How-To Use Coupons to the Fullest (Pics of a Coupon Binder)

[LilB]

Before I even post anything new, I'd like to use this opportunity to re-post a few of my posts that I made about couponing from a thread that was focused on a GENERAL DISCUSSIONS question but then turned into a couponing thread. So it would be awkward to ask the mods to move that thread here. I'll make it easy and re-post here.

NOTE: The following posts are from JAN08-FEB08 so they are a bit dated but still has pretty good info. I posted this when I still lived in Dallas and a part of sistersofsavings.com. As most of you know, I have since moved from Dallas to Houston and still use sistersofsavings to my advantage although some of the stores are not the same. I'll tell you more about how I am making this possible this later on another post in this very same thread. Also, I have included a few posts from salsa2.

Let me give u a brief summary about Sisters of Savings. If a thread gets started about saving, then I'll go into much further detail about it, but here it is in a nutshell:

It is based out of Dallas, but you can take advantage of it if you have any of the following grocery stores in your city/town: Albertson's, Kroger, Tom Thumb, CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart. (There are a few others, but I have to check)

Personally, under normal circumstances, I would never shop at ANY of those expensive grocery stores. With my coupons I do, though. Let me tell you why: Albertson's, Kroger, and Tom Thumb double and triple coupons. You don't have to attend any of their seminars to learn how to save money. But, it you pay $10/month, you get a weekly list on Thursdays about all the great deals. They basically HUNT for all the freebies, and cheap things for you and then you can take advantage of them with your coupons. To give you an idea of my savings since starting this, my grocery bill for my family of 3 adults and 2 children used to be $275 every visit. I bought MORE things than I usually do just the other day for $77. That's a huge difference. I got 2 carts full. A lot of things on sale that week can have coupons that triple or double which make them a lot cheaper or even free. A lot of people don't know this, but Walgreens and CVS take manufacturer coupons. Walgreens takes their own coupons (from their weekly ad and their supersaver catalog at the front of their store) AND manufacturer's coupons at the same time. Sometimes, Tom Thumb, Albertson's and Kroger have their own coupons on their ads too that you can use along with a manufacturer's coupon. That's an example of how you can get things for free or dirt cheap. Last month, I got $60 worth of Vive Loreal Shampoo and Conditioner for FREE. Why? Because I used their coupon, + mine. I got toothpaste for $0.10 cents.

Where do you get your coupons?
Well, you can buy the Sunday Paper double packs so you can have multiple sets of the same coupon. Also, if you become part of CVS's email list, they send you periodic printable coupons as well. So, let's say: you have $10 off $50 CVS printable coupon. There was this one time that their were these blood pressure monitors for $20 off. (I don't need them). I kept them and I'm glad I did because these $70 monitors were on sale for $20 there. So I bought 2 blood sugar monitors and $12 worth of stuff (laundry detergent that I had coupons for, etc.) and I ended up paying 40 cents. Why? Because the blood sugar monitors were free because of the coupon, and the $12 worth of stuff was only $2.00 because I used the $10 off $50 coupon. I had a coupon for the laundry detergent, so I got all that stuff for 40 cents. You get it? (BTW, if anyone wants blood sugar monitors, I got 2 of em, lol). Online, there are websites like coupons.yahoo.com that have coupons. Target.com has it's grocery coupons too. Target is a good place to use coupons (my favorite place) cuz they have clearance isles everywhere. You can get food and toiletries dirt cheap there with your coupons.

Current deals:
Become a part of the forum (it's free) and members help each other with current deals.

Just having a coupon folder doesn't help a lot.
I don't use coupon books, I have a whole fat 3 ring binder. I use trading card page clear dividers to organize my coupons. That's how I find all the deals. And I use my list from sistersofsavings that I get weekly. A lot of people have complimented how organized I have my coupons and how quickly I can find them. It's because of the binder.

But in summary, my toiletries are cheap or free, and my food is cheaper too. It takes time organizing coupons but it's worth it cuz 2 hours of organizing can save u a ton of money. It's like making $20-50/hour.

Sunday paper always has coupons. And buy more than one paper so u can have more than 1 set of coupons. Cuz if your favorite thing is on sale, and you can double or triple the coupon, then, you can buy more than 1.

The only time the sunday paper doesn't have coupons is a holiday weekend.

I agree about "embarrassment". The people that annoy even me are the ones who think they are organized with coupons but aren't. The ones that take expired coupons in, take coupons right out of their pocket, the ones that don't use the right coupons, etc.

Even the girls with the mini coupon credenza drive me nuts. They supposuvly are organized, but they hold up the damn line looking through it. I have a binder that I use instead that has labels with trading card holder sheets. I've gotten complimented instead of laughed at with the organization of my coupons. Even a lady at Wal-Mart said I inspired her to use a binder instead of the credenza.

Anyway, my point is, you have your binder open while at the store and because it's highly organized, you get to the coupon you need in just seconds, you put it in a pocket in the front. Then, when you get in line, you give the cashier your 20 coupons and it takes but 30 seconds to scan them. Why? Because it's organized. People stare me down especially at the double and triple coupon stores at the cashier when the TOTAL screen goes down from let's say $130 to $29. They're like WOW! Hook me up with some coupons! LOL... Sometimes I'm waiting in line to pay and someone in front of me has something I have a coupon for but don't have a need for and I just give it to them (last one I did was hair dye) and they get all happy and say thank you cuz I saved them $4.00 or something like that. LOL

Quote:
Originally Posted by Salsa2
Try the 20 coupons! Your hubby will get over it when he sees how much you can really save.
LOL...sooo true! Eric is 110% Mexican in attitude and he didn't want to be seen near me with the coupons before, but then he saw how I was complimented and how much I saved that he loves the attention now and he never gets mad when I have a big mess on the dining room table cutting my coupons. In fact, sometimes, I get him to help me organize. The only reason he does it is because he knows that those pieces of paper is Cha-Ching $$$$$$ more in HIS pocket, baby...

Hey Lynette!

Where is the best place to get those base ball card insert pages for a binder? You've inspired me to try a new system.

I have a small plastic file organizer thing now, but it takes forever to find things.

However, I ALWAYS make sure I gather my coupons and have them ready BEFORE I get in line. How rude to hold up the line while you hunt!

Hey Salsa. At Wal-Mart, go to the kiddie school supply section and you'll find it there where the colored binders are. Or, where photo albums are.

how many sheets do you recommend? Too many and you are flipping like crazy, too few and you can't find anything!

What u do is have those baseball sized trading card sheets, and label each one with a label maker, then get those colorful rainbow dividers to divide different sections "a tu gusto" the way u want it (i.e. canned food, dairy, refrigerated, frozen, toiletries, shampoo/conditioner/hair products, baby, etc.). Just like a grovery store has its' signs, u should do the same.

Buy 2-3 packs to start. You want to seperately label as much as you can. I'll see if I can take a pic of mine and post it up here.

There has to be at least one place that doubles and triples coupons. I would think? Especially in CA.

LOL, Mtrack, u crack me up! I luv ur sense of humor.

Tasks-start slow, by buying the sunday paper and going to walgreens and getting their weekly circular ad and super saver catalog and use a walgreens and a mnfr. coupon.

Oh, yeah, very true. We're all here for each other. And tracksport, you are hilarious!!!! Well, the binder I got was $4, the trading card sheets were $2 each (total of $8), and I bought a label maker ($15). But, I got my money back the 1st week! Yay!

Salsa, I forgot to tell you that the colorful dividers (or whatever you choose) should have pockets.

Okay, here are some pics:

The 1st one is of the binder itself.



The 2nd and 3rd one is with the binder open. You see how I've used trading card sheets to seperate the coupons? I have individually labeled them by category as well to make my coupons very easy to find. Sometimes you need more than one slot for certain things, like in this pic, I had a lot of coupons for soups (campbells, spagettios, etc.) so I had 2 slots for that.





The last pic is of the dividers to separate in broader groups (i.e. food, refrigerated food, toiletries, etc.) Notice how they have pockets? I really like those cuz I can put any ads that I'm interested in keeping that week in there.



Hope this helps give u an idea of what I'm talking about, ladies.

Hey Lynette!

Where is the best place to get those base ball card insert pages for a binder? You've inspired me to try a new system.

I have a small plastic file organizer thing now, but it takes forever to find things.

However, I ALWAYS make sure I gather my coupons and have them ready BEFORE I get in line. How rude to hold up the line while you hunt!

[DeBenny]

Chica: Love your organizing style and tips!!! , by the way. More money in my pocket here I come

[mlmeja]

Wow LilB....how long each week do you spend on coupons? It is like a part time job...BUT I'm sure the savings about equal a part time job pay!! I only wish I was that organized in anything. Maybe I'll try to start small....

[LilB]

DeBenny, have u ever started saving money yet since the first time we started talking about this a few months back?

And to answer your question, mlmeja, I spend 1-3 hours a week cutting my coupons. Since I buy multiple newspapers, I stack them on top of another and cut them that way. It cuts my time in half. But, my grocery bill is ridiculously cheap! And, my kids love the snacks I bring home.

I spend sometimes another hour or so looking at my sistersofsavings list and looking at circulars and seeing what kind of specials I can get where things are dirt cheap or free.

You know, just today, I got free Vive Pro Shampoo by Lo'real. I had b1g1free coupons and Walgreen's had them on sale buy one, get one free, so that's how they were all free! Hee hee hee...I hadn't been able to get that same brand of shampoo (my fave) since a few months back. It was exciting.

[mlmeja]

That is really not that much time for the amount of money you are saving (I'm guessing it is A LOT). I'm one of those people who rarely saves coupons and when I do...I forget to use them. I need to work on that.

[DeBenny]

Yes chica!!!! I just dont have that binder thing quite together yet (been concentrating on other things). I just want to save even more. Like I want to go to a store one day and spend 20.00 on a purchase that would cost me 60.00 or 80.00. I have to refine my skills more.

[jeannie]

You know, just today, I got free Vive Pro Shampoo by Lo'real. I had b1g1free coupons and Walgreen's had them on sale buy one, get one free, so that's how they were all free! Hee hee hee...I hadn't been able to get that same brand of shampoo (my fave) since a few months back. It was exciting.

I saw that in the paper today also. Buy one get one free. But the walgreen had buy one get one free, too! So how does that work? Walgreen price was 4.99 for one and get one free. So I can use both coupons?

[LilB]

It's the best feeling the FIRST time you actually have your game straight. You get "the stare" from the person behind you and in some cases, even the cashier, cuz they're shocked on how you beat their "system". Muah ha ha!

I remember my first time. My friend, Nikki, kept insisting I go to her house to cut coupons. She gave me 2 sunday papers to start. She made me come the next week and same thing. Then I bought my own. I had enough coupons and thought it was ridiculous. She forced me to go to Albertson's with her with my new coupon binder. She helped me out. First try-$30 for $180 worth of stuff!!!! That was the BEST FEELING EVER.

That got me hooked.
Edit:

I saw that in the paper today also. Buy one get one free. But the walgreen had buy one get one free, too! So how does that work? Walgreen price was 4.99 for one and get one free. So I can use both coupons?

Yes, exactly! When I did it today though, so the cashier wouldn't say anything, I bought something I needed on top of the shampoo so I'd pay "something", ya know? Very rarely will some stupid random employee question you. Say, "The coupon is b1g1 free. Your store gets reimbursed $4.99. Your sale is b1g1 free." Then they realize you're right. You CAN use both coupons. In the year I have done this, I've only been questioned at Walgreen's twice. Go get your free shampoo!

[jeannie]

It's the best feeling the FIRST time you actually have your game straight. You get "the stare" from the person behind you and in some cases, even the cashier, cuz they're shocked on how you beat their "system". Muah ha ha!

I remember my first time. My friend, Nikki, kept insisting I go to her house to cut coupons. She gave me 2 sunday papers to start. She made me come the next week and same thing. Then I bought my own. I had enough coupons and thought it was ridiculous. She forced me to go to Albertson's with her with my new coupon binder. She helped me out. First try-$30 for $180 worth of stuff!!!! That was the BEST FEELING EVER.

That got me hooked.
Edit:


Yes, exactly! When I did it today though, so the cashier wouldn't say anything, I bought something I needed on top of the shampoo so I'd pay "something", ya know? Very rarely will some stupid random employee question you. Say, "The coupon is b1g1 free. Your store gets reimbursed $4.99. Your sale is b1g1 free." Then they realize you're right. You CAN use both coupons. In the year I have done this, I've only been questioned at Walgreen's twice. Go get your free shampoo!

Okay, Cool! I will. This is just funny I feel like I just entered some secret club. And the loreal shampoo is a really good one too. Good thing I got 2 newspapers. Thanks for the info.

[Cherokee]

I think I need you to come to my house and hold my hand through this! You should have a show.