Organizing and Using Coupons

I do this like erika over at iheartcvs.com and some others on the net. See her blog to read how to organize and use your coupons without having to cut them all out at once. It makes it so much easier to just keep a file box and just cut out the coupons when you need them.

Altho she is able to get a great deal on her newspapers by being able to buy a early edition on Saturday, I still usually get at least 2 of the IndyStar paper. (My local town paper has crummy coupons & Indianapolis is the biggest city nearby.)

Check out her great post at: http://iheartcvs.com/2008/09/collecting-organizing-coupons.html

She is really helpful and has great posts!

Organization

I found a couple sites tonite that I think I will be visiting quite often - trying to get up the nerve/ guts to actually go thru some of my stuff junk and doing some organizing before my granddaughter arrives on this earth!! I have some hidden areas that are soooo bad - My bathroom cabinets haven't been gone through in ages and they just had a challenge to go thru and organize them. I definitely need to do this. Some of the links are so great! Good ideas and helpful photos. I just wish I had someone to come over and help me do this - it's such a bear to do alone! But it's not a huge task... maybe I could tackle this.

Also I have a walk in bedroom closet - yes, you read that right. In one of our spare bedrooms I've changed it into a walk-in closet because the closet in our master bedroom is set up just so for my DH (he's in a wheelchair). And well, I have a lot of clothes.... Okay I've said it and now it's out there and so now maybe I can do something about it... It's horrible - altho it is set up nice (it's just that it's gotten out of hand - too much stuff). I have 4 bookshelf's in there and my big dresser along with a smaller one. I also have a filing cabinet in there. I have one corner set up with the wire rack system that you usually see inside of a closet. When you open the bedroom door you don't see the wire racks. you see my book shelfs, which are in the middle of the room and the clothes racks are behind them in the corner. It works great but it has now gotten out of hand. I've got tons of books (I love them!!!) and lots of clothes (I've changed sizes a lot in the past few years). And I don't know what files to keep so I've got tons of paperwork just stacked in there all over... like I said horrible! (I think I'd be waaaayyyyy too embarrassed to post a before photo but who knows??? - maybe the bathroom cabinet, that's bad enough!!)

So I've got to start somewhere and I think that the books are the first place for me & possibly the clothes. I did go thru some of them but not all - so that's where I'm at. Where are you?

Oh BTW, here's the links to the ladies who are inspiring me today:
http://controllingmychaos.blogspot.com
http://orgjunkie.com/

Coupon Organization

I am officially entering Keeping the Kingdom First Show and Tell contest :-) Check out her site for great blogging!

She says she's giving away something special and that the contest will close on Friday, August 15th at noon. So head on over!!

Now for my system - I use the filing system. I have a clear tupperware type of box (just got it cas my folder that was in a large carryall bag was toooooo big and bulky). I've got the SS and RP's divided by months since I've started this back in April. But I didn't realize that my small town newspaper didn't have very good coupons til I started seeing some of the other coupon deals that others were getting from bigger city papers - that's when I made the switch to a big city paper and started getting much better coupons!! I usually get 2 of those and I usually get at least 2 to 4 of the local papers from friends around town that have started saving the inserts for me.

I pick up the 2 local stores flyers and go thru them for the sales and what items I might need that week. I also try to pick up an Aldi's flyer too to see what deals they have. I then see what store has the better deal. One of the local stores is usually much higher priced than the other one but it sometimes has much better BOGO deals. So I compare the two lists.

I also double check to make sure that I can't get the item for cheaper at Walmart. I then go to AFullCup.com to see their database of coupons - that's where I match up the dates of the items that I have listed at each store to see what coupons I have and where they are located (what month they are in my box) then I cut out the coupons I'll need, put them into envelopes marked for each store (I use old envelopes from junk mailings - go green!!). I also take an extra envelope that has my "floater" coupons that I know that one of the stores may have. I have two sides of my purse that have outside pockets that have become my "defacto" coupon holders. :-)

So that's my grocery side. Now for my CVS side I usually have the same starting system (checking over the ad for the best deals & finding the coupons in the box) but then I also have that side of my purse jammed with "floating" coupons that I may use at CVS. I go there at least 4 times a week. I've gotten pretty good there but my system definitely needs work on that side!! I use the envelope system for most of my CVS coupons but when I've read of a good deal and the blogs or forums say where the coupon came from I can always check my filing system box for extra coupons - but needless to say just stuffing them in the side of my purse I lose track of what I have!

I do have them usually pushed down inside of the side pocket better I just pulled them up for the picture. I also put all my CVS extra bucks and CRT's here - this causes me to not find them as quickly as I should, so I do need a better system with these coupons, etc.

I know that this isn't the best way cas it feels so unorganized! I love the big folders that some folks have that have the baseball card holders with coupons in them - I'm thinking of doing that for my "floating" coupons.... we'll see but I do love not having to cut any coupons and just do the search in the database of what coupons I need when I need them.

I think that this whole coupon thing is still evolving for me.