Smile Team 11: 21 Things to to be an Epic Couponer

[Giving-Small]

I love the pics of the dog and that cat looks a little fierce to me.

thanks for the tips giving small
here is a picture of my dads pets they are so cute i just love them
Suki is the dog and Cinnamon is the cat! In a earlier post i mentioned a bunny, but i cant seem to find a picture of her oh well next time!

[Giving-Small]

This popped up on another thread.

I tried something like this with a scissor and tape. In the end I just moved to my lunch box which works great for me.

I made my own out of the page protectors. Only because I couldn't find the card collector pages anywhere.

Tip on Coupon Binders/Bags/Folders etc



If you're just starting out, chances are you'll outgrow what you're using. So don't invest in a super nice solution yet.

Some people like to carry a few 4x6 photo albums, some binders, some spring for the beautiful couponers' bags for sale on Etsy. Dollar store - small accordian binders can work great for some.


One More Example




Alixana is a member of Group 4 - Deal Dazzlers but she's been a frugalista and mommy blogger for a while.

She had a neat blog post a few months ago with a video about the "Couponizer", a coupon organizer that she was giving away on her blog. She uses this herself too.

It's pretty useful organizer and some great ideas especially for handling the checkout process, reward cards etc.

Take a look the video - tell us what you think.

http://themommydiariesblog.com/2009/...-giveaway.html


Thanks Alixana for letting me share this with all the groups.

.

[mamajules]

i have a question, what is candyland on here? i tried looking for info but couldnt find any...

also my dads cat is fierce, i call her sassy paws because for some reason she doesnt like when i hold her lol

[Trillium15]

Hello everyone . First thanks Darlene for putting all these groups together!!

My name is Tracy, I live in Calgary AB. I came up with tdjca years ago when I needed a nik for a website. Basically it is my initials and ca for Canada. Not too exciting lol.

I have couponed on and off for years. Last fall I had a month left on my mat leave and going to just one income (DH - not married yet but same dif lol) I started searching for more ways to save with my coupons. I found a website of a lady in BC giving "classes" and though I knew alot about couponing I figured if her claims were true I would give it a shot for $15. It was online and other than her telling me that LD allows stacked coupons I didn't learn anything. She did refer to SC and I started looking around here more (already had an account her but forgot about it) and this is my "coupon" home now lol. Anyone who ever asks if they need to pay to take a course to learn to coupon I always say "no way!!..just go to SC!!".

Anyway I quickly went from a folder in my purse to a stack of photo albums from the dollar store to a binder for my coupons. Now I use a different version of the binder... I have no room to set it in the buggy seat because my 18 month old sits there and is always grabbing lol so I took each category and put them in duo-tangs and they are in a book bag which I carry with me when shopping. When I need a coupon I pull out one duo-tang and can hold it out of reach of my little guy and it is easy to flip through and find what I need.

Ok I kind of sidetracked lol... I am mom to 5 kids... DS 20 (not at home), DD 18, DS 7x2 (twins) and DS 18 months. DH is a taxidermist so work is seasonal. Oh and we have a Chihuaha (sp??) who is adorable. Her name is Belle.

I do stockpile. My rule is if it will last I will stockpile up to a years worth. With DH's work and the fact that for a number of years I was a single mom (on my own with the twins from birth) and struggled to keep food on the table, I vowed that would never happen again. So like many my stockpile is my insurance policy that my family will not be in "need" again. Oh and because DH is a hunter as well we try to stock up the freezer with meat during hunting season.

Hopefully all of this made sense lol I am trying to type this as my little guy keeps climbing on me for hugs and kisses in between playing lol.

PS. I did my first dumpster "reaching" today lol. Our dumpsters have small slots to put your recyclables through so I had to turn my head sideways then reach an arm in and carefully dig through the papers and cardboard (made sure I avoided the areas that were moist...eeewwwwwwwwwwww lol) and hit the jackpot in one! Came home with 21 Smartsource from this weekends papers, a sample of Finish Quantum and $2 cpn and some Wendy's coupons. The whole time I was trying not to think of the people driving by looking at this crazy lady hanging inside the recycling bin lol

Good Day all!Well my Name is Shawn and I like many others have join up just recently after watching “THAT SHOW”. I am married with 4 loving children that range from 15 to 27. 3 girls and one boy. (being the oldest I guess I should call him Man now). I have also enjoyed our first grandchild who is 15 months and my eldest is due in December for number 2. I got into doing this because yes I realize “the show” is American and we can’t get away with half the stuff they do. But after spending approx 150$ a week in groceries, other products, and Eating out I figured enough is enough. I don’t believe I can get that down to 0$ but I’d like to see it get down to at least 95$. I have set a goal and hope to have saved a two week paycheck in just coupon savings alone. Since Mid April I have saved over 150$ already in couponing alone.I have never gotten a trade done yet…… sent off 2 envelopes with stamps last week and just awaiting the return. Have not had the opportunity to board a train yet and just attended my first Coupon party on Saturday. What a blast. Felt very overwhelmed and even laughed because my kids think I’m on crack but my binder was maybe a quarter of the size of the next lowest person’s total coupons. Here to learn, here to have fun, have watched the videos through group # 1 and #2 but have not had the time to finish group #2 or start groups #3-#10.

This popped up on another thread.

I tried something like this with a scissor and tape. In the end I just moved to my lunch box which works great for me.

I made my own out of the page protectors. Only because I couldn't find the card collector pages anywhere.

Tip on Coupon Binders/Bags/Folders etc



If you're just starting out, chances are you'll outgrow what you're using. So don't invest in a super nice solution yet.

Some people like to carry a few 4x6 photo albums, some binders, some spring for the beautiful couponers' bags for sale on Etsy. Dollar store - small accordian binders can work great for some.


One More Example




Alixana is a member of Group 4 - Deal Dazzlers but she's been a frugalista and mommy blogger for a while.

She had a neat blog post a few months ago with a video about the "Couponizer", a coupon organizer that she was giving away on her blog. She uses this herself too.

It's pretty useful organizer and some great ideas especially for handling the checkout process, reward cards etc.

Take a look the video - tell us what you think.

http://themommydiariesblog.com/2009/...-giveaway.html


Thanks Alixana for letting me share this with all the groups.

.

wow! That's awesome but I had something similar to this without the Coupons for this Trip slot and Checkout and I found that not too long after joining here and finding links to order coupons I had too many to stuff in each slot and the cardboard was ripping. I guess it depends on how many coupons you have, how you organize them, etc. It's like your kitchen...everyone puts things in different cabinets and drawers based on preference and what works for them so everyone will have a different method or holder for their coupons. There is no hardfast rule of how to sort them, as long as it streamlines YOUR process that's all that matters right?

[Giving-Small]

Out_of_the_Loops in group 10 just got her neat bag from Etsy. Here's her post.

[tdjca]

Tip on Coupon Binders/Bags/Folders etc



If you're just starting out, chances are you'll outgrow what you're using. So don't invest in a super nice solution yet.

Some people like to carry a few 4x6 photo albums, some binders, some spring for the beautiful couponers' bags for sale on Etsy. Dollar store - small accordian binders can work great for some.


One More Example




It's pretty useful organizer and some great ideas especially for handling the checkout process, reward cards etc.

Take a look the video - tell us what you think.

http://themommydiariesblog.com/2009/...-giveaway.html


Thanks Alixana for letting me share this with all the groups.

.

I love the idea and the that you have everything in one place for checking out. Unfortunately it is too small for many of us who love couponing. It has some excellent ideas that we can work into the system we find works best for us. For me I am a very visual person and like to see what coupons I have when I open up my organizer I like to see what coupons I have just by flipping the pages. I have a small photo album (from dollarstore) which I keep in my purse and each page is labeled with a store so that when I do my shopping list I can pull the coupons I am going to use there and place them in the pocket for that store. This way if I plan on just popping in quickly to grab what is on my shopping list I don't have to take in my coupon bag. I also have a photo album for my FPC's and my LD stacks that I am planning on using that week (this way they stay in stacks and don't get mixed up together with others). Also I can flip through and see exactly what I plan on buying at LD so it's kind of like a visual shopping list. I'm still torn on what to do with my store cards and GC's. Right now I use one of those little wallets they advertised on tv. It is always in my purse and fairly easy to find the cards. So for now anyway that works .

What kind of system works for all of you?

[mamajules]

i dont have many coupons yet, so when i go shopping i just put them in a pocket in my wallet

[ippy]

I'm a binder girl, complete with page protectors, index tabs and master list. cough**geek**cough :D

[LissaLovesCoupons]

Ippy...I am right there with you in the geek category...I love binders for everything..I have one for my coupons, one for household management and one for my volunteer work.

The binders I use have really great built in file pockets, so I can stick my flyers for the week right in there, and any coupons that need to be clipped or filed. They also zip shut so nothing falls out. I have the baseball card pockets, but I haven't been able to find any photo pockets that are inexpensive enough and will work for my larger coupons. I'm heading to the dollar store tonight, so maybe I'll finally find some!

I also have a plastic divider that has a nice big pocket on it, and while I am shopping I put any coupons I am going to use in there right after I put the corresponding items in my cart, that way I don't forget them when it's time to check out.

The one thing that I haven't worked out very well is how to keep track of what is about to expire...I have so many coupons now that keeping track of the expiry dates is a bit of a challenge. Today, I was going to use some coupons from websaver, for two free boxes of special k and a free box of vector...can you imagine the horrible feeling I had when I realized that they expired yesterday? I'm STILL sad about it

[Giving-Small]

LissaLovesCoupons- Keeping track of expires is tricky. I tend to pull them out when I see them expirying soon and pop them in the envelope at the front with the FPCs so I look at them more often and remember.

You actually will start to memorize all of this ... is that a happy or sad event?

Binder Tip--If you happen to know geeks

For larger size 4 x 6 sleeves, CD sleeves that clip into binders would work nicely and there's usually lots kicking around free if you know someone who gets software shipped to them. Maybe not as much now but I used to get tons.

[sasksaver]

Hi Everybody!

My name is Tanya and I live in St. Walburg, SK. We are 1.5 hours from North Battleford and about an hour from Lloydminster. My husband and I live on an acreage up in the woods, and we both love the outdoors!


I go by the handle sask saver as this is where I live and that is what I try to do when I go shopping! My DH hates shopping with me as I will take twice as long as he does because i compare prices!

We currently only have two cats which are great for catching mice. They are outdoors cats because of my nephews allergies. We hope to be getting a dog this summer!

I have been using save.ca for the past 5 years, but didn't really need to coupon, as we were living in a Edmonton and were able to comparison shop. We both had good jobs and didn't worry about saving.
But as I have gotten older, I now see how much we can save by watching where we spend our money. Since we live out in the country, we have been snowed in 3 times this last winter (3 days being the longest time!) I would like to put up a bit of a stock pile, mainly of canned and prepared food and cleaning supplies. I even have DH putting in a wood stove just incase the power goes out, I don't want to be cold and stranded!

I like the name Pocketbook Protectors, as that is what I try to do!!!!

[sasksaver]

I found out today that I have a very good chance at getting the SmartSource and Red Plum inserts as the come in the local FREE newspaper! They sit in boxes around town, and every week I notice that there are a lot left over! let me know if you need something!

That made going into town today worth it!

[mamajules]

i feel kinda left out i have no stockpile, and not enough coupons to put in a binder or anything =( lol also i asked a question before but i guess no one saw it.... what is candyland on here?

[squark]

Patience MamaJules. I know what you mean by not having alot of coupons. But unless you want to spend money on one of those buying coupon sites, or trades with stamps for coupons the time right now whould be used to perfecting your search. I'm in the same boat. I want everything now. Stockpile, Coupons all the freebies. But time is what is needed. And I am a binder kinda guy. I have a sports card store in town that I can get the card holder sheets cheap but to order in the 4x5's is a little more expensive. i actually had some given to me by my mother who has stopped collecting stamps.Later Guys

[tdjca]

i feel kinda left out i have no stockpile, and not enough coupons to put in a binder or anything =( lol also i asked a question before but i guess no one saw it.... what is candyland on here?

don't worry, we all started at the same point you are right now before you know it you will be packing around a ton of coupons and spotting deals like crazy.

The one thing I always caution new people is that once the savings "bug" bites to be careful because it is really easy to just start buying things because they are a great deal or even free but always remember if it is something you don't need you are still not saving because you are paying something even if it is just the taxes. Plus there might be someone else 10 min behind you that really needs that item(s) and could use the savings as well. jmho.