Just about every weekend we do some sort of shopping. Either we need food, baby supplies, things around the house - there’s usually something we need to get. The three biggies for us are Target, BJ’s Wholesale, and Waldbaum’s. We’re always getting coupons in the mail for Target and BJ’s and at the check-out for Waldbaum’s. This, with other coupons we receive in the mail, ends up being a big mess for us. Of course we want to save money so we do our best to use the coupons.
Our Old System - There wasn’t much of a system. We’d put new coupons by our keys to remember them when we left to go shopping. We’d then bring these to the car to put in the glove box for when we shopped. Sometimes they stayed in our pockets if we were going straight to the store (sometimes they were still in our pockets when we left the store - doh!). Over a short time glove box would soon be a mess! We would go through old BJ’s fliers and find ones that were expired months ago. Often we would find coupons we could have used after our purchases.
Our New System - We went out and bought a small, multi-pocket folder to hold all of our coupons. We keep the folder in our glove compartment (no more coupons spilling out). The folders get separated by coupon type: BJ’s, Target, Waldbaum’s, baby brand, etc… We also keep store cards, like our BJ’s membership card (never credit cards), in the first pocket (I’ve forgotten my BJ’s card so many times I requested an extra one to keep in the car). We make sure to go through fliers and cut out only coupons we might use.
When we leave the house we bring the coupons and separate them into the folder. This has worked out much better for us. We’re not missing out on so many coupons! It keeps everything in one place to keep track of. When we head to the store we either pick out the coupons we need or bring the whole folder along. There’s still a few kinks to straighten out like keeping everything up to date and throwing out old coupons but it’s definitely much better for us.
Maybe to be more organized we can try what Being Frugal does and use Google Calendar to schedule expiration dates for better coupons. So many times we’ve found coupons that just expired.
How do you handle your coupons? Any special system that helps? Let me know in the comments!
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That sounds like a great system! I’ve mastered the big coupons with Google calendar, but I don’t know how many times I’ve forgotten to take my smaller coupons to the store, or forgotten to use them once I’m there.
Maybe I’ll try a similar system.
Let me know if it works for you or if you come up with any better methods!
I keep all my inserts - date them, and when it’s time for me to go shopping, I only clip the coupons I need for that trip.
I do clip the ones I use the most like colgate coupons, deodorant, - usually the ones that go on sale quite often.
I always use coupons so I always carry my folder with me and have gotten into the habit. I’ve saved so much money and gotten tons of free stuff (esp from CVS).
@ Saph - Sounds great! We’re still tweaking our coupon methods. We’ve discovered that we still have to put the coupons in the folder in order to remember them!
We recently signed up with CVS Extra Bucks but haven’t seen anything come our way yet.
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