's also excel or just a piece of paper.
All you really need is a way to glance quickly at said list and see if you have a coupon. It's so much easier than seeing an unadvertised sale and flipping through your binder wondering where you put it. It's also much easier when you plan your outings and shaves some time off (it doesn't make completely easy).
I do this so when I have time at a store, I can bring in both binders and really browse. I also have the option of only looking for things on my list when things are tight. You don't need two binders. Everything works slightly different for everyone and you will get your groove after a few weeks (or in my case, a few months since I had to figure it out on my own).
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Couponing: How to Get Started
Okay, I am a jump all in a project, fail, and either change a few things or stop doing it all together type of gal. I have over the last couple of years learn to slow down. I am also not the type of girl to just do it without learning from tons of other people. I seriously use Google like it's a drug to find out information and I research everything from better ways to store yarn to seeing how people organize things like coupons.
I did the same thing when I started couponing. I already owned a printer, but I bought more ink. I set it up and I started printing things like a mad woman. But I didn't buy anything to organize it or figure out how to best use them. I just did it. I went to a few stores with all my coupons and literally went through each isle for hours before realizing that I was spending more money than before and some items with coupons were still more expensive than the store brand. I went back home and did more research.
I am still not perfect, but I have a system now. So, I am going to help those of you who have been asking me questions start couponing. Those who live near me can still actually see me do this in person or ask for me to help.
In order to coupon, you need coupons. Where do you get them? Well, pretty much everywhere. Here is a list of where I get mine:
coupons.com is a great starting point. You print them out. You can download their free app and send coupons to your e-mail to print out. You can get e-mails with new coupons they have. And they have a ton. When you get the e-mail, there are often several links, I would click on each one if you want multiples or to make sure that you can get certain ones IF YOU HAVE the time and patience. I usually just click on the link with an item I want at that moment and leave the rest alone.
Groceries you may have might have coupons on them. Also cleaning supplies sometimes come with coupons.
Facebook pages for favorite brands will often post coupons that you can either print out or they will mail it to you. Those go quick so don't be surprised if you see the tab and it's already empty.
Products websites also have coupons from time to time. Also, if you join their club (or whatever they like to call it) they will e-mail you telling you they have them available.
savingstar.com will send coupons directly to your membership card to selected stores. They work differently than other coupons. Rather than take the money off right then and there, they send it to you after the purchase has been made once you save over $5. We chose paypal since we already have that set up and we use it. Once you save up more than $5, they send you an e-mail and you click a button to have it sent.
Newspapers is another obvious way to go. Where I live, our towns newspaper does NOT have coupons. You can, however, find some in the major cities newspapers. I have heard of them being sold at local gas stations, but I have not actually wanted to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to check it out. A friend here has several of those papers sent to her house and she sells the ones she doesn't use to friends. She has a whole system set up for it. I personally drive out to a city about half an hour away and buy one there every Sunday. This is an awesome store that I will talk about later, but I do my shopping while I am there as well.
All You Magazine (sold at Walmart only) also has coupons in it. You can actually open it up and one of the first pages has a list of the coupons available so you can decide if you want to buy one or more than one.
Stores websites that I use or their Sunday ad also have have coupons. These include Target, Walmart, Harris Teeter, and many more.
Tomorrow's post is going to be about how to store these coupons that you just printed or bought. There are many more places to get coupons, these are just the places I use to get coupons. Don't worry, you do NOT have to use every coupon you get. Oh, and if you want to, you can set up a seperate account to learn about deals and get coupons via e-mail. I didn't. But my e-mail does fill up rather quickly.
I did the same thing when I started couponing. I already owned a printer, but I bought more ink. I set it up and I started printing things like a mad woman. But I didn't buy anything to organize it or figure out how to best use them. I just did it. I went to a few stores with all my coupons and literally went through each isle for hours before realizing that I was spending more money than before and some items with coupons were still more expensive than the store brand. I went back home and did more research.
I am still not perfect, but I have a system now. So, I am going to help those of you who have been asking me questions start couponing. Those who live near me can still actually see me do this in person or ask for me to help.
In order to coupon, you need coupons. Where do you get them? Well, pretty much everywhere. Here is a list of where I get mine:
coupons.com is a great starting point. You print them out. You can download their free app and send coupons to your e-mail to print out. You can get e-mails with new coupons they have. And they have a ton. When you get the e-mail, there are often several links, I would click on each one if you want multiples or to make sure that you can get certain ones IF YOU HAVE the time and patience. I usually just click on the link with an item I want at that moment and leave the rest alone.
Groceries you may have might have coupons on them. Also cleaning supplies sometimes come with coupons.
Facebook pages for favorite brands will often post coupons that you can either print out or they will mail it to you. Those go quick so don't be surprised if you see the tab and it's already empty.
Products websites also have coupons from time to time. Also, if you join their club (or whatever they like to call it) they will e-mail you telling you they have them available.
savingstar.com will send coupons directly to your membership card to selected stores. They work differently than other coupons. Rather than take the money off right then and there, they send it to you after the purchase has been made once you save over $5. We chose paypal since we already have that set up and we use it. Once you save up more than $5, they send you an e-mail and you click a button to have it sent.
Newspapers is another obvious way to go. Where I live, our towns newspaper does NOT have coupons. You can, however, find some in the major cities newspapers. I have heard of them being sold at local gas stations, but I have not actually wanted to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to check it out. A friend here has several of those papers sent to her house and she sells the ones she doesn't use to friends. She has a whole system set up for it. I personally drive out to a city about half an hour away and buy one there every Sunday. This is an awesome store that I will talk about later, but I do my shopping while I am there as well.
All You Magazine (sold at Walmart only) also has coupons in it. You can actually open it up and one of the first pages has a list of the coupons available so you can decide if you want to buy one or more than one.
Stores websites that I use or their Sunday ad also have have coupons. These include Target, Walmart, Harris Teeter, and many more.
Tomorrow's post is going to be about how to store these coupons that you just printed or bought. There are many more places to get coupons, these are just the places I use to get coupons. Don't worry, you do NOT have to use every coupon you get. Oh, and if you want to, you can set up a seperate account to learn about deals and get coupons via e-mail. I didn't. But my e-mail does fill up rather quickly.
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