Coupons - Dallas,TX

I am serious about my coupons and like the 2 other moms I have a binder with baseball card holders. I keep them in alphabetical order. And believe it or not you simply begin to remember what coupons you have in you case/binder/holder. But most importantly I only cut what I am going to use. Feel free to contact me for any additional advice and try afullcup dot com its great

I have a coupon folder with different slots that I have labeled for different categories. Then inside each folder, I organize them based on expiration date.

Below is the label guide I use. Then I put them into a 3 ring binder in the clear plastic protecters that they use for baseball cards. Makes them easy to see and easy to discard when they expire. Hope this helps. Also there are alot of coupons you can print online. Betty Crocker has alot of printables.
This website I usually find to be helpfull:
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/index.php

Baby Items
Bags
Baking
Bath
Bedroom
Beverages
Breads
Breakfast Food
Cakes
Candy
Condiments
Cookies
Cosmetics
Crackers
Dairy Products
Dental Products
Deodorants
Desserts - misc.
Dishes
Feminine Products
Film
Foot Products
Frozen Desserts
Frozen Dinners
Frozen Veggie's
Hair Products
Household Cleaners
Ice Cream
International Food Products
Jam and Jelly
Laundry Products
Lawn Care
Meat
Nuts
Oil for Cooking
Pasta
Peanut Butter
Pickles
Pizza
Pop Corn
Potatoe Chips
Rice
RX - Drugs/Vitamins
Salad Fixings
Sauces
Seafood
Soups
Spices
Stuffings
Syrups
Toilet Paper
Vegetables
Waffles

I keep mine in a zip-around binder (like a Trapper Keeper). Inside I have trading card pages (clear vinyl with nine slots per page, Target carries them in the trading card aisle) and each page is for like items (one each for general dairy, yogurt, canned, cereal, pasta/sauce, snacks, kitchen paper, bathroom paper, kitchen cleaning, bathroom cleaning, etc. you get the idea). The slot on the bottom right holds an identifier telling me quickly, at a glance, what that page contains, so when I'm in the store I can quickly find the page I'm looking for. Once I'm on that page it's easy to see the items that I have coupons for. Since it's a 3-ring binder I can easily move the pages to organize alphabetically or by aisle (I haven't decided which way I like, yet).

My family is also on a budget, so I know the need to save money. I used to have a very small coupon holder that had several pages/pockets with several catagories. Since I was purchasing the double paper to get double the coupons, the pockets were bursting to a point where I could barely close the book, so I put my organizational skills to work. I had a binder that I filled with baseball card inserts so that I could better organize within each catagory and also used tab dividers to divide each catagory (frozen, dairy, beverages, breakfast, paper, canned items, health/beauty, cleaning, misc, etc). Inside each catagory I wrote with a sharpie on each sleeve to state what is in that slot (yogurt, butter, cheese, etc). I also stock my binder with notebook paper at the front so I can write out my list, and I also have a zipper bag to house my pen, calculator, and paperclips. I used to be the Wal-Mart shopper, but have come to a point where I will shop 3 places. I shop the ads first to determine what I will get at each store, provided they have what I need that is on sale. Remember that Tom Thumb and Kroger double and triple coupons. That is a great savings right there. Then I head to Target to get what I didn't need at the other stores. I happen to like the clientele at Target better than Wal-mart. And I have to say that Target's prices are actually quite comparible now.

Good luck and happy saving :)

I bought trading card holders and a binder to put them in. I labeled them according to the store I visit most frequently (bread/tortillas, produce, dried fruit, meat, baby stuff, etc.) and sorted them by what makes most sense to me. Every two weeks I take two weeks worth of coupons and cut them out, sort them and cull the old ones. The nice thing about this approach is that you can quickly see what coupons you have. For example, I had a cereal coupon that once doubled allowed me to purchase the cereal for 99 cents. It was an unadvertised sale, but when I saw the price and turned to my cereal page I was able to take advantage of it. I always have the binder in my car for unexpected trips to the store.

I borrowed this idea from a woman I saw at Tom Thumb. Since then I've been able to share it with lots of people at the store. The initial time investment is worth it.

Baseball Card Binder works best for me as well! I have two sections: eatable and non-eatable. Then in those sections I seperate hot and cold and lastly, like items. I am in an area that has all three major grocery stores close so I use there ad to match coupons and I will ONLY buy those items. My main grocery shopping is at one location. I save $78 last trip off $210! What a difference a little hard work makes. By the way if you want to check and see if you can switch to save on your electricity bill, go to my website: www.tntenergy4less.joinambit.com Good Luck!

I have been clipping coupons for about 4+ years now. I have done 3 different systems. 1st I filed them uncut by date. That got inefficent after a couple of months. Then I stacked them stapled them & cut them to put in a binder, filed by catagory then into page protector. The kind they use to save baseball cards. That wasthe best but it took alot of time & I was always behind. It got so bad I was really missing sales. I buy 2 double Sunday papers + my home delivery. Now I have 2 small according file that close into a box & I seperate & stack & staple them clip the ones I use & file them by catagory. I pass on the ones I don't use. I use one file for food & one for non-food. II take the files with me to the store, I put them into a little a shopping bag then they fit in the grocery cart. I can pull the ones I plan to use for my shopping list at home. As I look through them I pull any expired. The current plan is working best for me now & I'm not always behind on my cpns. I also file my internet printable cpns.

The organizer is great. I arrange them by expiration date. Just clip the coupons for items you use. At the store sometimes the generic brands are cheaper even with the coupons so I compare prices as I shop. Coupons really save a lot of money. Enjoy your savings.

You might check out "the grocery game" (dot com). They use only the sections from the paper and tell you which ones to clip and use which week depending on the store you shop at. Since we've moved to a more rural area I don't use it anymore (problems getting the paper, the stores they use aren't close, etc) but when we lived in the city (we lived in FW, I see you are from Dallas :-)) I used this and saved 40% off my bill regularly. (and I'm not a good "couponer" on my own). I put my coupon inserts into binders and just clipped the coupons I needed each week. They charge something like $1.25 a week but I'd save that easily on one item . . . well worth it!!! Good luck!

If you use the FREE site--couponmom.com, they rec that you keep the whole insert (unclipped) and filed by date. Then you can easily find the coupons you need for that week at YOUR specific local store to use them at the most effective time for the best savings. Check it out--it's completely free to use.

I do not clip coupons but my aunt did/does for years...the way she does it is, she uses something like what you have then she puts them in pockets based on where they are located at in her grocery store! So picture walking in the store and the route you take...Bread comes first, then paper products, followed by soaps, etc. So she goes from front to back in her folder and only one trip around the store.

She always checks them for dates right before she goes to the store.

Hey K.,

I haven't read any of the other responses, so I apologize if I give duplicate advise. First of all, I only clip the coupons for the items I would purchase anyway and occassionally for something I would like to try. Keep in mind, coupons are a form of advertising for the companies. They are just trying to get you to buy their product. If you were going to anyway, then you are truly saving money.

I also organize my coupons by expiration date. I flip through the ones that are about to expire and deside it I will be needing that item in the near future. I also make lists before I go shopping and go through all my coupons to see if I have couponse for any of those items. I always use the coupon that has the ealiest expiration date, if I have duplicates. Once I have pulled out the coupons I am going to use on my next shopping trip, I then sort them in order of the store. It makes the shopping trip go much faster, then sorting through a bunch of coupons while I shop. I do keep the rest of coupons with me just in case something is on sale at the store and I also had a coupon.

Have fun but don't fell like you have to use ever coupon you clip. Coupons can sometines make you spend money you really didn't need to.

B.

Hi. I use basically the same method as Brenda below--sorting by expiration date. Another tip I have is to have a calculator and compare prices per item or ounce. For example, Pampers Easy Ups were $8 for 26, Huggies Pull Ups were $14 for 44, and the WalMart brand (White Cloud?) were a different price. I calculated the price per item and the Pampers were the best price. Remember that larger quantities are not always the best deal.

If you are in the Southern part of US, there is a great resource for you!! Her name is Jenny and you can find her info at www.southernsavers.com. I use her website (I live in TX) for Kroger, CVS and Walgreens, but she has many other stores listed on her site. She even has tutorials on how to best use your coupons and if you live in the South, you can go to one of her workshops!!

I also have friends that use GroceryGame. I don't know if they have info on the site on how to organize coupons.

I have been saving about 50% at Kroger and a little more at CVS. Yesterday, I got diapers for about $4.50 a pack @ Walgreens (I am not as good at figuring my total savings as Jenny is, but it works for me!)
Good luck, you are doing a great thing for your family!

I also use trading card holders to organize. That system seems to work best for me. Because I'm a bit clumsy, I got a notebook that zips. When I drop my notebook my coupons don't spill out everywhere.

I use a small file folder that I got at staples

I also try to make a list of my groceries and take the coupons out before I go

You really have to be smart about coupons. I have noticed a lot of companies put out coupons when they have a new product or flavor they want people to begin purchasing. Skip those unless it’s really a tremendous deal.

Last time I went to the grocery store I saved almost $30 in coupons on my groceries which ended up costing me $200 after savings. I used a lot of buy one get one free coupons on household items. You may think it would just add too much to your bill to buy items like this that you don’t need at the time (air freshener, candles, cleaning solution) but I use these things all the time and will run out eventually. It’s nice to pick up a bottle of cleaner and know you didn’t have to pay a cent for it or to now you purchased it at half price.

In addition I found a gem http://promocode-2010.com/christmas-coupons/ where i can get coupons for my online purchase and save more time and money.

I have a 3x5 index card box that I keep mine in. I have the tabbed cards that allows me to sort them in general categories : Cereal, Dairy,Meat, Canned Goods, etc.
You could set them up anyway that you want to, alphabetically by category or if you generally shop in one store, put them in there by aisle number.
I would also suggest that you visit with friends, coworkers, others who might also be into coupons and swap coupons. At my work there are 4 other women ( and one man!!) who are big coupon clippers. Each week we bring our "leftovers" in to share with everyone else after we have clipped the ones we want for ourselves. You can also go to Shortcuts.com to put electronic coupons on your stores "plus card" if they offer that in your area. You can double up on things that way...the store will automatically take the electronic coupon off of your purchase but you can ALSO use the coupons from the paper for the same items!!! Sometimes they pay you to carry the item out of the store!!!

Updated

I have a 3x5 index card box that I keep mine in. I have the tabbed cards that allows me to sort them in general categories : Cereal, Dairy,Meat, Canned Goods, etc.
You could set them up anyway that you want to, alphabetically by category or if you generally shop in one store, put them in there by aisle number.
I would also suggest that you visit with friends, coworkers, others who might also be into coupons and swap coupons. At my work there are 4 other women ( and one man!!) who are big coupon clippers. Each week we bring our "leftovers" in to share with everyone else after we have clipped the ones we want for ourselves. You can also go to Shortcuts.com to put electronic coupons on your stores "plus card" if they offer that in your area. You can double up on things that way...the store will automatically take the electronic coupon off of your purchase but you can ALSO use the coupons from the paper for the same items!!! Sometimes they pay you to carry the item out of the store!!!

Check this out as well!

www.angelfoodministries.com

P.

I do not use coupons but I have seen the folders that the other posters have mentioned many times in stores

I have a long, wallet-sized fabric coupon folder than has a velcro flap, and inside there are cardboard divider tabs for the different categories. I only cut out the coupons that I know/think I will use, separate them by category AND by expiration date within the folder. Each week, I throw away the expired ones and add the new ones from the paper. This coupon folder is easy to just throw into my purse whenever I go to the store. Then as I go through the grocery ads, I make a list and take out the coupons that I plan to use to save time at the store.

I use an index card box that I take with me. I also (besides the grocery categories that were mentioned) I have a tab for Misc. Buys (salons, car washes, theme parks, pictures, etc.), a tab for fast food and restaurant coupons. That way it is all together.

With coupons, I have also learned that the best way to save money is to go through the ads the grocery stores send and find the best deals. Try not to buy anything unless you have a coupon and it's on special... or one of the other. It sure is nice to leave a store and know that you saved more than you spent...

Like some of your respondants, my daughter uses the 3-ring binder with the baseball card holders. She organizes hers by the layout of the store, so the pages are by aisle. She attended a workshop to learn all the tricks.