This week I am tackling my small organizing tasks. Monday was decluttering with Tsh at Simple Home and organizing owners manuals. Tuesday was solving my toddler-run relocation program with bins in the kitchen, organizing kids’ toys, and I asked readers to help me solve my “yummy junk mail” recycling challenge (thank you everyone for some very wonderful suggestions.) Today I am organizing my coupons.

Organizing coupons (Qs) can take time. There are so many ways to do this but here is how I do tackle this task.

1. I have a mess! This collection of inserts and home mailers is a few weeks worth.

I collect those little pieces of paper from the newspaper (The Washington Post), magazines (Everyday Food, All You, Parenting), and home mailers (I sign up for manufacturer’s mailing lists. You can find sign-up information on the coupon sites I listed below.) I personally don’t print from the Internet because my stores in northern Virginia generally don’t take Internet print outs unless it is a store Q e-mailed to me. (Note: check with your store managers and on-line for the corporate store policy so you know your stuff before you have to face a cashier who doesn’t know their own store Q policy.)

I cut ALL Qs each week and take out the ones for products my family doesn’t use. (I send these on to my coupon train gals and guys or give them to neighbors or friends. Learn more about coupon trains here and here.)

2. I organize the mess into piles. Food, health & beauty, store coupons, and ones I know I want to use this week.

  

Binder pros: I can take one item with me when I shop. It is easy to see all my Qs and expiration dates through the plastic baseball card holder pages. (I got these at Walmart.) I organize my Qs by category so it is easier to file and find them.

Binder cons: I must cut and file my Qs each week. And I need to purge expired Qs. (This only takes me an additional 20 minutes a month. It may seem like a lot to you, but check out my savings below!!)

4. I then log onto my favorite sites to find the best weekly deals. I confer with my favorite money-saving blog Moneywise Moms, written by a fellow northern Virginian Gina, and I review the weekly store sales ads. I make a shopping list that includes the best deals for things I want to stockpile, money making deals, and regular weekly items, like milk.

5. I put my list, my store rewards card, and my Qs in one envelope so I can pull it out when I get to the store and have everything there. AND I try to leave my little ones at home to minimize distractions.  (I was in Safeway with the baby in the cart and the toddler in the “car” on the front of my cart when I found 7 boxes of Sudafed in my basket at the check-out. My family doesn’t use Sudafed. Ahhh, those short fat sticky toddler fingers always cause trouble. I was lucky I didn’t end up paying for this and I now drive the cart down the middle of the aisle.)

Collecting, cutting, and filing everything can take some time. I generally spend an average of 20 minutes a week organizing my coupons. Nevertheless, I have saved sooo much money by collecting these little pieces of paper. My current grocery budget for a family of 2.5 (two toddlers = 1/2 an adult) is $50 per week (and that is down from $150/week here in very expensive suburban northern Virginia.) And I am spending nothing each week for health and beauty items and I will never again pay for toothpaste.

You can do it too! Check out some of my favorite sites that might help you organize your money-saving-system!

SlickDeals Forum

This is how I do it. How do you organize to save money?