How Do I Organize It?

The "it" in this case is all of the coupons and stuff ---- a few of you have asked me to be more explicit about this ---- so here goes.

First ---- I use the Coupon Mom system for dealing with the flyers each week. They come in the newspaper each Sunday. I pull them out of the paper and put them in a file folder marked with just the date. So coupons from this coming Sunday will be in a folder marked 4/26. That's it!! I'm done. I don't look at them. I don't sort them. I don't cut them out. Nothing. Just file them by the date. Later on when my mother-in-law gives me a pile of inserts that she's been saving for me, I'll file each of them in the appropriate folder. (Hint: the date is printed in super teeny-tiny print along the spine of the insert) I keep a file crate (the cheapie kind from Staples) with all of the folders in order by date.

Next --- I have some coupons that have come from other places. Those need to be dealt with as well. I have a folder marked All You for the coupons that come from that magazine. Another folder marked Shaws (they tend to have a lot of store coupons and booklets) and another marked CVS for the Beauty Book coupons from them.
I also have a zippered binder filled with photo inserts and money collecting inserts (from a hobby shop). I've put tabs on them with general categories: hair, dental, cosmetics, snacks, beverages, etc. The loose coupons that come from all sorts of places go in these. These are the coupons from the blinkie machines in the supermarket, from tearpads in the drugstore or supermarket, from the boxes of products I've already purchased, peelies, and other assorted places. This is also where coupons end up if I've clipped them for a deal and then I don't do the deal for some reason.

Finally, I have a little zippered notebook that was meant to hold a calendar/organizer. I got it for a few dollars at an odd lot store. I've thrown away the calendar stuff and filled it with pocket inserts and business card holder sheets from Staples.
Each store I frequent has its own page. The business card holders keep all of my cards (each of the supermarkets has its own card, plus CVS --- its too many to manage in my wallet). The little pocket insert holds any rewards from the store that I need to remember to use (ECBs, RegisterRewards, catalinas). The other side of the pocket is where I put the coupons that I'll need for that store for the week.

Once a week, I sit down and make my lists from all of the stuff I find on the internet and from the flyers the stores provide. I'm experimenting right now with a cut and paste operation into a Publisher document that gives me a little booklet that fits right into my little notebook. I'm not sure I'm liking it --- it often isn't giving me enough space and it comes out in a font too tiny to read sometimes. I used to do it by hand on a folded piece of paper with columns down the side to keep track of money going out and coming back to me (ECBs etc again). We'll see which method will stick. My list goes into my little notebook and travels with me through the week. Then I pull the coupons from my big file (that 's why the date is generally posted with the shopping list. Its posted like that on most every site around the web on this topic -- the few who don't provide the date are more frustrating than they're worth) --- I stick the coupons into the appropriate pocket of my little organizer ---and I'm good to go!!

Shaws: Week of 4/12

Shaws doubles coupons up to $1.00 ALL THE TIME. That's part of what makes them a good deal for me.

This is a slow week at Shaws--- next week is promising to be a much busier one from the previews of the flyer.

Here's my shopping list for this week (remember Shaws week runs from Friday thru Thursday. We're in the middle of the week already.)



Strawberries 16oz $1.49

Del Monte Pineapple $1.99

GG Boxed Veggies- 10/$10

Asparagus $1.49lb

Near East Rice Pilaf 10/$10

Baked Lays or Sun Chips $2.99 (Ginger loves these!!)

Philidelphia Block Cream Cheese 10/$10

Margherita Prosciutto $8.99lb

Margherita Salami $3.99lb

Sobe is 10/$10 --- there are coupons out there, I had cut them ahead of time and am not sure where they came from --but they end up free)

Kens salad dressing 16 oz or 7 oz lite accents (.35/1 from 3/8 SS, also out there $1/1 and $2/1 Not sure if they are unexpired though)



*- BOGO SALE -*

Sorrento Ricotta Cheese B1G1-There was a blinkie coupon $1 off these recently.

Shaws Russett Potatoes B1G1

Edy's Ice Cream B1G1

Sargento Shredded Cheese 2/$4

Supermarket Excursions: How I Save and Even Make Money at the Grocery Store too!!

I don't usually post my supermarket excursions -- but a few of you have asked specifically for them. This may get frustrating --- you all live in very different areas of NE with different supermarkets to work with. I shop both at home and in my work area --- so I shop a wide variety of markets (which you may or may not have). And just to frustrate everyone further -- I don't shop in the same markets every week.
Here's what I do:

1. I sit down with each of the fliers from the markets that are available to me (that would be Price Chopper, Stop and Shop, Shaws, Big Y, Shop Rite, and A&P). I make lists of what's in the fliers that interests me and the prices
2. As if find an item in another flier that is a better deal than where I first wrote it down, I cross it off the previous list and add it to the new list.
3. I am a complete Slickdeals addict. After I've looked through the fliers and formed a tentative idea of what the deals are --- I go to Slickdeals and read through the forums quickly (some of them are very active lists) to see what I might have missed and to get my coupon matches started.
4. Finally I use a database such as CouponMom's to double check for coupons to match my list.

Each week, I'm looking for deals on fresh produce, dairy and other things that are difficult to stockpile. I'm also on the lookout for free food!! If the free food is something that my family enjoys eating, it goes home and in the stockpile in our pantry. If not, then it comes home and goes to the food pantry to help feed people who need food. (I am a huge proponent of being generous with the time and skill of couponing!!)

My pantry is usually very well stocked with staples such as pasta, tuna, beans, dried fruit, flour, oil, rice, etc. Most of these were either FREE or at a very, very low cost. I plan our eating for the week around the staples in my pantry and the deals on fresh produce, dairy, and the occasional meat.

So --- by popular demand --- I'll begin posting my shopping lists for the supermarkets I'm working with that week (remember -- not all markets every week -- can you imagine the time it would take??)

A Husband's Tale: Married to a Couponer

Ryan in Virginia has written one of the funniest, down to earth posts about life with a couponing wife. You have got to read it!!

Go here -- but first --- go to the bathroom, and then get some kleenex - I promise you, the laughter will cause tears to run down your cheeks. (For God's sake if you're reading this in Starbucks or some other free public internet site, don't click through now -- you will get some enormously strange looks when the howls of laughing recognition emanate from your body.)

Ryan is married to Dana Adams, who is a fairly new couponer --- you'll recognize all of the symptoms (and probably share a few of them -- and the symptoms you don't share -- they'll come, they'll come). While this is hysterically funny, it is also very high praise for his wife (read through the comments too -- there are some other wonderfully awed guys who cheer for their wives as they do the seemingly impossible.) I couldn't wait to forward it to my husband and a few other guys who support this crazy habit.