couponing 101 for busy moms

Coupons are a busy part of my life but when I go shopping with my two fat binders and I save anywhere from $20.00 - $40.00 off my entire shopping bill I am a proud couponing mother.

Coupon moms have extra ,example: I home-school my kids therefore I have too much to just sit about and clip coupons. What I do is spread the work out, example as soon as I buy my coupons on Saturday I clip them, sort them, and put them in their cuddly little pockets within my binder.

My couponing binder is spread out into two because I haven't been able to buy the one I want(it's like $30.00 bucks). I use to binders that cost me $.70 each and i bought 100 baseball card plastic protectors from Amazon for $18.oo with shipping and handling. Doing these few extra things though it was extra work. it was worth it at the end. Now when I do go to Publix, or CVS, or Walgreens I have all my monopoly money in plastic protectors readily available to be used.

Today I went to Publix, I made the list on Sunday night, matched it with my Publix coupons and my manufacturer coupons, along with the weekly sale. Everything was neat and organized ready for me to go shopping. I bought $ 85.oo worth of groceries and paid $63.oo that made me a very happy camper. I took home ten boxes of fiber one bars, 2 boxes of granola which I didn't pay what I wanted to for them so they are going back tommorow. I bought half a gallon of milk (two) 18 egg cartons, 1 lbs of munster cheese, 1 lbs of ham, half a pound of boars head cracked pepper turkey. 4 gallons of purified water. two bags of wise chips, 1 soda, popcorn, 8 boxes of pasta, Gatorade, trix, 2 boxes of kellog's cereal, 1 box of fruit loops, 1 of apple jacks, 2 gallons of sweet tea, 1 PF Chang's frozen entree, 2 stoufer's lasagnas, 1 Tropicana orange juice, 4 activia four packs yogurt, 1 publix butter, 2 loafs of publix bread ( I think that's all).

If I didn't have all my coupons organized and neat in their pockets my grocery would have not gone so smoothly.

Organizing your coupons is half the battle and though it will take you hours of work the first time you sit and do this. The outcome is well worth it. Split the process in half, I did. When I saw the video on YouTube about how to organize your coupons it sparked new adventure and determination. I had some of my coupons in plastics, but I didn’t have enough so the most were in envelopes and going to the store sifting through hundreds of coupons in envelopes is not fun. There have been times when I have wanted to say for get ah ba it.

Coupons should be fun as much as saving utensils. Take your time get the kids to help split up the work and JUST DO IT.

Due to the couponing extremity those little plastics that were ten for a $1.00 are not on eBay over $5.oo for ten. OMG I was not going to pay top dollar for some plastics no matter the need. As an extreme saver I did my homework and found that local’s baseball shops still sell the plastic ten for $1.oo and Amazon has some great deals. They sold me 100 plastics sealed in the box for $18.oo including shipping a week after my inicial order I was sorting and organizing. Now when I go shopping I look like any extreme couponer/expert, though I consider myself a rookie and still at the learning process.