As I continue my Top 10 Tips for Frugal Living, being organized comes in at #9!
Now, this is an interesting one at best. Some of us are natural organizers...but for others of us, this is a complete stretch!! To be honest, it's a little stretch for me, but the Lord is working on me and helping me in this area!! But, I believe that no matter where you are in that spectrum, you can succeed at being organized in couponing.
First, it's important to be organized, because you need to know what you have. What I mean here, is that if your at the store and see a potential deal, you need to know or be able to determine pretty quickly if you can make it an even better deal. For example, a while back I was at Krogers. They have at the front of the store shelves for clearanced items. On those shelves were Children's Benadryl marked down for $1. Now, that in itself is a good deal. But, I quickly flipped to the back of my binder where I keep cold remedies, and sure enough, I had $1 cpns for Benadryl. So, I got 4 (all they had) for FREE!! Had I not had my coupons organized or had I not clipped them and organized them, I would not have been able to get these. So, you need to know what you have and be able to access them quickly.
Second, being organized is important in that we don't lose items. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to find a deal, and not be able to find the right coupon that you KNOW you have!! (Now, if you've experienced this like me, you know the frustration!) For instance, a couple of weeks ago, Meijer had Starkist Tuna Creations on sale. I printed the Mealbox cpns and headed to the store. But, when I got there, I could NOT find the mfr. cpns that I know I had. In fact, I had seen them when I posted the ad...but they were no where to be found. It turned out I had already pulled them and left them in a pile on my desk at home. So, I left w/out the tuna that day. Not a big deal, but if I did that a lot, I would miss a lot of deals. So, being organized is important so we don't misplace coupons (or rebate forms, etc.) and miss deals.
Lastly, being organized is important because it SAVES time!! As a pastor's wife, a homeschooling mother, and a couponer, time is precious (as it is to ALL of us). I don't have time to waste. In fact, I believe that God wouldn't want us to waste time. It's being a bad steward of what He has blessed us with. Let's face it, it takes more time trying to find something that if we had put it where it belonged in the first place. It saves time at home and at the store. It's hectic enough when I'm checking out at the store trying to watch the scanner to make sure everything is ringing up correctly, that all my coupons are scanned, and that I've got everything separated into the right transactions. I don't need the added confusion of trying to FIND a coupon!!
I hope this helps motivate you to get organized. It only takes missing one deal, or misplacing one coupon to further motivate me to get more organized and stay that way!
And even if you're not an organized person naturally, you sure can LOOK it by having a nice, well-organized binder!!
Tip #10 Know Your Prices
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