My coupon clipping (okay, obsession) is no easy task though. I get the Sunday Muskegon Chronicle, then I buy a Grand Rapids Sunday paper at a gas station and sometimes an extra Chronicle. Then my grandma and my mom give me the coupon inserts from their papers as well. Then I clip and organize them into the different categories based on aisles or general area of the stores.
Yes, I usually do this while sitting on the couch watching tv with my laptop to my left. Did I mention I'm an awesome multitasker?
From there I organize my coupons in a coupon binder. The coupons are arranged based on aisles/areas as I mentioned, but also the sections are arranged by the order of the aisles in the store. For instance, when I go to Meijer, I walk in the grocery door and start heading to the back starting at the baby aisles on the right first, then pet, then I hit groceries with the dairy/ready to bake, beverages, paper products, laundry, cleaning, and so on as I go to the front of the store ending with frozen and produce sections. So my binder reflects that from front to back of it. Then the coupons are placed in baseball card type sheets to keep them all separated and organized so I can easily see the coupon offer, details of the offer (is it $1 off ONE or is it $1 off when I buy TWO items), and expiration date. Identical coupons are all grouped together.
Now my coupon book is all organized and I am ready to hit the road and head to the store! Wait! Not so fast... think it's that easy? First I have to check out the sales and match the coupons with the sales to try to only buy things when they are on sale AND I have a coupon for them. This is something I am still working on and am not able to follow thru 100% on this, but that is my goal. I will admit, I cheat a bit. I use Savings Angel which matches the weekly sales at the stores I shop to the coupons that are not only in the newspaper inserts but also various places on the internet where coupons can be found. This saves me a ton of time and also ensures that I will not miss a good deal! In addition I check out blogs such as BargainsToBounty and Hip2Save to see if there's anything that Savings Angel missed.
After I create my shopping list through Savings Angel, I print off my list, gather my coupons I'm going to use on that trip, also take my binder with me to the store in case I spot a deal not in the ad or I come across something that I remembered I needed. The worst is when I buy something at the store that I just KNOW I have a coupon for back at home. Burns me!
So, this my friends, is my coupon obsession. Since I started using it I save my family 50-70% on our groceries. It sometimes feels like a part time job, but it has big pay offs! Once I get my stockpile up completed I will post a picture. Until then, here is a picture of my oral care stockpile. I got the majority of these for free and if not free, it was under 50 cents.
