In the Home Stretch

WOW, it's been a busy couple weeks.  We are in the home stretch of our frugal adventure!!  If you want to see the progression so far, start here, then look here, and here.  Our renters are moving in over Memorial Day weekend and I think all will be complete and ready for them by then, maybe with the exception of a few last outdoor projects to finish up. 

Watch for final photos real soon, I hope to get them up as soon as I have the last little ends pulled together.  Someday in the distant future I will sit down and look at all the numbers so far and see just where we stand in our frugal adventure.  We are no where near our goal yet, but we also ended up doing a lot more to the house than we originally planned on.   

Since I have been putting in lots of hours working on various things there, I haven't been in the stores at all.  The only place I have set foot in, aside from Menards, is Wal-mart to just grab some of the essentials like milk and bananas.  I think this is the first week since I started couponing that I haven't walked into the door of a Walgreens store!  I miss my deal seeking adventures and hope to be back at it soon.  And when I do you can rest assured that I will be passing along the great deals to you again too! 

I think it is going to take me a week to organize, clean out and clip several weeks of inserts, but I am looking forward to getting back on track, especially with summertime right around the corner.  Time to stock up on all things summer!  I also think it's going to take me some time to get everything at my own house back on track, I may be slow in getting back to deal seeking, but I will get back at it! 

All I have to say is, a week without Walgreens is like a whole week without sunshine!  ;-)

Stockpiling and Expiration Dates

In our house we sometimes push the envelope on product expiration dates.  When you are a serious couponer, sometimes you over estimate how much your family will need and use before the item gets to it's rock bottom price again; sometimes those items in your pantry don't stay organized and product with an early expiration date gets pushed to the back of the stack.  I will admit, occassionally I make my husband the guinea pig before I will try something beyond it's expiration date myself.  Then again, some things just aren't worth a trip to the E.R. and we let it go.  If you have ever wondered about expiration dates and if you should chance it, this is a great article to read. 

Of course, keeping organized and being realistic about your estimates are ways to assure you don't have a lot of expired food laying around but this article really makes me feel better about some of the chances I have taken in eating items beyond their "sell by" date. 

Coupon Shopping with Kids

Shopping with kids can sometimes be a daunting task alone but add in trying to work the deals using coupons and things can get kinda crazy!  For my own sanity, I try to shop alone when I can, but for the last 3.5 years my husband has been a full time student as well as worked full time so I had to learn to be creative when heading to the store.  I have some tricks that I use when shopping with my 5 year old that I would like to share with you and maybe make your shopping trip a little easier.

First, he is designated my coupon collector.  He's in charge of finding all the "blinkie" machines up and down the aisles as we make our way through the store.  This serves two very useful purposes.  It keeps him occupied and by the time we leave the store I have a beautiful stack of nice coupons to sort through.  Even if they are ones that I can't or won't use, I can trade them at ecoupons.com for coupons that I can and will use. 

Next, we play games similar to "I spy" and try to find things as we walk the aisles.  I tell him something on our list and he searches for it.  He's so proud of himself when he locates the item on our list that we are searching for. 

He's in charge of the calculator when it's not being used by me.  He carries it and watches price tags in the aisles.  When we make a stop he trys to match the price tags to what he punches into the calculator. 

He's my price checker.  He loves to take things up to the price checker in the aisle and scan the bar code for the price check. 

He's my bagger.  Since I mostly go to the self check out lane when I do my grocery shopping, he stands at the end of the belt with our re-useable shopping bags just waiting for our groceries to slide down to him.  This is where I have to be very careful about sending my breads and other delicate items down the belt!

If you have older kids that get bored easily with shopping you can give them jobs also.  Why not give them a list of simple items to pick up throughout the store? 

If you have smaller kids, you can always do some extra things to keep them occupied as well.  Try those cute carts that are designed to look like a car or truck,  as you push them around have them pretend they are driving through the grocery store making stops to pick up "loads" for their shipment.

I think that doing these activities makes your shopping trip more peaceful by keeping the kids occupied while shopping, but it also teaches them valuable lessons.  I think coupons are a vitial part of any household budget and teaching kids at an early age to be frugal is a step in the right direction.  As they see you shopping with coupons and getting the most out of your dollar, they will learn by example and hopefully be smart shoppers when they grow up.

Getting Started: Planning your weekly shopping trips

Once you change your shopping habits and get into a routine with using coupons there really isn't a lot of time involved with planning your shopping trips if you stay organized and on track. 

I usually use Sunday evening, after my son is in bed, as time to go through the coupons, scan the ads and plan my trips.  The first thing I do is look through the sale ads at the stores that I shop at.  I take note of sales on things that I need for the week and I watch for items that look like a really great deal, especially with coupons.  I also take a few minutes to sit down at my computer and check CouponTom for coupon match-ups.  I look up coupons for all my items that I need and check for coupons on those sale items that are really great.  If I find that there's coupons for these items I write on the ad which insert those coupons are in.  I also search manufacturer websites (for coupons) and for printable coupons.  Then I start a list for that store and clip my coupons from the inserts and use a paper clip to attach the coupons to my list.  I do this for each store that I plan to shop at for the week and I keep the sale ad with my list for reference at the store.  I make notes on my list if I have coupons for the items (manufacturer and store) and if I am expecting a catalina coupon on those items.  Keeping these notes helps you cut down on time in the store and lets you easily know that your deals went smoothly. 

Next, I scan through the coupon inserts and clip coupons for items that I KNOW we will use and file them in my coupon binder.  I don't clip every coupon to file in my binder, that would just take way too much time.  The inserts get filed in my hanging file folders by date. 

Lastly, I read money saving blogs to make sure that I haven't missed any great deals for the week.  The blogs are a great resource for  a lot of deals that might otherwise go unnoticed.  If I find something posted that I missed, I add it to my list (with notes) and find the coupons.  I tend to check these blogs daily because new deals are added several times a day.  They usually have coupon match ups and link you to printable coupons.  A lot of the time bloggers post about clearance deals at stores that are not advertised in the sale flyers.  They also post about unadvertised catalina promotions and freebies with coupons.  It doesn't take much time to keep up with my regular blogs since I know where I left off on the blog - I just check to see if anything new has been added since my last visit. 

I keep my coupon binder in a canvas bag where I also have all the week's ads.   I don't leave the house without my coupon bag - you never know when the opportunity will arise to stop in a store and take a look around.  Some stores will price match competitors so I always keep the ads with me, even if it's for a store I don't normally shop at.  They may come in handy for a price match at a store with a better deal. 

If I am not able to get everything on my list in one trip, I cross off the items that I purchased and then keep the list for my next visit or store.  Sometimes in a week I will visit several different Walgreens (or Wal-mart, Jewel, etc) locations to get everything on my list.  Having the original list makes this a little easier, plus I can add to the list through the week if I find deals on the blogs. 

You can find a list of the blogs that I check regularly on the sidebar.

CHEAP Binders @ Wal-mart

While I was at Wal-mart today scoping out some deals, I strolled down the clearance aisle just checking things out.  I found some zippered binders on clearance for $3.00 marked down from $10.00.  These were Mead binders, with a zippered pocket on the front and a zipper to hold it all together.  They were all the way on the top shelf and would have been easily missed with all the other clearance stuff piled up.  These are great for coupon organization.  If you are struggling with how to organize your coupons, read my post here on organizing with a binder.  It's my favorite way so far and $3.00 or less is a great price on these.  If you are thinking about switching over to the binder as a way to hold all your coupons, keep your eyes open at Wal-mart for these. 

Getting Started: Stockpiling

One of the main ideas behind couponing seriously and seeing a reduction in your family household budget for groceries and other consumble items is stockpiling.  The sales "lows" on items usually run at approximately 12 week cycles.  When you see an item that your family uses at it's lowest price (with a sale AND coupons), you want to stock up on enough at that price to last your family 12 weeks.  This is why I stress to accumulate as many coupons as possible by getting more than one insert per week - you will need multiple coupons when these items go low.  This way, you can shop out of your pantry/linen closet when you need more, rather than purchasing items at higher prices when the need arrises. 

You will want to keep your stockpile very organized so that you can see what you have easily to take an inventory for the next sale, and so that you use them in order of expiration date.  Some people get very creative in finding ways to store their stockpiles, and it makes sense to do so when you are saving so much money. 

You will quickly learn what the best prices are on items that you use regularly so that you know what the lowest price is when it comes around.  When you just start out, you will be elated to get certain things cheap, but then you may realize later, that even that "cheap" price is too high and if you have a good stockpile to draw from, you will be able to wait to get it at even greater savings or FREE! 

It will take you a good 6-9 months to build up a stockpile of items that you use regularly because you are using your stockpile as you are building it.  Don't get discouraged if you use items faster than you anticipated, there's always the next time around to stock up with more. 

I have always been a "stock-up" shopper and I loved shopping at Sam's Club.  When I first got started couponing like this I had my doubts that Sam's Club would be more expensive than shopping with coupons.  I thought for sure there would be no better way to shop than at Sam's Club - boy was I wrong!!  I went through the store and compiled a list of the most common things I was buying at Sam's Club and broke it down by price per ounce, pound, package, etc.  I put it all on a list and started to compare it when I was out couponing.  Couponing is much cheaper than Sam's Club shopping.  If you would like to see my list of items and the price break down, send me an e-mail and I would be happy to share it with you!

If you find that your estimates are too high and you purchased more than your family can use before it's expiration, please consider helping out family and friends, or donating to a needy family.   There are so many ways to donate, and there are so many people in need right now.

Getting Started: Coupon Organization

There's no right or wrong way to organize your coupons.  You have to use whichever method is right for you.  If you are just starting out you may find it easy to just use an envelope, but if you have been doing this awhile you many need something bigger.  Here are some ideas for organization:

1. envelope - use a plain letter envelope to store your coupons. You may want to have one envelope for food and grocery items and one for personal care, toiletries, pet items, etc.  Keep like coupons together with paper clips so you can easily flip through them as you make your way through the store.
2. coupon organizer - these are a little larger and have divided sections for keeping like coupons together.  They usually have some sort of clasp to keep them closed. 
3. empty check book cover - if you aren't going to carry a lot of coupons with you, ask at your bank for an extra check book cover and use that to carry your coupons in. 
4. 3 ring binder - method is for those who carry a lot of coupons with and like to be organized at the store.  Try to find a zippered one so if it gets turned on it's side you won't loose everything tucked inside.
5. box - you can use some sort of box to store, sort and carry your coupons in.  I have seen shoe boxes used, large recipe boxes and plastic containers with lids. 

Whichever method you use, I highly recommend keeping coupons in some sort of order that follows the way the stores are laid out.  I also really recommend making sure your name and contact info are on your organizer also, it's easy to misplace your coupons, and with the amount of time invested in clipping and printing you are going to want to make sure that you get it back if it's lost. 

I started out using envelopes with paper clips, and then moved up to the coupon organizer, but these didn't seem to work for me.  I had too many coupons and they were taking over my purse - my purse had become a coupon bag and nothing more. 

I switched to the 3 ring binder method of organizing and I LOVE it!  A friend of mine (Thanks, Dawn!) suggested trying it and I am so glad that she did.  I was able to find one for .99 and it's a really nice one.  It has a zipper and a zippered pouch on the outside where I store my lists.  It has an accordian type area where I keep copies of store coupon policies and extra coupon books that I find at the store.  It also has a zippered section where I carry a pair of scissors and pens.  I found a free zippered pencil pouch that I put in there to hold some coupons if I need to set them aside for any reason.  I have divided it in sections by products.  I used file folders to make the dividers for the sections.  My coupons are kept in plastic pages that can be purchased at any hobby store or office supply store.  I use the baseball card size pages for smaller coupons and then I found some pages that hold 4X6 photos that I store larger coupons and internet printed coupons.  Here's a couple photos of my organizer so you can get an idea of what I am trying to explain here:

I organized it so that when it sits in the seat of the cart I can flip through the pages and see each coupon and it's information (exp date, value, size, etc).

My divided sections are as follows:

Stores - this is where I keep store specific coupons

Hang-tags/Wine-tags

Beverages
Snacks, crackers, cookies
Cereals, granola bars
Sauces, spreads, canned items
Breads, pasta, rices, spices
Dairy, yogurt, frozen produce
Meats, frozen pizza
Toothpaste, brushes, mouthwash
Razors, shave cream
Personal hygeine items
Baby
Hair care, body wash, soap, deodorant, medicine, first aid, Q-tips, make-up
Office supplies, school supplies
Cleaning, laundry, paper products, bug control
Pets
Toys, games

Making the switch over to this method was a little time consuming, but well worth it.  The time that I spend setting it up has helped me save time everytime I file coupons or go shopping.  If you are going to be serious about coupons (and why wouldn't you?) and use them as a regular part of your shopping trips I highly recommend the binder method for organization.  Remember, you aren't clipping all the coupons that you get, you are only putting coupons in your binder that you KNOW you are going to use.