COUPON BINDER

To all of you who have requested. I am finally posting information about my coupon binder. Have at it! Do it! Ask me any questions. You can save hundreds of dollars each month. I know you can.

Frugality isn't just about saving money. It is being a good steward of the gifts God has given us!

I have been a "couponer" for lots of years. It's just part of me now. I love the thrill of getting a good deal and hate to pay full price for anything. Most people don't use coupons because they "have" to. They use coupons because they "want" to.

For most families, Groceries is the #1 area of the budget that can be cut back.

Couponers (or coupon queens) don't shop like normal people. Normal shoppers go to the store with a list of things they need and get those items. Maybe they have a coupon or two and may even save a few dollars.

But that is not how a Coupon Queen shops. We go into the store armed with a list of things we know are on sale and coupons to match those sale items. Many of the items are free. I don't shop for the items I need. I shop for items that cost pennies or that are free. Eventually most items will go on sale.

I shop in advance. Meaning, I don't shop for cereal (or whatever) when my family needs it. I shop for cereal when it's on sale. I purchase enough to last until the next sale, even if I am not out of it. By doing this on every item we use I never pay full price. This includes groceries, health and beauty, laundry, household products and more! The non-food items are huge with couponing...lots of free stuff. This strategy is called stockpiling. It's stocking up when items are on sale instead of waiting until I need them an running the risk of paying full price.

It takes a few months to get a healthy stockpile built, but once it's built the list of items I 'need' each week is extremely small.

Many people ask me how how I save so much money at the grocery store. Coupons are the real key.

This is my coupon binder. My friend Kimberly helped me organize this several years ago. It's the same binder, stains and all....but it works great for me. It's zippered so no chance of a coupon falling out.
In the front of the binder I have a 4x6 photo holder page for each store. This holds the store card, rain checks, individual store coupons, etc.
This is how one single store page looks:
I purchased Baseball card holders at WalMart to hold my coupons by category. Each category has between two and four pages depending on how many coupons there are.
There are nine pockets on each page. Since I get three Sunday papers I have three of each coupon. In each pocket are two types of coupons, so six total coupons stuffed back to back in each pocket so when you turn the page you can see the front of the one behind. Make sense?

This coupon binder goes everywhere with me. No chance of missing a sale for me. For example, I was in WalMart a few weeks ago and noticed they had several bottles of Pantene on sale for $2.00 each. I had six coupons for $2.00 off one Pantene product. SIX BOTTLES FREE!!! Whether I use this brand or not I got it as part of my emergency storage items.

Don't clip coupons for items you will never use, even if they are free with a coupon. For me, it's sugar cereal and snacks and those type items.