Coupon Chaos

Okay, so I'm trying to get better at this coupon clipping thing. I'm finding out there's a whole coupon culture out there and a bunch of strategies. I've gone as far as ordering the Sunday paper and getting the above binder prepared. Dad, don't laugh!! Those are actually baseball card holder sheets. If you're tempted to try this, you can only find them at office supply stores like Staples or Office Max. I spent a couple of hours getting them organized this afternoon. The sad fact is in a couple of weeks my coupons will once again look like the stack on the left. I'm having a hard time w/ the "maintenance" aspect of this. One of the tricks I'm learning is to wait for some of the grocery stores to have triple coupon day. They will triple coupons up to $1. If the item is on sale and they triple the coupon that's when this can get exciting. The other tidbit I've learned is to stock pile things you use all the time when these specials happen. I'm getting this info. from one website called, A Full Cup. Here's my little testimony from today...KMart is doubling coupons this week up to $2. This is a good time to go w/ for all those expensive hygiene items. Most of those coupons are $1-$2 off, etc. Well, I'm sure there are some people who can do better, but I saved 40 bucks! I got $120 worth of items for $80. Woohoo! If you plan to come visit us anytime soon, don't worry about toothpaste or toilet paper. We've got enough to last until our kid goes to college. Some of the highlights of the trip were the fact that they actually paid me 19 cents for three packs of gum and I walked away with some bodywash for free. Oh yea, and I even snagged a pack of diapers!