I have been trying to get into couponing for the last year. It has been fun, a struggle, and not as rewarding as I thought it might.
But, I realized that even though NONE of my area stores double coupons (I have called every store within a 100 mile ratius), I am saving money. Just not as much as some of the "coupon goddesses" can. :)
So, over the last year I have tried several ways of keeping my coupons organized. I hate when things aren't organized, it just drives me nuts.
I used to have our dvds organized in alphabetical order, and I loved it! The compulsion to organize the dvds went out the window, though, when I was doing it 3-4 times a day after Jack learned to crawl. Not fun.
Anway, so I will share with you the methods of organization I have tried over the last year and my thoughts on its effectiveness.
First, a ziploc bag. No good. I spent so much time trying to find the coupon I needed that I got tired of it, real quick.
Second, a binder with baseball card pages. Eh, not a fan. Like I said before, I like things in order and it was SO difficult to keep this organized. Every time I used a coupon I would have to adjust the others so I could maintain order. Don't even get me started on adding coupons. Talk about a nightmare. Plus, it is such a big thing to cart around with you. Having 2 babies, plus the binder, didn't leave much room for the items I wanted to purchase.
Third, a small blue organizer. It was alright. I organized the coupons by department, and that just doesn't work (at least for me). I would still spend a lot of time searching for a coupon because I found an unadvertised sale.
And finally, my favorite (so far), a index card box! I made my own "file" because I didn't have the insert you can buy (when I get an idea, I just run with it...and waiting for a trip to the store just didn't sit well with me. HAHA!).
Success! I get my coupons alphabetized. Failure, I still didn't know what coupons I had. :(
At this point I realized I needed to create a spread sheet of all my coupons. That way, when I am at the store, I can simply look at my spread sheet (on my phone....or in print. It just depends on if my husband used all the ink, again.) and know, at a glance, whether I had a coupon. :)
It works like a charm.
Yes, I know what you might be thinking....that is a lot of work. But, it only took me about 2 hours of interrupted work to organize all 175 coupons I currently have on hand. You could even make quicker work of the spread sheet by finding a web-site that "previews" the upcoming weeks ad. Simply copy and paste, and you have your coupons updated. (Here is a great web-site!)
So, that's how I organized my coupons. How do you? Do you have any tips for me?
whew.. I am into couponing big time and you are doing it a hard way. I does take awhile to get into but so worth it. I go to the local drug store and they pay me to shop there now. I save at least 51% of my bill each week in coupons and deals but most of the time more than that. Its fun when you get into it. I try to beat what I did the week prior.
ReplyDeleteoops.. forgot to tell you how I do it. I do the binders with page protectors in them. I saw the inserts from the paper each week (I buy 4 papers each Sunday) and label them so each week I have another page protector. Then I go to southernsavers.com and each week she has a list of all the deals in the area. I click on hwat I need, add other things, cut the coupons she says to cut and I am done.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome. I am still using the small organzer(mine is pink). I am not liking it too much as I still have to sort through a ton of coupons in order to find the one I want at the store. MAkes for a long shopping trip.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a recipie box.
Do you put that in your purse and take them out at the store or get the coupons out before going shopping that you know you're going to use?
ReplyDeleteI always bring it in with me when I don't have the kids, because then I can spend a little more time. Otherwise I just grab out the coupons I need. The coupon box stays in my car, and I organize the new coupons in while waiting at the doctor, etc. :)
ReplyDeleteOMG, I was going to create a spreadsheet! I'm a spreadsheet fanatic, I use them to keep track of everything...except coupons. I'm a like-minded person, so the spreadsheet that I created and gave up on was one to use that would tell me which store to use the coupons to get the best deal.
ReplyDeleteIf you need me to tweak it or if anyone that is not familiar with spreadsheets would like one created for them, I'll be happy to do it. (No charge) Just let me know.
Monica