organizing your coupons...

so you've clipped out all your coupons. what now? well, you have to be organized or you won't save any money and the coupons won't get used! today i'm going to share a few ideas on how to organize all those coupons!
here's what i use right now. i have several manilla folders labeled with my stores (walgreens, walmart, target, kroger, heb and so on) and i have clipped them all together with a giant binder clip. when i go thru my papers and blogs, i make a list for the items i want from each store and i collect my coupons for those items and paper clip them in the appropriate folder. i can just pick up the whole stack and run to the stores knowing exactly what i have coupons for! if you are a scrapbooker, you could decorate the folders and make them really creative!

this is what i think i'm going to start using. a pretty accordian file! that way i can close it all up and nothing will slide out. i would use it the same way as the manilla folders.

here's what most people use for coupons. i find this way hard to use because i don't have the ones i want ready to go. i think it takes more time in the store when you use this method.

i've also used this method after i've clipped them all out:i have the tabs all labeled with the different items such as: dairy, drinks, cans, mixes, bread, frozen, and so on. i started out clipping out every coupon, but once you start reading all the blogs, you need to know which insert certain coupons came out of. once they are all cut out, you have no way of knowing. so, this is the method i have started using for my inserts...i have a plastic crate with hanging file folders that fit right inside. i label the folders for each type of insert: red plum, smart sources, etc. then i write the date on the front of the insert so i know what day they came out and stack my multiple copies inside each folder. (yes, i buy more than one newspaper and get extras from my family so i have multiple copies of each coupon) then when a coupon is listed on a blog, i know exactly which insert to look in for that coupon. this idea came from www.theobsessiveshopper.net! she also says to throw out inserts that are over 5 months old because all the coupons will be expired. that's much easier than looking thru 100's of little clipped coupons!

i learned TONS from the "system" on the obsessive shopper's site! she has videos that make it so easy to understand! here's one more method that is really popular. the binder method. use baseball card sheets to store all your clipped coupons. use dividers for catagories such as dairy, bread, frozen, cans and so on. then on each sheet, label what type of product it is. for example, under condiments, label sheets ketchup, mayo, mustard, salad dressing, etc. then you know if you need ketchup, you can flip to condiments and see all the ketchup coupons you have on one clear page!

no matter how you organize them, coupons do need to be organized. once you get a system down, you will be amazed at how much money you can save! feel free to post any ideas you have!

Walgreens register rewards...

now that i've been getting into couponing, i wanted to figure out walgreen's register rewards. i googled "$5 walgreen's challenge" and TONS of couponing blogs came up explaining how to do it, so i thought i'd give it a try!

now to get the ball rolling, you do have to spend a little out of pocket. my pumpking carving kit was something i had to get for the boy's school tomorrow, but if you take that off, i did hit the $5.19 mark ($.20 was tax)!
Here's how i did it:
Zantac Sale price $8.99 used $5 off coupon making it $3.99
Hall's Drops sale price $1 used a $.50 off coupon making them $.50
Trident gum sale price 2 for $2 used a $1.50 off 2 coupon making them $.50 ($.25 each!)
Pumking carving kit $1.99

Total: 6.98+.20 tax = $7.18

Now here's where it gets good!!!
Zantac earned $9 register reward (rr)
Hall's earned $1rr
Trident gum earned $1rr
MAKING IT $11 BACK IN RR'S!!!

the rr's are good to use on your next purchase. so i MADE $3.82 making all my stuff basically free with an overage! now i couldn't pay for that stuff with those rr's, BUT, on my next trip (and some people just do multiple purchases) i can get $11 worth of stuff for free now!!!

i plan on going back tomorrow and getting some more rr earning items so i can "roll" my rr's! right now, i've got it planned out to where i can get $58.15 worth of (SALE PRICES, it would be way more retail) stuff for only the original $7.18 out of pocket (oop)!!!

i suggest googling "$5 walgreens challenge" and "$5 cvs challenge" to learn all about these reward programs! it's amazing how much you can get for FREE!!!

tomorrow i HAVE to find a place to store all this free stuff! lol! with all my stockpiling/couponing, my pantry is super full!!! that's a whole other organizing story!

AWESOME couponing website!!!

with all the research i've been doing lately about couponing and stockpiling, i came across a few awesome websites!
Fun With Food Storage Network is a group of four friends that have really created an awesome network of tips and systems for food storage. now, i'm not planning to have a year's worth of food stored up right now, but there are amazing ideas on all their websites.

there's one site about food storage and stockpiling, one about couponing and saving on your groceries and then one that has recipes for all the foods you buy!

i just spent all morning learning about the "system" on the Obsessive Shopper's site. she has created an excel system to track your coupons, make grocery lists that AUTOMATICALLY adds up your coupons and total for your trip, and you can track sale prices to know when items will be at a great price again!

What i LOVE about all their sites are the videos!!! i'm a visual learner and this just makes my day! they all walk you thru every step of the WHOLE idea of stockpiling and couponing! I highly recommend starting at the beginning and go all the way thru! You will learn TONS about how to use coupons and get the best deals!

Gettting my stockpile done!

most couponers work on their stockpiles slowly, but being impatient, i just had to get a good start!! after my 2 store/$20 challenge, my hubby was so impressed with what i have learned about couponing, he challenged me to "how much can you get for $100?".

so, i spent a good part of yesterday figuring out what basics we always use and what all should be in our stockpile. then i made my list and checked all the usual coupon blogs and websites and sale papers and gathered all my coupons! then i spent 3.5 hours today at 3 stores and i must say, i think i've done amazing!

here's all i got:This was my stockpile group from Kroger:
2 hot dog buns
4 boxes of saltines
1 ranch dressing
5 goldfish packs
1 box of teabags
1 veg. oil
1 ketchup
1 grape jelly
3 peanut butters
5 rice mix packets
1 bag of spaghetti
1 bag of mac noodles
4 boxes of cocoa puffs
4 boxes of honey nut cheerios
2 mac and cheese
1 raisin bran
4 cinnamon rolls
3 frozen veggies
1 toothpaste
2 boxes of capri suns
total: $62.62

Here's my stockpile trip to HEB:
4 loaves of bread
5 boxes of sandwich bags
6 tuna packets
total: 11.86 (would have been $10.86, but one coupon didn't ring up. CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE YOU LEAVE!!!)

here's my target trip:

10 chex mix (went back for more!!!)
1 box of freezer bags
2 deodorants
2 deodorant matching sprays

THIS IS THE BEST ONE YET!!! TOTAL: $1.35!!!

My stock pile trip budget was $100 and all together, i spent $89.29 on stockpile items!!! that's $10.71 under budget! i think hubby will be impressed with that, huh??? LOL!!!

i also decided that we are going to spend around $50 a week on groceries from now on. we have been spending $150 every two weeks, but had no stockpile. our cupboards were bare the last few days before grocery day!!! this is why i jump started my stockpile. my goal, when i get really good at this, is to only spend $35 a week on groceries by jan.

here's my "grocery trip" for this week (which i also did today while i was out):
(some items are in the other picture)
2 bags of pretzels
1 chocolate syrup
1 bag of mini carrots
4 4pks of pudding
1 oxyclean spray
4 cans of biscuits
3 bags of shredded cheese
3 block of cheddar
2.5 dozen eggs
1 bag of mini bagels
2 gallons of milk
1 box of prilosec
2 pork loins
2 packages of pork chops
1 pack of chicken legs
5 lbs of ground beef
1 50ct box of cookies
total: 63.45 - $10.71 under stockpile budget= 52.74!!! only $2.74 over!!

i went to kroger this week because they are having amazing deals on the 10 for $10's and meat! when i got home and looked at my receipt good, i realized they even added more savings on top of the sale prices for using my kroger card. TONS of stuff ending up being 50 cents and under or free!!! i also found several free coupons in the store. some one had left them on items i guess they weren't going to use and in the meat dept., the manager came over and told me about some $1 off pork coupons that where "hidden" under the packages. pay it forward and leave coupons you aren't going to use around the store too!!! there was just too much math to put what coupons i used up today, but check out some of the blogs and you'll see them!!!

i'm so excited about this!!! i'm going to keep track of our savings and start putting that toward a vacation (some place magical in florida, hint hint!) and see how fast i can save up and take my family!!!

i'll post my trips every week and post what coupons i use, so subscribe to keep track!!!

Organizing Finances

With the economy the way it is, we are all watching our finances closely. Here's a few ideas we use around our house...

Bills:
We get my husband's paycheck twice a month. This makes it easy to break bills down to 2 bill days a month. I budget EVERYTHING on paper BEFORE his paycheck even comes in. I started out by breaking down when all of our bills were due and split them between the two checks as evenly as possible. This makes it easy for bill day to know exactly which bills are getting paid that time. Don't forget to budget in spending/fun money for you. Pay yourself first and put money into savings first too. This sounds hard when you are living paycheck to paycheck, but if you start doing this, you will start accumalating money in savings and after a few months, you will be surprised that you are not living paycheck to paycheck any more!

I'm also an excel spreadsheet addict and have created spreadsheets for everything! I have one to keep track of our bills and one to keep track of our spending. Excel is an easy program to learn and you can even set it up to do all the math for you!!! On our spending spreadsheets (I have one for personal checking and one for my website businesses), I enter in reciepts when I spend something and color code them for either supplies, fun spending, homegoods, kids and so on. This way at the end of the month, I can look and see which color has the most and I can tell if I've gone a little crazy in the fun money dept or if I've been good!

The point is that you NEED to pay attention to your finances. Don't take the "what I don't know won't hurt me" attitude, because it will!!! Be prepared and plan ahead. If you have a plan you will be in control of where your money goes and it won't be as scary when emergencies come up! Get $1000 in an emergency fund as soon as possible. You never know when one may come up. Plan your paycheck/bills and spending. Don't be afraid to pay yourself first! You work hard for that money and deserve it! When you have a spending plan, you don't need to feel guilty when you buy something special for yourself! Oh, and get those credit cards paid off and cut up as quickly as possible too! We have NO CREDIT CARDS!!! We don't use them. We don't get in over our heads with them. We pay CASH (or write a check) for EVERYTHING! With an emergency fund, we don't need them! How would you feel if you had no credit card bill? Pretty good, huh?

I have more tips on budgeting in my ebook, "12 Weeks to an Organized Home"! To purchase the instant download and get started today, please click the buy now button over on the right!