How I Coupon

Category : Coupons, Organization

I’ve had a few questions about how I do my couponing. I’ve done a lot of research online to see what would work best for me and I borrow from a few places. My main method of organizing, however, is the CouponMom.com method.

This method is to take your coupon booklets out of the paper each weekend and mark on the front what the date is. Then file it away. I file by Smart Source, Red Plum and P&G Monthly. I keep a binder with one copy of each for each week/month. If I get extras I have a file bin where I keep them by date and by name. If you are looking to stockpile items, then consider getting one paper for each person in your household. I like to have between 5-10 copies of the coupon inserts but I don’t end up getting them every week in that amount due to not being able to find a steady supplier. I thought I found one on eBay but they have changed their policies recently for coupons so it makes it difficult to get them on there very often.

Once you log in to the site, I use two things here.

When I’m ready to get my shopping list together, the first link I click on is the Coupon Database. Then Newspaper Coupons, on that page click on Select Your Region here. (I live in NY so my state is not listed.) From there I click on Northeast. This will open up a new window.

In the blank box, I can type in the name of a product and hit the Search Coupon Database button.

Below I’ve done a search for Dole so you can see what the screen will look like:

(Click on the pics for a bigger and better view)

coupondatabase

So if I were looking for canned pineapple, the first line in the example above would be the coupon that I’m looking for. I want to go to the Smart Source coupons dated 4/6/14 and find that coupon to clip. This way I’m only clipping what I need at any given time instead of trying to clip everything each week and organize. This saves me so much time!!

Here is a picture of my binder:

couponbinder

And the inside:

binderinside

Here are my coupons:

couponsinbinder

And once most of the coupon booklet is expired there may be some that are still valid, so instead of keeping the entire booklet for just a few I bought baseball card pages at Walmart and I store those coupons in here. I also use it for the catalina’s that come off the register when you checkout.

looseleafcoupons

The second place I visit on the website is the link on the front page for 60 Store Deals Lists Updated Weekly. I click on View All 60 Stores. This will bring you to a list of stores. I click on the stores that I frequent and check the tops of the lists. Here you will find a quick view of items you can get for free or that are even moneymakers in some cases. Anything you can get for free is great! If it’s a product you don’t use yourself, consider getting it for donation purposes. 

Hopefully this has been helpful! If you have any questions feel free to message me or leave a comment!