Save Money By Organizing Coupons

April 16, 2009 By 11 Comments

The best method that I have found for organizing my coupons is a 3 ring binder method.

I have a 3 inch 3 ring binder that I have filled with baseball card holder sheets. This way I am able to flip through pages of coupons and see what I have quickly. I go through my binder every 2 weeks after the 15th and the end of the month to take out any expired coupons. These coupons can also be donated to military families for their use. For information about how to donate your expired coupons, click here. My notebook is divided up into the following sections so that it is easy to find my coupons:

* Baby
* Baking
* Beverage
* Bread
* Canned
* Cereal
* Cleaning
* Condiments
* Dairy
* Deodorant
* Feminine
* Freebies/rebates ***
* Frozen
* Hair
* Laundry
* Lotion
* Meat
* Oral Care
* Over the Counter/Medications
* Paper Plastic
* Pasta/Rice
* Pets, Shaving
* Salad Dressing
* Snacks
* Soap
* Store Coupons

I keep my restaurant coupons in an envelope at the front of my notebook because I have found that they do not fit well into my baseball card holders.

*** I have a freebies/rebates section because I want to make sure that I use these coupons. These items might not be on sale, but it does not matter because I can get them for free. Not all stores accept free coupons, so check your stores policies before attempting to use these.

At the front of the notebook, I have copies of the coupon policies for all of the stores that I frequent. This way if the cashier is not aware of the policy or does not want to take a coupon, I am able to show them the stores policy. Also, I am able to keep my sheets for the weekly coupon matchups I have done at the front of the notebook, you will find these matchups by clicking on grocery stores and drugstores at the top of the site. This way I don’t forget to use a coupon with an item on sale. Using this organization method I am able to save at least 85% on food and health and beauty items. Oftentimes, I even get money back when I have finished shopping because the coupons were a higher value than the items I purchased, or I am able to get a rebate on an item I purchased for free. It amazes me that with coupon organization, you can actaully be paid to buy items, but you really can! The important thing is to stay organized and treat your coupons like money. Bring them with you wherever you go. I hope these budget saving tips help!

I have upgraded my budget saving coupon notebook since this post.

Here are a few of the changes that I made:



I previously posted pictures and an explanation about my coupon notebook. I have since come up with a couple more ideas that seem to be working even better for me. To see my original post click here.

Now, I have a trapper keeper instead of a 3 ring binder. I love this because I can zip it up, and it has a handle. This is so helpful with 3 kids in tow! Also, I am able to keep my scissors in there. At the front is an accordian style plastic storage area where I have put all of my store policies for any crabby cashiers I may encounter along the way. At the front is an area that zips up and I put in my envelopes with the coupons that I have pulled for particular stores. I LOVE ORGANIZATION!

I actually divided up my coupons into 2 notebooks now. One for food items and the other for non food items. I may go back to one at some point, but for now, I love my notebooks being light and easier to juggle with kids. This is not as practical as my one huge notebook, but in the store, it sure has made my life easier.

Also, one more tip – – – Make sure you put your name and contact info in your notebook. These notebooks do take some time to put together and we all know that coupons are like money so you definitely want to get it back if you lose it.

 

Filed Under: Basics for Beginners, Organization Tagged With:

Where Do I Get Coupons To Save Money

April 16, 2009 By 9 Comments

Where do I get my coupons to save money and live on a budget? These are the questions I get asked most frequently.

1. The coupons.com bar on the side of this website has online coupons. These are coupons that you can print from the Internet. I have found that they tend to be higher value coupons than the same item found in the newspaper. You do not have to print them in color. Different stores have differing policies on the acceptance of these coupons. I have a red coupon bar on the right side of my site. You will find lots of great coupons there. You can use the arrows at the bottom to scroll through the coupons and just click and click all the coupons you want.

I am able to use these coupons at Lowe’s food, Harris Teeter, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. Walmart is picky about using these. Their policy states that they will accept 1 of each type of printed coupon. It may be a good idea to print out their policy and bring it with you when you shop as I have had a difficult time at Walmart with them accepting them. However, if you have the policy and show it to the cashier or manager politely, they will accept these coupons as their policy states. At Harris Teeter you can only use 2 of these coupons on a specific item. For example, if I have three 50 cents off Huggies wipes coupons that are printed. I can only use two of these coupons per transaction and one per item. I have heard that not all Harris Teeter accepts them. It used to be against their policy, but that has changed, and I have not had problems using these coupons. Lowe’s Foods and CVS have always accepted these coupons without problems. Please remember that these coupons are only to be printed and never copied.

2. Sunday paper – These inserts have many valuable coupons you can use.

3. Blinkies – These are found in the red boxes that blink at grocery stores. Usually, you can pull out 2 at a time and if you go by the blinkie again, you can get another 2. 3. Peelies – These are coupons that are found on the bottles or packages in the store.

4. I have signed up for newsletters from many products that I love. I created a new e-mail account for these newsletters since I receive many of them. Often, these newsletters have coupons that I can print off.

5. Also, look on the packaging. Often, there will be coupons in the package itself.

6. I am getting a magazine call All You. This magazine is put out by Walmart and has tons of coupons each month. Sometimes these coupons are for free items. Click here for a free two month trial subscription. Here is a list of the upcoming coupons this May 2009. I am excited about getting this magazine.

7. Ask friends and family for coupons.

8. Another way to get specific coupons, if you want to purchase a large number of the same item is to go to coupon clipping websites where for a handling fee you can request specific coupons. I have not actually done this, but know that many people use this successfully.

Filed Under: Basics for Beginners, Coupons

Saving Money On A Budget

April 15, 2009 By 1 Comment

I am starting this blog to help my friends, family and readers save money. I am an “almost” stay at home mom. I still work four hours a week as a nurse. I have started couponing and have started saving tons of money. I had no idea that you could get name brand items literally for free. I think that it is very exciting to find deals and would love to share them with you as I find them. I plan to start listing finds and matching up coupons with sales next week. This week, I plan on sharing several valuable lessons that I have learned in our quest to save more money. The main stores that I shop at are CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Lowe’s Food, Harris Teeter and Food Lion. I do not go to all of these stores each week. I choose the best deals and shop from there. Also, each week I fill out requests for free food and other items, samples that are sent right to my door. Every day I get one or two of these free samples. I don’t even have to pay for shipping. As I find deals, I plan to post them and share them with everyone here. Let’s have fun saving money on a budget together.

Filed Under: Basics for Beginners

Contact & About

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I love to hear from my readers! To contact me, email me at budgetsavingmom @ gmail dot com (replace the dot with a “.” and remove the spaces.)  I do read each and every e-mail that I receive, and I love hearing from you!

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If you are a member of the press or a company that wants further information, scroll to the bottom of this screen.

Thanks so much for visiting Budget Saving Mom! My name is Rene, and I am the author of this site. My aim with this site is to help you save money.

Basically what you will find on my site are store deals with coupon match-ups, freebies, gardening, coupons, and restaurant deals. If you are new to couponing, I have a post that breaks down how to start couponing. Although we try to live very frugally, I also feel that my family’s healthy is very important, and we try to eat mainly organic, unprocessed foods. I will share with you ways that we are saving money, but still have healthy foods.

Here’s a little information about me: I am the wife to an incredible husband that I am more in love with every day and the mother to 3 beautiful daughters.  We have a one year old, a three year old and an 11 year old.  First and foremost, I am a child of God. I view this site as a ministry where I can help others be good stewards of the money that God has blessed them with.

With my first daughter, I was going to college and we were living off of only a few thousand dollars a year after rent. I do mean a few thousand dollars ($4,000 to $6,000). During this time, I learned how to live on very little money each month. It was an adventure figuring out how to provide for my family on so little. God really blessed the little bit of money we had and allowed us to get everything that we needed during that time, and even some of the things that we wanted. After college, my husband and I got great jobs and our financial circumstances changed, however, we have continued to live frugally.

After the birth of our second daughter I began cutting back on my hours at work, until I eventually quit working to stay home with them. I LOVE being a stay at home wife and mother. It gives me so much joy to watch my little girls grow up and teach them.  I homeschool my children and really enjoy watching them learn.  I love to cook, can, garden, read, play with my kids, and even clean. I love everything about staying at home.

After the birth of my third daughter I really felt the Lord laying it on my heart to help teach others how to save money and I started this blog. I had no idea that it would grow as quickly as it has, but it has been so much fun to watch!  I also began teaching Budget Saving Mom classes. It has been great to meet some of my readers and be able to hear stories about how their change to a budget saving lifestyle has helped their families.

So, join me and my family on our budget saving journey!

Press and PR:

PR:

I am PR friendly!

If you or your company are interested in a product review or giveaway on my site, you can contact me at budgetsavingmom @ gmail dot com (remove the spaces and replace the dot with a “.”) For examples of past giveaways, click here.  I enjoy sharing press releases with my readers and providing them with reviews of new and exciting products. Feel free to contact me if you feel that you have something that would benefit my readers.

For my disclosure information, click here.

Press:

If you are interested in an interview, please e-mail me at budgetsavingmom @ gmail dot com (remove the spaces and replace the dot with a “.”)  I would love to share budget saving tips, store deals, coupon tips and more with your readers or viewers.

Past Press:

I have been interviewed for several national magazines, my local local newspaper, a national radio show, local radio shows and my local news station.

Filed Under: Uncategorized