My Name is Lindsay and I am Addicted to Couponing

I've been watching the past year or so as many of my friends have become frugal, coupon-clipping crazy people like me. I love it. I've been couponing for awhile now and I'm a complete addict. I love to get a deal and I LOATHE paying full price for anything. Some may call that cheap...I think there's a huge difference between cheap and frugal, but that's a different blog altogether.

What I get asked most often when people hear that I coupon is how I organize my coupons. So I'll show you around my system but before I do, please know that there is no right way to organize ANYTHING. Only what works for YOU.

There are several different ways you can organize your coupons. If you are someone who clips coupons for items you're going to be purchasing at the store anyway, you probably only have a handful of coupons and they could probably be carried in a small accordian file. They have coupon organizers made for that very purpose. My favorite that I've seen can be attached to your shopping cart handle. How nice is that?

For those of you who are a bit more "intense" about your couponing, like me, a small file just isn't going to cut it. I am a stockpiler. We live 20-30 minutes from the nearest grocery store and have three small children. In the winter, you never know how long you might be in your house without being able to go to the store. So it's just smart to have a stockpile. But emergencies aside, I like stockpiling because I almost never pay full price on anything. I stock up when it's ridiculously cheap and then I shop my own store room instead of heading back out to the store to buy full price.

We have an unfinished part of our basement and my husband filled one wall with shelves for my stockpile. It started out with half a wall, but the stockpile grew into a mini-mart and we had to get more shelves. We also purchased a chest freezer last year to complete the room. :)

I have the store room organized by category similar to what you would find at an actual store. That way I can find things easily, or I can send someone else down to get something without them having to search every square inch of shelving.

Ok, but enough about the stockpile. Let's talk about the coupons. Since I stockpile, I'm looking for the best deal no matter what the name brand or whether I need it "that week" or not. I'm going to be buy what's cheap to free. So I clip virtually EVERY coupon from the Sunday paper. You never know what's going to be on sale, so I save them all. I used to print every coupon that I might need, but decided that was just wasteful in my situation and began printing out only ones that I knew I was going to use in the future or that were needed for a deal that week. Yes, I've missed a few deals because a coupon was no longer printing when I wanted it, but in the long run, with the price of ink, I think I'm better off.

So I have all the coupons from the paper every week, sometimes a couple of papers if I know the inserts are going to be good ones. I also keep coupons I find in the stores, peelies that I didn't use, tear pad coupons, coupon books, coupons I get in the mail or in email, etc. So that adds up to a TON of coupons.

You could organize your coupons by insert you found them in, or expiration date if that works for you. I personally organize mine in a Coupon Clutch. You can purchase them or make one yourself. Basically it's a three ring binder in a fabric sleeve that velcros shut and straps so you can carry it like a purse. I like that the velcro sides keep my coupons from falling out the top of the binder.

I put all my coupons in trading card sleeves. Believe it or not, I had a hard time finding these, but finally found them near the registers in Target near the Pokemon things. I have three basic categories in my binder.

1. Grocery

2. Home

3. Personal

Any coupons for food items go under grocery. Any coupons for items for the home (i.e. toilet paper, aluminum foil, batteries, etc.) go in that category. Personal items include toothbrushes, deodorant, makeup, medicines, etc.

Within each of the three categories I've alphabetized the coupons. So for instance, if you open my binder and go to the grocery section you'll find A-Z (at least one page for each letter, sometimes more as needed). Under A you'd find Argo cornstarch, Archway cookies, Atkins shakes, Alouette cheese, Arnold bread, etc. Each brand has it's own "pocket" on the page. (The only exception for this is items that have more than one "type" of product, for instance Betty Crocker has baking mixes, instant potatoes, fruit snacks...so although they are all under Grocery in the "B" section, they each have their own pocket to make it easier for me to find. Also ones with lots of coupons like Pillsbury are divided into types.)

Now before you go thinking that this system is so terribly hard and time consuming think of it this way. After the initial set-up, which may take a little while, you know exactly where to find things and exactly where to put things. When I go to clip coupons, I can clip an Energizer coupon and know exactly where to put it (under Home "E" in the Energizer pocket) then when I need to find an Energizer coupons I go to Home "E" find the Energizer pocket and only have a couple of coupons to look through instead of hundreds. Saves sooo much time.

I know it seems totally overwhelming to those who are new to couponing but I'm telling you it's totally addicting and totally worth it. You wouldn't believe how much money you can save, and also, how much you can give.

I have people ask me all the time why I would clip a coupon for something our family won't use. The answer is, if I can get it for free or make money on it, why wouldn't I get it and donate it to someone who WILL use it? Being frugal (NOT cheap) allows you to pay it forward in whole new ways. 

We're called to be good stewards of the resources God has blessed us with, this is just my little way of attempting to do this. How do you stretch your resources?