Sep 10, 201209:01 AMThrifty Mom
Let's be Thrifty Together
Drowning in unorganized coupons?
When I first started couponing, I was in over my head. I had no clear organization and it’s hard to manage the best deals when you can’t find your coupons.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get your coupons sorted and organized. Here’s my three-pronged system:
1. Get a binder at least 1.5 inches thick and fill it with baseball card pages. You also can buy special coupon holder pages with varying sizes , but the baseball ones are cheaper and work just fine. Divide your pages using the handy Thrifty Mom coupon dividers pages I designed just for you. I broke my coupons down into 10 categories: groceries, household, toiletries, beauty, pharmacy, baby, pets, stores, restaurants and services. Each page gives a few suggestions about what belongs in that category, though I tried to keep them pretty self-explanatory.
2. Get a large accordion file. Because I don’t clip every single coupon every week, I hold on to the coupon inserts for a few months. There have been countless times where I don’t think I’ll use a coupon, but a week or two later, an amazing deal comes up using that same coupon. To avoid having to smack yourself in the head because you threw that coupon away, store them in the accordion envelope. Mark each section with the date of the insert. After you fill up, rotate out the oldest inserts with the newest ones.
3. Get a small accordion file. When I say small, I mean fits-into-your-purse size. I used to use plain envelopes for this step, but I recently found a bunch of the accordion files in varying sizes in Target’s dollar section and thought it would work better. It does. This is to organize the coupons you are using on that day’s trip. My small organizer is divided into CVS transaction No. 1, CVS transaction No. 2, Target, Weis and unused coupons. If I decide not to use a coupon, I move it into the unused coupons section to be refiled in my binder later. But this way, I have all the coupons I need organized and ready to be handed to the cashier.
Make sense? In addition to using the small organizer, I always carry my coupon binder with me to the store. This is just in case you spot an unadvertised deal that you have a coupon for. Feel free to leave the large organizer at home, though.
Another tip: Right now I’m using a plain open binder, but I’m seriously considering investing in a zippered binder. That way, loose coupons won’t fly away on you. I recently discovered I had lost a coupon for a free ice cream gallon because of this—what a bummer!
Bonus deal: Coupons.com is celebrating its first birthday by giving everyone a free one-year membership to its Savings Club. Simply use the code BIRTHDAY on checkout. You will have to provide your credit card information as it will automatically renew after the year is up. I set myself an alarm for a year from now to remind me to cancel!
CVS:
My favorite drugstore keeps having deals on items exactly when I need them. We just used our last roll of paper towels this past week, so it was perfect timing for the following Bounty sale. And going into flu season, who couldn’t use a bunch of tissues? Once again, this deal can involve various scenarios, this is just the one I did.
Bounty paper towels, 12-pack
(Sale) Price: $9.94
Buy two for $19.88
Puffs Plus Lotion tissues, 124-count
(Sale) Price: $1.50
Buy six for $9
Use $1 off two Bounty products
AND use $1 off six Puffs products
Pay $26.88 OOP, receive $10 EB*
Final price: $16.88 (42 percent savings!)
I’ve also been on a bit of a nail polish binge lately, so I welcomed this freebie.
Wet ‘N Wild nail polish
Price: $0.99
Use $1 off one Fergie or Wet ‘N Wild nail polish from Sept. 9 RP
Final price: FREE (100 percent savings!)
Colgate toothpaste, certain varieties, 6.4 oz., or Kids, 4.6 oz.
(Sale) Price: $2
Buy two for $4
Use two $1 off one Colgate toothpaste from Aug. 26 SS
Pay $2 OOP, receive $2 EB
Final price: FREE (100 percent savings!)
Colgate 360 Manual Sensitive Pro-Relief toothbrush
(Sale) Price: $4.99
Use $1 off one Colgate 360 Manual toothbrush from Sept. 9 SS
AND use $2 off one Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief toothbrush from the CVS Coupon Machine
Pay $1.99, receive $2 EB
Final price: FREE (100 percent savings)
WEIS:
Miss that free yogurt a couple weeks ago? Well, it’s back.
Yoplait Simplait
(Sale) Price: $0.50
Use one $0.30 off one Yoplait Simplait found here
Coupon doubles to $0.50 off
Final price: FREE (100 percent savings!)
My Weis seems to always have Starbucks Via Ready Brew in its clearance section. Stack that 50 percent savings with a coupon from this week’s paper for a great deal.
Starbucks Via Ready Brew
Price: $7.59
Clearanced for $3.79
Use $1 off one Starbucks Via Ready Brew from Sept. 9 SS
Final price: $2.79 (63 percent savings!)
Want more Starbucks? (Honestly, who doesn’t?)
Starbucks K-Cups
Regular price: $9.99
(Sale) Price: $7.99
Use $1 off one Starbucks K-Cups from Sept. 9 SS
Final price: $6.99 (30 percent savings!)
Starbucks bagged coffee
Regular price: $9.99
(Sale) Price: $7.99
Use $1.50 off one Starbucks bagged coffee from Sept. 9 SS
Final price: $6.49 (35 percent savings!)
Also, Giant is doing one of my favorite, but rare, BOGO deals – Edward’s Dessert Singles. My hubby LOVES these things (particularly the Hershey’s Crème Pie). There’s no coupon stack, unfortunately, but if you love pie, I recommend taking advantage of this.
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