I am sure many of you are aware that I started couponing last year. Mid April to be exact. If you are not a friend on Facebook..you may not know. I decided with the new year that I am going to kick it up a notch. It is only twelve days in and I have saved quite a bit. I have to say it is a time sucker. So, with that said...I felt a little discouraged as I felt I would have to give up a few things. It has always been a struggle to find the time to coupon. It is a long process if you want to start a stock pile. So, I had to re-do my game plan. Last year I made the mistake of not keeping my coupons organized in a way that worked for me. So I need to get my binder together and make it work for me. I would forget about many coupons and would lose some as they were all over the place in my office and kitchen.
I also realized that many times the coupons listed on sites were different from my coupons. Coupons vary by region and I would make my list, have my plan and go to clip and I would have a coupon for fifty cents of instead of a dollar (ohhhh the horror). I really need to search out that deals myself and not rely on the websites completely. The sites are amazing for those of us that do not have time..but sometimes by the time a deal is posted the products are gone. I have discovered some crazy couponers in my area. One lady was doing the same deal as I was. I spotted her from the next aisle over in CVS. She was clearing the self of the Dawn dish soap that was on sale.....ugggghhhh. She finally left and when I went over to get my three she had only left one! The nerve! I had to redo my plan on the fly and ended up being able to do it..but that could have ruined my whole deal. This was on a Sunday night and I realized if there was a good deal that I had to go on Sundays when the deal started. Sometimes that is not possible and I will just have to hope that it is still there when I can make it or just skip the deal.
Couponing can get a little addicting and I do not want that. I love getting a great deal...but if I obsess over it than I need to check myself...before I wreck myself(sorry had to do it). Soooooo....with all that said... I made a quarterly/yearly plan. I wrote down what I expected to need to buy this year. There are always surprise items that I don't know about in advanced....but there are many items that I know I will need every year. For example, I know I need diapers for the little one (hopefully not for long). I need toiletries like deodorant...shampoo/conditioner...soap..etc. There are also events such as birthdays and baby showers that I know about. This is going to be a big year for babies..so if there are items I can stock up on and bless my friends who are having children than that would be great!!! I love the deal that CVS had for awhile on their American Greeting cards. If you bought 3 you would get 3.00 back for a future purchase. So, I would buy 3 of the .99 cards and they would be free. I have around 12 cards and it is perfect for this year to use for bday cards...baby showers..etc. I am a planner so couponing is a great thing to use my planning skills on. If this seems too much you can plan a month in advanced or whatever suits you best.
Another issue with kicking up my couponing game is the space it requires. I already have too much stuff and not enough space. The Hubs and I took on a New Year project and tackled our garage. It freed up a lot of space and The Hubs even said I could have some area for my stock pile..how sweet:). Currently, I have a little spot in my hall closet and some space in my bathroom. I have not started a stockpile of food because I simply do not have the room in my tiny pantry..if you could even call it that.
I decided also to blog more about couponing. I love to blog but it is time consuming so I figured I could blog about couponing and kill two birds with one stone that way!So be on the look out for some tip and trick on couponing and hopefully you have a great year of savings.
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