Start a Printable Coupon Tracker

Do you want more coupons?  Have you ever seen a "hot" price on an item and them rememered you saw a coupon for that product a few weeks ago, but now the coupon is gone?  Print your coupons when you SEE them but wait until you plan a shopping trip to USE them.  Start a coupon file with printable coupons for the products you know you and your family will use when they come on sale.

The Grocery Smarts lists will now include not only coupons available of the Groups A, B & C lists but will also list coupons when they find them from manufacturers.  The link is already available on my sidebar for single coupons.  The products are listed alphabetically and when you click on the link it will automatically open a browser to the site so you don't have to close the coupon window.

Each coupon is identified by the date it was included on the list.  The date the coupon "disappeared" is also listed.  Once a coupon print limit is reached, the coupon is no longer available for print, or "disappears".

**UPDATE:  After a call from a new couponer, I wanted let you know that if you print only one coupon at a time (or one coupon to a page) you may get a color product advertisement printed on the remainder of the page.  You need to consider your ink and paper as expenses that offset your savings.  So. . . you may want to print at least 2 coupons at a time.  The coupon printers will print a maximum of three coupons per page.  This will eliminate the possible color advertisement.  You may want to set your printer to print in black and white only for these coupon prints also, and save your color ink.

I blogged about this earlier in the month, but the new Grocery Smarts lists include information about starting one of these files.  I file my printable coupons alphabetically by product name and keep a small notecard in the front of the file with the expiration dates of the coupons.  You can read more about my file by clicking on that link.  This may be considered to be an OCD tendency, but it works for me.  You can find a system that works for you and begin saving even more money today.

Organizing Your 'Other' Coupons

This is my handy dandy printable coupon holder! It goes with me wherever I go (in my purse). It holds all sorts of coupons:

• Printable coupons from the Grocery Smarts website and from my favorite product websites
• Peelies - coupons that are attached to products I have already purchased. (You may ask why I didn't use the coupon with the original purchase. Good question. These peelies are considered to be manufacturer coupons and I was already using a coupon for a larger cents-off value, so I saved the peelie for a purchase at a later date!)
• Coupons found in the Sunday magazines (Weekend USA & Parade) that aren't referenced in the Grocery Smarts listings.
• Coupons meant to be cut from the packaging on products I've purchased and consumed (cereal boxes, for instance)
• CRT's - Cash Register Receipt coupons - those coupons printed at the register for cents off future purchases.

Because it's the beginning of a new year and I'm in an organizing mood, I purged my coupon holder of coupons that had expired. In the process, I found I had missed using some of my coupons because I'd forgotten I had them. I don't like leaving money on the table! I want to save as much as possible at all times.

So I listed the remaining coupons on my computer and printed a copy for my coupon holder. When I need a coupon, I won't waste time looking through the folder. I'll just reference the list at the front and grab the coupons I need. When I use a coupon, I'll put a line through it on the list.

The expiration date for each coupon is listed so when I update the folder, once every one or two weeks, it'll be easier to identify the expired coupons without having to look at each one.  Then I can update my list by adding any coupons I've clipped and omitting the expired or used coupons.

I realize to some this may seem a bit overboard in the organizing department. But I know it'll save me TIME by being more organized and MONEY by not missing coupon savings in the future. I'm all for that!

Organizing Your Coupons

I'm often asked how I organize my coupons -- so here's a little peek into my coupon world. When I first began received multiple Sunday newspapers (I get 4 papers each Sunday but have recently added another subscription for 5 total) I kept them in sheet protectors in a three-ring binder. All the Smart Source inserts for one date were kept in one sleeve, all the Red Plum inserts were kept together in another and so on. The most recent inserts were placed at the front of the notebook.

As you might imagine, it wasn't too long before my notebook was bursting at the seams. The sheet protectors were sliding all over the place and it just wasn't working for me anymore. So I bought a plastic file box. All the Smart Source inserts for a particular date are clipped together and each packet is filed in a folder. I keep all the Smart Source inserts in one file, all the Red Plums in another. There is no need to label the files -- the Smart Sources are in the front, the Red Plums behind them and any miscellaneous inserts (P&G, Kelloggs, etc.) are kept behind those. These inserts are also filed by date so they're easy to pull when I'm ready to clip coupons.

Just for my convenience, I bought a filing box with a separate lift top with several small compartments. Everything I need is in one place. There are micro binder clips so I can keep my inserts together; these binder clips are also used for clipping my coupons to the back of my grocery shopping list. The scissors for clipping and the Sharpie for marking my inserts are also close at hand. This filebox sits under my computer desk for maximum convenience.

Keeping my coupons organized and having the tools at hand have saved an enormous amount of time! We need to remember - while trying to save money (which is important), time is also a valuable commodity. Hope this helps!