(Click here for a full list of posts in this feature: Couponing 101)
I cut my coupons weekly. I’ve just recently found that the hour while Laynie’s at dance practice on Thursday nights gives me enough time to stay caught up with clipping my coupons. There’s a little coffee shop that I go to where I sit and clip. I’m sure people are amazed at my stacks and stacks of coupons that I take with me, but I don’t care. I’m sure it’s interesting to watch me with my MP3 player on my head and a pile of newspaper ads and inserts spread on the table, as I quietly snip-snip-snip away (and sip-sip-sip on coffee or hot tea).
There are many methods for storing your coupons, and different ways work for different people. I have one friend who cuts every coupon and files them in a baseball-card storage binder. I have another friend who never cuts them at all but saves her whole inserts and files them by date in hanging folders. I have another friend who only clips very specific brands and keeps them in a cookie jar in her kitchen (then she passes her picked-through inserts to me, which I very gratefully grab). A neighbor of mine cuts out maybe two coupons and then passes her inserts to me, too (she only goes for the high fiber or low fat or organic food coupons and I appreciate getting her leftover inserts too). Really you should just find what works best for you! Here’s what I do:
I always cut out my favorite things to buy from my SmartSource, Red Plum, P&G Brandsaver, and my printed coupons from coupons.com, redplum.com, and coolsavings.com (my three favs), and I save them in a little file folder thing that’s always kept in my purse. The things you’ll usually find in my coupon folder are things like Curel body lotion and Aveeno baby lotion, Herbal Essences shampoo, Nice ‘n Easy haircolor, baby wipes, Angel Soft toilet paper, rice, tomato soup, macaroni and cheese, pizza, Secret deodorant, and other stuff that I always buy. I usually even know approximately how many of each coupon I have in there at any given time, LOL. Yes, it makes my purse heavier (because it’s packed) – but I always have them on hand. It has 12 sections, and I’ve labeled the sections like this:
*baby (now just used for baby wash and baby wipes, but used to be where I put diaper coupons)
*personal care (stuff like deodorant, shave gel, and Kotex, etc…)
*household & non-grocery (toilet paper, paper towels, cat litter, etc.)
*medicine
*cleaning
*bakery/produce
*dairy/refrigerated
*frozen
*breakfast (cereal, Poptarts, cereal bars, my Slimfast shakes, etc)
*bottled/canned (juice, canned vegetables, apple sauce, etc)
*packaged (Hamburger helper, pasta, rice, potato chips, etc)
*store-specific (my CVS ECB, rainchecks, catalinas, etc…)
Then, after I’ve cut out my favorites, I save and store the whole inserts. I stick a sticky note on top of them with the date of the insert publication, and then file them into overstuffed folders labeled like this:
*SmartSource
*RedPlum
*P&G
*Others
These folders stay stacked in my kitchen within easy access for when I need them. When I find out that I can get a product for free or really cheap (see my weekly grocery & drug store deals lists) – then I can quickly and easily find the coupon, clip it, and take it with me to the store.
Coming soon: How to Read and Use your Weekly Store Ads.
(Click here for a full list of posts in this feature: Couponing 101)
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