View a video here on how to decide if you should file coupons or use a binder, plus how to sort, clip slice, and organize your coupon binder if you decide it would work better for you then filing.

Use eCoupons at Smith’s, Albertson’s, and the following stores:

What is an eCoupon, Loadable or Clipless coupon?
An eCoupon is an electronic coupon get online in a similar manner to a printable coupon.  Instead of printing the coupon, you load it onto your store loyalty card.  When you scan your loyalty card at the cash register, or give your phone number, you will automatically receive the savings if you’ve made a qualifying purchase.

Go to Cellfire.com and enter in your store loyalty card #, then click on the new eCoupons to add them to your card.

Go to UPromise.com and enter in your store loyalty card #, then click on “coupons & deals” then “Grocery eCoupons”.  Then you select ALL the eCoupons.  I try to do this the 1st day of every month since normally that is when their coupons re-fresh

Gift cards are ca$h (to stores)
+ you can combine them with coupon$
= save huge $$$ at retail stores and restaurants.

Example: Foot Locker $200 Gift Card selling for $160 at PlasticJungle.com.

If someone gives you a retail, restaurant, or movie theater gift card you don’t want, you can also sell or trade it at PlasticJungle.com.

Prices vary from $30-400. Plastic Jungle has Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s, JCPenny, American Eagle,  just about everywhere I could think of except Home Depot which is where I need one for!  Luckily, I was able to set up an “alert” and as soon as they get one I’ll get an email.

We just bought a house last year with no yard (I mean, it is just dirt with no trees or anything) so we have a massive summer coming at us and I’m sure a discount at Home Depot would be used up quick.   Last year we installed the sprinkler system ourselves (6 week project, 50% savings over hiring a landscaper to do it) and we are doing a garden plus all grass ourselves this year too.  Pictures and updates to come!

This is my in-depth coupon clipping slicing & organizing  video.  It covers:

1. Coupon binder vs. filing method
2. Slicing coupons (no more scissors for me!)
3. Pre-sorting categories as you slice coupons
4. Showing my coupon binder & categories I use (view them HERE)

I have gotten so many emails asking about my Slice Coupon Cutter – you can scoop up a slice safety cutter here on Amazon.com for just $6 plus free super saver shipping!

I hope you enjoy the video and leave me any questions you have or suggestions!

I just found out about Cash4Books.net and I am so excited! I have so many books lying around I hope they buy them all up.  It works super simple:

1. Enter books to sell with their ISBN’s
2. They pay for your shipping label — which you print right from your computer
3. They pay you via paypal or check, whichever you prefer.

So go get em’ sold ladies! Please let me know how much $$$ you make! Go here: Cash4Books.net

I enjoy just hanging out with my husband and my girls; I don’t want to spend my whole life clipping coupons and driving to 10 stores a week.  My husband took the picture above of me and my daughters just hanging out.  These are the best times we have and I want more.

Thus I have compiled a list of inventive ways to save time couponing, since it can be so time-consuming:

1. Instead of clipping all the Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G inserts yourself, find some friends each Sunday to do a coupon insert swap with.  For example, each week I clip the Smart Source coupons and one of my friends clips the P&G and Red Plum inserts.  Give them back their coupons once you’ve finished clipping them.
2. If a store is far away, trade weeks with a friend to shop there. For example, Target is 25 miles away from me.  I print out all the deals I want to get, compile my coupons in an envelope, and give them to my friend who picks up my deals for me at Target.  I do the same for her at Rite Aid and Walgreens; they are also quite a drive away from our homes.  We make sure to have everything organized for the person who is going to make it easy for them.  We also get separate receipts at  checkout to make paying each other back easier & so we can have receipts to submit for rebates that need mailed in.
3. If you have 3 copies of the same insert to clip, make sure to stack all the individual coupon insert pages that are similar on top of each other and cut them at once.
4. I always save my shopping receipts because you never know when a rebate form will appear that has an item that you already purchased on it.  For example, I recently did the Coors Rebate and used a receipt for Plastic Cups that I had purchased before I even heard about the rebate. The rebate dates were so long (Dec. 15-Feb.8) it was easy to find receipts to make the rebate work.
5. Gather all the ads for deals you want to do and price match them at Target or Walmart.  Remember, they won’t price match Rite Aid Single Check Rebates, Walgreen’s Register Rewards, B1G1 Free and other deals where an exact price isn’t listed.  I like to shop at local stores that are running the ad to support them, plus the local stores pay for their ads, but if I don’t have time to visit them all or if the stores are too far away…
6. Use a coupon-clipping service and order coupons in bulk.  Here is one of the cheapest (usually 5 cents per coupon) My Coupon Hunter here. Remember it will take a few days to get your coupons though.
7. Heather from Sweet Deals 4 Mom sent me this great idea: “I do a coupon train with about 7 other people. When I get the envelopes of coupons in the mail, I take what I need, replace what I took and remove the expired ones. Pretty easy.”
8. Kristin from Making Cents Out of Life sent me her tips: “I saves a lot of time and impulse buys just to not clip every coupon.  I have a mixed method of coupon organization…when I get organized that is , where I leave them whole but I plan 4 weeks of sales as far in advance as I can.  I use Slick Deals and other forums and blogs to look ahead, clip what i need and use 4 different accordion holders to store that week’s coupons until I need them.  I keep the rest of the insert filed away and when I hear of a clearance deal I go clip. Always take a notebook and pen with you when you shop so you can write down clearance deals, and run back the next day if you really want the item.  I spend less money not having my coupons with me at all times.  I miss the occasional hot deal but the pay off is worth it.  It’s hard to explain in a short (for me!) paragraph but not keeping my coupons with me all the time is usually a good thing.  If you really are afraid of missing a hot deal, take the inserts but leave them in the car.  You still don’t clip them but you have your box in the car so you can go out and clip the ones that you need if you come upon a clearance deal.  But…I despise clipping coupons and trying to stuff them into the baseball card inserts or any other insert.  Hahah.  I love using them but hate clipping!”
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JANUARY - Historically, Quaker has hot deals on cereal/all items. We see Pepsi/Tostitos go on sale mid-January (again, rebates abound for these). Other items of note this time of year are chili, side dishes, anything for hearty/warm meals.
• Post-Holiday Sales
• White Sales
• Sports and Weight Loss Equipment
• Computers
• Winter Apparel and Accessories
· Organizers, Rubbermaid totes, shelf organizers, planners, filing cabinets

FEBRUARY – many of the same food items as January
• Electronics
• Floor Coverings
• Housewares
• Furniture
• Candy and Chocolates

MARCH - Frozen food month. You’ll find many stores are offering free freezers or fill-a-bag deals. Between March and April, look for spring cleaning deals, so many cleaner items will be on sale. With Easter, looks for eggs, ham, Kraft products to cycle into good sales. Paper products like towels, napkins, plates are starting to come on strong. Beverage items.
• Spring Apparel and Accessories
• Winter Sports Equipment
• Gardening Supplies
• Luggage

APRIL –
• Spring Apparel and Accessories
• Coats and Hats
• Paint
• Wallpaper
• Jewish Foods and Eggs

This Giveaway has ended: Winner was Entry #23, Ashley.

I received a copy of Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey, courtesy of the authors Joanie Demer and Heather Wheeler.  Other then the free copy of the book for me to review and the free copy they gave me to give away to one of my readers, I was in no other way paid for this review and this is my honest opinion of the book:

I wish I would have bought it to give to my sisters-in-law for Christmas instead of giving them the gifts I got them.  I used coupons to score amazing deals on their presents; but those are only going to last so long.  This book would do much more to seriously change their lives.  You see, even though I coupon and have tried to explain to them the dramatic savings I score, there is really so much to couponing you need to be taught it in a class (as I was), watch training videos, or by buying and reading this book.

Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey is loaded with funny comics showing how Krazy coupon shoppers live.  I related to all of them and my husband agreed I could be the lady in the comics. The book starts out explaining the why of couponing.  This is why this would be a great gift for people who are not couponers yet.  There are some people who don’t understand that you can get name-brand cereal for drastically less then generic.   Or they don’t believe it, until the read the in-depth how.

Look how many coupons expired before I could use them! And this is just what I pulled out of my binder this week, I pull expired coupons out every 2 weeks!

What am I going to do with them? Coupons may be used up to six months past their expiration date at overseas USA military commissaries.  At the end of each month, send your coupons to an expired coupon rep who’ll mail them to Japan once per month. Here’s where I am going to currently send mine:

KCL Overseas Coupon Program
c/o Andrea Ponder
30865 Shelton Rd.
Parma, ID 83660

I think this air force base gets a LOT of coupons, so I am currently looking for another military base to send coupons to, if you know of any that need them please let me know!