Coupons: How To Get Serious About Couponing!
One of the most common things I hear others say about coupons is that they clip them but never remember to bring them to the grocery store. Others tell me about their desire to use coupons but wonder if it is really worth the time and effort to clip them. The short answer to that last belief is always the same – Yes! However, moving ourselves from forgetting to remembering and no desire to cultivating a desire to regularly invest time in clipping coupons, requires a more organized approach to the whole idea of couponing.
So how does a person wanting to get serious about couponing go from clipping to using? How can you break the endless cycle of coupon forgetfulness and neglect? Try these suggestions:
Choose the right organizer for you. There are many options here from the accordion file, large binders with plastic dividers, or a smaller purse size organizer with pre-printed sections. Some organizers are just for grocery coupons. Others have compartments for grocery coupons, rebates, household services, restaurants, sections for coupons that are expiring, etc. and are more of a system than just a simple organizer. Choose the best option for you because if you’re excited about your organizer, you’ll be excited about using it to file your coupons.
Change the way you think about coupons. Stop thinking of coupons as a temporary survival technique for the current economy. Money needs to be saved regardless of the state of the economy. View your coupons as money saving companions and you will spend the time necessary to clip and organize them and will rarely leave home without them.
Add coupon clipping to your Sunday to-do list as a regular task. Include enough time to review, clip, sort, and file the coupons. If you use printable coupons, add extra time to review your favorite site and have them printed and ready to clip along with the coupons from the Sunday paper. Get your kids involved and make it a game to sort and organize the coupons you plan to use.
Keep your coupon organizer handy as you’re clipping and file them away immediately. That way there is no chance of leaving them on the counter at your next shopping trip. Having the organizer close will also make it easier to sort and toss expired coupons so there are no surprises during your shopping trip.
After filing the coupons, take an extra minute and put the organizer in your car or if you are using a smaller organizer, go ahead and put it in your purse. That way, when you’re at the grocery store and realize you have forgotten your coupons, the parking lot is as far as you have to go for savings.
Couponing does take time but it is well worth the effort. Try the above five suggestions to change your approach to handling your coupons and see if it makes the process easier to manage. Once you start tracking your savings after each shopping trip, you will see that it really does pay to get serious about couponing!