Couponing

     As the New Year approached I began thinking about things that I would like to work on in 2013. I came up with several "resolutions" but one of them that I am most excited about it couponing. I had no idea how to get started or where I would get adequate coupons from but I knew the Lord would provide if it was something that I needed to get into.
    In the past I have cut coupons and tried to keep them in a Ziploc bag in my purse or in a very small coupon organizer. Well, that just didn't work out for me. I like to have things organized and easily accessible. Therefore, I knew the best solution would be to have a binder.

 So, I started with a binder that I had laying around and went to our local Wal-Mart to look for the photo pages (the ones that you put in photo albums) so that I could organize my coupons. Unfortunately I didn't find what I was looking for...I was frustrated and mad because I was really wanting to get things moving forward with this project....when I was about to walk away I noticed Ultra Pro Coupon Pages and I was so excited!!! The package that I got has 40 pages with varying sizes of pockets on each page.
    I came home and immediately sat down to start organizing coupons. I have them broke up in 7 categories right now: Food, Cleaning/Home Supplies, Personal Care, Medicines, Pets, Restaurants, Baby.

Under each category, I have the coupons broke down into each specific type of item. For example, there is a page for breakfast items, frozen items, drinks, snacks, etc. The tabs at the top of each page state what type of item is on that page.

 

After that I broke it down more...I organized the coupons according to what the item was, example: breakfast sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, etc. That way if I have several different brands of breakfast sausage I can store them all in the same pocket and not have 500 different pockets taken up with the same item. Hopefully that makes some sense. =)



Then I armed myself with the Publix ad and started marking things that were on sale and I had a coupon for. Publix runs many items 1 one get 1 free and that's a great way to take advantage of using a coupon. Also, Publix as well as Wal-Mart and many other grocery stores will Ad Match, meaning if you have a sale paper that shows a specific item on sale...these other stores will honor their sale and give you that same sale price.

 

 

 

    Some great websites to help you keep up with sales at different stores is www.krazycouponlady.com and www.southernsavers.com. They break down the sales at each and every store, including places like CVS and Walgreens.

 

    I cannot tell you how many people stopped me and asked me if I was an "Extreme Couponer" while I was shopping at Publix Saturday night. I told them no, that I was just trying my best to save my family money and keep us on a tight budget. I am only buying things that are on sale or I have a coupon for. If there is an item that we as a family use on a regular basis and I think would benefit us to stock up on...then I will buy it even if it's not needed at that moment. It has seriously turned into a game for me. I am enjoying this new adventure and hope that I do well at it. On my trip to Publix Saturday I saved $41.07....not a huge amount of money but it is a start.

 

 

~Karisa~