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Re: Coupons 101: Staying organized

feliduca — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:57:37 -0400

There's a bedrock belief among the clutter-afflicted that if they could only get rid of all the clutter, just once, the clutter problem could be solved.

It's not quite so simple. True, it's easier to maintain a decluttered environment than it is to achieve it, but there's more to the problem than the mere absence or presence of clutter.

Clutter doesn't arise out of nothing. If everyone in the family dumps book bags, briefcases, handbags and outer clothing on the living room sofa, clearing the sofa today isn't going to prevent tomorrow's deluge. Twenty-four hours later, the clutter has returned. Decluttering alone will not cure the real problem: the lack of family launch pads, and the failure of family members to use them.

Once clutter has been banished, the real work of change begins. To conquer clutter once and for all, focus on these clutter prevention ideas:

Home, Home On The Range

A primary cause of clutter? It's the homeless...mail, toys, or newspapers. Without a home, common household items wander, lose their way, meet up with bad companions and make the transition to clutter.

Establish good homes for your stuff. Newspapers may be folded and stacked on a coffee table before being read, then given shelter in a box while they await recycling. Devote prime domestic real estate to use as a launch pad for each family member: a location for purses, school papers, back packs and briefcases. Give paperwork proper files so it never has to huddle in lonely stacks on kitchen counters.

With a home to go to, good stuff will never become bad clutter.

Establish Clutter Preserve

There's no such thing as clutter-free living. Even the tidiest among us still tosses clothing on floors from time to time.

Accept reality by establishing dedicated clutter preserves. Like wildlife preserves, these are limited areas where clutter may live freely, so long as it stays within boundaries. In a bedroom, one chair becomes the clutter preserve. Clothing may be thrown with abandon, so long as it's thrown on the chair.

A kitchen junk drawer can house vitamin bottles, rubber bands, clipped recipes, expired coupons and shopping receipts unwelcome outside their clutter preserve. Children may use a flat-bottomed plastic laundry basket to corral stray playthings in bedroom or family room. A large magazine bucket in the living room is fair game for catalogs and magazines, so long as they can fit inside the bucket.

Build Good Habits To Bust Clutter

Focus on stuff-related household activities to get a handle on the clutter process. Build good habits to choke off the tendency to create clutter.

For example, establish a "returning home" habit or routine. As you shut the back door, hang the car keys on a hook just above the light switch. Remove jackets and coats two steps inside the house, and hang them on the coat rack. Place purse or briefcase in the launch pad area next to the coats.

Bringing in the mail? No more slumping down any old where to review the day's catch. Instead, form a new habit: sort mail over the trash can, dumping the junk, then file it quickly in a plastic pocket filing unit on the adjoining wall.

Habits, once adopted, kick in as a mindless protective device. To stay clutter-free, work hard on new clutter-busting habits as you declutter.

One In, One Out

For more exotic clutter contenders, adopt a one-in, one-out rule. From here on out, when you buy a new pot, shirt or magazine, an old pot, shirt or magazine must be discarded, recycled or donated. One-in, one-out keeps the level of stuff below the clutter point by limiting total numbers.

Observing the rule can also save money. Think of it a cure for affluenza. Charmed as you may be with that colorful Italian pasta bowl, buying takes on new importance when one of the old bowls will have be discarded as a result. Old friends are best!

Outsource It

Finally, focus on out-of-house resources to whittle down the sheer number of things that enter home. For example, there's no need to buy, keep, sort and store back issues of magazines once you realize that the public library provides this very service for free!

Rent, don't buy, paint sprayers and specialty tools for home repair projects. Swap garden tools or hobby equipment with a neighbor. Borrow books, CDs, and videos from the library or video rental store.

The less you permit stuff to get a foot in the door, the less clutter will grow in your organized home!

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Submited by : Libros Gratis

Re: Coupons 101: Staying organized

suestock — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:36:35 -0400

Hmmm... maybe 24 is the magic number? I don't know... it seems to work for me. Anyway, most people use categories that make sense to them. Like if you use a lot of pet stuff or baby stuff, you might need a separate category. Also most people put them in an order that makes sense to them, not alphabetically. I'm going off memory here, but let me see if I can do this...

1) Fruits & Veggies; 2) Condiments; 3) Canned goods; 4) Rice and past; 5) Oils; 6) Snacks & Cookies; 7) Baking stuff; 8) Hot drinks; 9) Pet stuff; 10) Paper products; 11) Film, batteries, bulbs, bugs (as in bug spray, Raid, etc.); 12) Laundry; 13) Cleaning; 14) Personal hygeine; 15) Dental; 16) Frozen; 17) Dairy; 18) Meat; 19) Breakfast; 20) Bread; 21) Meds; 22) Rebates; 23) Restaurants; 24) Other (retailer coupons, not grocery coupons)

And, just a word of advice. Splurge and get the heavier plastic kind of dividers instead of the paper ones. The binder pages (the baseball card holders) are heavy, and the plastic ones stand up to the wear & tear. I got mine at Staples (when they had a rebate offer, of course)...

Re: Coupons 101: Staying organized

momrx — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:24:23 -0400

Hi Sue, I'm a huge fan of your blog & column!!! I'm new to "organized couponing" but after a few times of having my accordion file tip over & spilling out all my coupons in the shopping cart (& having to painfully spend time re-organizing them), I'd like to convert. Following the frugal vein though, I'd like to make my own 24 tab inserts/dividers for my 3 ring binder. I notice both you & Faye Prosser seem to have that many. What "sections" are on your dividers? Thanks in advance!

Re: Coupons 101: Staying organized

suestock — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:30:52 -0400

Hi mdsdwelch, I'm sorry for any confusion... this is simply a database of coupons that have been issued in our market (mostly in the Sunday paper). You cannot print the coupons from the database. You could print the whole database out if you wanted a list of available coupons, but it's like 20 pages long. Most people use it simply as a reference to see if there is an available coupon for a product they need to buy, or to line up sales with coupons.

Re: accessing coupons

mdsdwelch — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:52:45 -0400

I'm trying to get a printout of the coupons I need, but I can't see how - please help!

Coupons 101: Staying organized

suestock — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 06:00:00 -0500

Reader Beth asked a really good question, and I thought the answer might be something that would benefit others as well. Beth’s question was: I'm curious what strategies you use to keep your coupons organized, especially in knowing what you've got so that you can recognize the great deals when stuff goes on sale. I find that I clip the coupons, put them in my coupon file, but then the prospect of taking each ad and trying to match them up with coupons to maximize savings is daunting. Any tips?

Now I’m going to admit right up front that my system is seriously on the extreme end of the spectrum, and I don’t believe that everyone needs to have a system this complex. They key is finding one that makes sense to you and then being consistent about clipping and filing the coupons away. I have a friend who has one single envelope, and that system works fine for her. But I would say with one to two hours of effort a week (clipping, sorting and reviewing sales flyers), you can be a much smarter shopper.

My personal system is a big three-ring binder, the kind with the padded cover and a zipper around the outside. Inside the front flap, there’s a pocket where I keep all the store inserts for the week. And in the binder itself are some heavy-duty plastic dividers and a whole mess of those clear plastic baseball card holders.

If you have multiple copies of one coupon, they just all go in the same pocket. And, if you keep organized, you can keep your coupons for similar products together, which makes comparison shopping a breeze. This layout also avoids the shuffling through a coupon file that I think many people find frustrating. And the binder fits very conveniently in the child seat of a shopping cart.

My binder has 24 categories. Some women I know arrange their binder to match up with the order of the aisles in their favorite store. Some do it alphabetically. Mine has no real rhyme or reason except that it makes sense in my head. If you’d like to see a picture of a binder system, Faye Prosser, who is a wonderful frugal shopper and a couponing genius from Garner, has a photo of one on her Smart Spending Web site HERE. You can also order one from Faye if you’re not up to making one yourself.

I think this system is really the best because it allows you access to all your coupons in case you stumble across an unadvertised deal (happens all the time). You can just flip over to the right section of your binder and see if you have coupons to use.

But again, that’s for pretty advanced couponers and is not right for everyone. Most of us who use the binder system have graduated up to that level. If you have one of those little accordion file ones with six categories but want a little more room, I would recommend a returned check holder (you can buy at Staples or Wal-Mart or some other office store). They are very similar in design but are larger and have 12 pockets. You can even use envelopes within the 12 pockets to create more categories.

In general, I would say that you need a system that works well for you. Whether that’s an envelope or a big binder is up to you to decide. But the key is organization. With another nod to Faye, I’ll quote her favorite line. “If you watch two hours of TV a week, you can do this.” I really enjoy couponing in front of the TV because it makes me feel like I’m not wasting time. I also save time by not “purging” my binder of expired coupons every week. I usually do it about once a month. And, if you clip regularly, you will notice there are coupon cycles… Procter & Gamble issues coupons once a month in the P&G Brandsaver, for instance. It always comes on the first Sunday of the month.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick to lining up sales and coupons (except maybe reading my Wednesday Deals!). There's no substitute for being organized. How else will you know which coupons you have? But I will say that if you are willing to put in the time and effort regularly for let’s say a month, it will start to get a lot easier. Most die-hard couponers (myself included) are almost like walking rolodexes of coupons. We can tell you off the tops of our heads, “Oh, there was a coupon for that three weeks ago.” But it’s like any skill. You have to practice.

So, to summarize….
1) Work out a system that makes sense to you, binder or no binder.
2) Keep it current by putting in a few hours every week.
3) Practice lining up coupons and sales. I promise it will get easier as you go, and you will be well-rewarded for your time!

Updated: July 10, 2008