Average American Family

Are you overwhelmed with clipping and sorting and filing your coupons?  Do you find this task tedious and you could spend these hours do something more exciting, such as spending time with the family?

 

I use to spend hours clipping, sorting. and filing my coupons.  Then often I would miss some that I could have used but are now expired, so I ended up throwing money away.  I kept thinking to myself there has to be a better way to do this so I am not spending all this time clipping, sorting, and filing my coupons.  In addition to the time clipping, sorting, and filing, I would then spend hours after making my shopping list flipping through my coupon binders looking for coupons to match to my shopping list.

 

Not anymore!  I have found a new way of organizing my coupons that is working so much better for me and I want to share it with you.

 

To get started you need the following items:

• Scrap Paper to write on
• Writing Utensil (I prefer a marker)
• Paper Clips
• Hanging File Folders
• Hanging File Folder Container (I use the one pictured below from Staples)

Every Sunday when my papers come in, I pull out all the ads and the coupon inserts.  The three inserts that come in on a regular basis are Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), and Proctor & Gamble (PG).  I then take all my Smart Source inserts and flip through them real quick and find the coupon with the highest expiration date.  I then take a piece of scrap paper and write the insert code, the insert date, and the highest expiration date+1 day.  For example, the Smart Source insert in the 1-15-2012 Sunday paper, the coupon that expires the latest is 7-31-2012.  So my chicken scratch on my scrap paper is:

SS 1-15-12/8-1-12

 I then paperclip this paper together with all the Smart Source inserts I have from the 1-15-2012 papers.  This tells me at a quick glance that these are the Smart Source inserts from the 1-15-12 paper and all coupons in the insert are no good after 8-1-12 and this insert can be discarded.  The reason for the paper clip and the note on scrap paper is I have found as I start clipping coupons, that the inserts start to fall apart and are hard to keep together.  The paper clip does the job nicely and my paper with my handwritten code on it is always clipped at the front of my inserts so I do not need to guess what insert a page came from or the date I got it.  I then do the same thing with the other coupon inserts.

 

I file these groups of inserts by the company and the month and then sort them by date.  So I have folder for all my Smart Source inserts for the month of January, another folder for Red Plum inserts for month of January, a folder for Smart Source inserts for the month of February, folder for Red Plum inserts for February, and I think you get the idea.

 

How do I know which inserts have the coupons I need?  How do I know that I am not missing coupons that I could use?  Good questions!

 

Before filing my inserts in my Staples hanging file folder box, I go through them and clip out the coupons I know I will use as these items are always on my shopping list and/or brand specific.  I then file these coupons in a coupon holder that I take shopping with me.  For the other items where we are not brand specific or we do not buy on a regular basis, I use Hot Coupon World’s coupon database to help me find the coupons from my inserts I could use for my upcoming shopping trip.

 

Hot Coupon World’s coupon database is a great resource for finding coupons.  Their database includes the coupons from the inserts in the Sunday Papers with insert and insert date so you can quickly find the insert you need if using my filing method.  Their database also includes printable internet coupons, peelies that may be on the product in the store, and coupons from many other sources.  If you have not checked them out, I strongly suggest that you do.

 

Restaurant coupons are also clipped and they are all filed together.  If we decide to go out to eat, where we go sometimes depends on what coupons I have and/or gift cards.  By clipping the restaurant coupons and keeping them together with the restaurant gift cards, makes the process of looking through these coupons/gift cards so much simpler.

 

How do I cull out all the expired coupons?  I have two ways of culling out the expired coupons.  The first way is about once a month pull out all inserts where all coupons have expired.  The second way is sometimes when flipping through the insert looking for the coupon I found in Hot Coupon World’s coupon database I will pull out the sheets that all the coupons on it have expired.

 

What do I do with my expired coupons?  I am sorry to say I usually just throw them in the recycle bin.  I have looked into sending them to military families that are stationed overseas, but almost all of the programs want you to clip and sort the coupons and do not want anything that is expired more than 60 days although the families can use them up to 6 months past the expiry date.   If I do not have time to clip and sort coupons for my own family, why take the time to do this for someone else’s family.  That may sound selfish, I know,  but it is much faster and more convenient for me to throw them in the recycle bin.

 

If any of our readers know of a program that will allow me to send them without clipping and sorting, I would welcome that information.  Or if you are a reader and you are a military family stationed overseas or know of a family like this, I will gladly send them my expired coupons if they do not want them clipped and sorted.  I have no issue with attaching paper like I do to my own inserts so they know the insert type and the insert date.