Couponing 101: My Organization System for Coupons and Couponing Sites I Use

Hello!  Today I'm sharing how I organize my coupons and the free couponing sites I use to save big bucks on my groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc.  First of all, I have a coupon clutch to organize all my coupons.

Essentially, the Coupon Clutch is a cloth cover for your coupon binder with handles and pockets.  Couponclutch.com has everything you need to organize your coupons.  From them, I purchased my 3" binder cover and an array of plastic sheets with different sized pockets for my coupons.  I suggest the Deluxe Coupon Organizer Binder System that comes with 

-8 Tabbed Divider Pages

-3 Plastic Binder Pockets

-10 Nine Pocket Pages 

-10 Eight Pocket Pages

-10 Six Pocket Pages

-10 Three Pocket Pages

-5 Page Instruction Booklet

In addition to the Deluxe System, I bought an extra 8 pack of tabbed dividers and extra plastic coupon pages.  Once my Coupon Clutch arrived, I used my label maker and re-labeled some of the tabbed dividers.  They come with categories already printed on them, and I wanted to change some so I just placed my label over the existing category tab.  I have several categories and subcategories that I use to organize my coupons.

Coupon Categories & Subcategories:

1. Grocery 

-Dairy, Produce, & Refrigerated

-Drinks, Snacks, & Desserts

-Deli, Meat, & Frozen Foods

-Canned Goods, Condiments, & Spices

-Cereal, Pasta, & Boxed Foods

2. Toiletries, etc.

-Personal Care & Beauty

-Pharmacy

3. Cleaning Supplies, etc.

-Cleaning Supplies & Pest Control

-Paper Products & Bags

-Batteries

4. Store Specific Coupons

-Walgreens

-Walmart

-Kmart

-Kroger

-Craft Store Coupons

-Other Store Specific Coupons

5. Other

-Baby Items

-Miscellaneous

-Restaurant Coupons

-Photo Coupons

-Pet Supplies

6. Target Coupons (Target gets its own category because of the sheer number of Target coupons I get and use)

- Target Baby

-Target Food

-Target Beauty & Pharmacy

-Target Cleaning & Paper Products

-Target Other

I find that these categories cover the gamut and I'm able to organize all my coupons so that they're easier to find when I'm out at the store. 

Prior to going to the store, I make a plan of which stores I will go to, what items I will buy, the coupon discount, and how much the item will be after the discount (if I have that information available to me).  I use a spiral notebook and draw columns and write in that information.  I just tuck my spiral notebook into my coupon clutch when I go to the store.

In order to make a plan of how my shopping trip will go, I use a couponing site that gives me all the information I need.  Couponmom.com is my favorite site for this purpose.  Just select the store you want and your state, and a list of coupon deals comes up.  Coupon Mom lists include:

-Date coupon came out

-Which coupon insert it came out of

-Item name, size, description

-If there is a printable coupon for the item, a link will appear in the list

-Coupon amount

-Quantity you need to purchase to get the deal

-The store's sale price 

-Price after coupon savings

-Percent saved

Remember the key to really saving money with coupons is combining the coupons with the store's sale.  In addition, some stores let you stack coupons.  Target is a great example of a store that allows you to stack coupons.  Say I have a manufacturer's coupon for $1.00 off razor blades.  Then, I printed a Target store coupon for $2.00 off the same razor blades.  Plus, Target has the razor blades on sale for $10.00 and they are regularly $13.99.  In addition, the Target Cartwheel app has a coupon for 10% off.  Adding all the discounts together, the $13.99 razor blades can be purchased for $6.00.

$13.99 $10.00 - $1.00 (10%) - $1.00 (Manufacturer's coupon) - $2.00 (Target Coupon) = $6.00

Be sure to check each store's coupon policy to see if they allow stacked coupons or not.  I printed the coupon policies for each of the stores I go to and placed them in my coupon clutch.  That way, if there's any question about policy when I go to checkout, I have the answer right there.  Also, I find that not all store employees are knowledgable about their store's coupon policy and if I have it in writing, I can easily show the employee what the policy says.

There are a lot of couponing sites that will allow you to print coupons to use in the store.  Some are manufacturer's coupons and some are store-specific, so be sure to check the fine print.  I use the following sites the most:

-couponmom.com

-coupons.com

-coupons.target.com

-coupons.walmart.com

-couponsherpa.com/printable-coupons/

When I get to the store with my coupon binder, I only remove the coupon from its slot once I have the item in my cart.  I keep a small envelope in my coupon clutch to slide my coupons into that I'll be using in that store.  

How do you organize your coupons?  Do you have a system that works for you?  Feel free to share!

Luau Graduation Party Decorations

When my best friend and her daughter asked me to help plan the daughter's graduation open house, I gladly accepted!  They wanted a luau theme and asked for some help with decorations.  I quickly scoured
Pinterest.com for ideas.  I found an awesome tutorial from Uncommon Designs.  She is the creator of these giant tissue paper hibiscus flowers:

The url is:

http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/how-to-make-tissue-paper-flowers/

I absolutely loved the flowers I made using her tutorial.   I just elaborated on some of her directions below as I wasnt 100% clear on one of the steps.  I'll go over the steps with you and elaborate on what I did.

Her pictures are awesome too for help in completing the flowers.  I have some pictures of the finished product.

Supplies for giant tissue paper hibiscus flowers:

8-10 sheets of one color tissue paper for petals

4 sheets of another color tissue paper for flower's middles

Scotch tape

floral wire

floral wire cutters

Scissors

posterboard

Pencil

1. Using your pencil and posterboard,   draw 3 petal shapes on your posterboard in graduated sizes.  The first petal is approximately 13 inches tall and 12 inches wide.  (See Uncommon Designs for more info)  Then draw 2 more petal shapes one a little smaller than the next.  Cut out your petal shapes to use as templates. 

2. Spead out your tissue paper that is your petal color and lay 8-10 sheets on top of one another.   Use your templates to cut out flowers petals in each of the 3 sizes cutting through all 8-10 sheets at a time.  Petals shouldnt be perfect, a little irregularity is good.

3. Now you take your other color tissue paper and fold all 4 sheets together accordion style.  This also doesnt need to be perfect but thr thinner you fold, the better.  Cut your folded tissue into thirds.  You now have enough to make 3 flowers' middles.

4. Cut a piece of floral wire about a foot long.  Take youtr floral wire and twist it around your folded paper. (Pictures here)  You then cut thin slits on rither side of the wire into your folded tissue.  Make sure you don't cut all the way tgrough but have a small half inch section where the wire is.  Now pull the tissue layers apart gently until your left with a fluffy mess on a wire.

5. Take 3 of your smallest petals and bunch thr ends together making sure they are fanned out.  Secure the bottom with the Scotch tape.  

6. Now fold your fluffy flower middle in half and secure the 3 petals to the back of the flower middle with tape.  (See picture).

7. Now continue making petal trios and taping around the center.   I used 8 pieces to make my petals so I had 2 petals left over that I would tape in any holes to make the flower fuller.  After the small, do the medium, then the large petals.  Ta da!  You can use the wire to attach your flower to whatever you need.

I also made some paper lanterns in various colors that are super easy to make.  

To make the lanterns:

Supplies:

Several pieces of colored cardstock or paper (8.5x11"), you could also use printed designs for a different look

scissors

hole punch

 string or twine

pencil

1. Fold your paper in half long ways so you have a rectangle that's 4.25x11".  Draw a line longways at the end of the rectangle that isn't folded about 1 inch down.

2. Draw lines perpendicular to this 1 long line every inch or so so your paper looks like this:

3. Now cut on all the vertical lines leaving the one inch portion at the top intact.

4. Now open your paper and roll into a circle and staple on each end to make the lantern shape.  

5. Punch 2 holes at the top of the lantern and string fishing line, twine, or string in and hang!

Wedded Bliss: Things for you and your fiancé to consider before tying the knot

Weddings are a lot of fun.  I, personally love everything having to do with weddings-the dress, the cake, the decorations, the invitations, all of it!  But what comes after the wedding is so much more important.  The marriage is the lasting product of the wedding and I have come up with some things to consider before you get married.  Marriage is, as they say, a lot of work.  But if you and your spouse-to-be discuss these things and are on the same page with most of them, you will have a head start to wedded bliss.  

1. Finances- Couples fight about money quite a bit.  Some things to work out between the two of you:

  a. How will you deal with finances?  Will everything be 50/50?  Will you have a joint bank account or separate?  Would you just ask him for money when you need to buy something or take money from your own income?  Will you consider all of your combined income to be both of yours or is what he brings in his and what you bring in yours?

  b. How will you pay bills?  Will you sit down periodically together and write checks from your joint bank account to pay bills or will one person be in charge of paying bills?

  c. Shopping, groceries, etc.- if you need groceries, who will do the shopping? Will grocery money come from a joint bank account or somewhere else?    If you just go to the mall to purchase a new outfit, who will pay for this?--money from a joint account, your own personal account, or what?  What will be the limit you can spend without consulting one another?  $100?  More?  Less?

2. Sex-There's a reason comedians and other people joke about not having sex after they get married.  The newlywed phase is nice but after can be vastly different.  

  a. Will you start to resent your spouse if you feel like you aren't having sex enough?  And how will you handle that?  Will your spouse resent you if the reverse is true?  Here's a hypothetical to get you thinking: What if you feel like only one of you controls your sex life?  For example, the only time you have sex is when your spouse initiates it (which isn't a lot, let's say) and whenever you try to initiate it, your spouse isn't in the mood.  This leaves you feeling hurt and rejected.  How would you handle these circumstances?  

  b. What if your spouse wants to do something you're not comfortable with or just don't like?  How do you approach this scenario? 

  c. What if you rarely climax when you and your spouse are intimate?  How would you talk to your spouse about this without being hurtful?  Would you be comfortable telling him/her what you like?

3. Kids

  a. Do you both feel the same way in terms of wanting kids or not?  What do you do if one person changes their mind? Are you in agreement as to about how many kids you'd like to have?

  b. What if after getting married you found out you couldn't have children?  How would you handle this and how do you anticipate him handling this news? 

 What if it is him who can't have any kids?  How would you tackle this situation?  If you stayed with him and never had any children, do you think you'd resent him, even a little?  How could you avoid this?

  c.  Parenting and discipline - Were you both parented and disciplined similarly?  Would you want to discipline your kids the same way you were or change up some things?  Are you in agreement about parenting/discipline styles?  What if  you think he's too hard on the children but he thinks your a pushover?  What would you do?

4. Each other's families- 

  a. Do your parents and his parents get along with one another?

If your spouse disagreed with something your family member did or said, but you agreed with your family member, how would you handle that?

  b. Say you and your spouse were in a financial crisis and needed to move in with either your parents or your in laws.  Would you all be comfortable in this situation? What would you do if your spouse got into an argument with your mom or dad?  

5. Your plans, goals, and dreams-

What do you do for a living?  Does your spouse support you in your career and with all your goals and aspirations?

------------------------------------------------

My advice, two cents, etc.

1. Try not to go into marriage with too many expectations.  Almost always, when we expect our marriage will be a certain way, we are disappointed when it doesn't work out the way we'd planned and this can lead to resentment towards our spouse.

2. People do dumb things!  I mean, we are human!  Just pick your battles with your spouse.  If you point out every time he does something you don't like, you could constantly be nagging him and this is never good for marriage.  If your spouse does something annoying but trivial, it may be best to just let it go.

3. When you have an argument, try to fight "fair".  Fair fighting involves the following:

-No yelling

-No name calling

-Never bring the kids or others into it 

-No "kitchen sinking"(This means bringing up everything but the kitchen sink.  If you fought about him drinking too much one night a month ago, don't bring that up again in a later fight.  That's over and done with.

-Absolutely no physical fighting

-Try and see it from your spouse's perspective.  Do they make some valid arguments?

-Hear the other person out and try not to interrupt.

-If one of you needs to cool down, let the other person know you need to leave the room.  However, your discussion needs to reconvene within one hour.  Cooling down is fine but avoiding the argument won't solve the problem and you can be sure it will rear its ugly head again.

So, think about your compatibility with one another and how you'll tackle potential problems in advance.  Make your marriage one in which you two work through problems together in a healthy manner.

Morning & Evening Routine Charts for My 2 Year Old

Most kids really like routine.  The older ones may not admit it but throw a monkey wrench in their day and they can get pretty upset.  My older children have their routines down.  School helps with this.  But my 2 year old, well, I needed to work on keeping him on a bit of a schedule.  I'm not a big fan of overscheduling kids and following a regimented routine.  However, I definitely feel like my youngest son could benefit from mommy keeping him on a regular routine.  So, at this age, the charts I have created are really more for me than for my son.  I know there are certain things that need to be done in the morning and then prior to bed so I have created a couple charts/worksheets to remind me to do everything that needs doing.  Also, I think that when my little guy gets older, he could benefit from being "in on" the scheduling, so to speak.  That's why there are pictures of each task on the chart.  I wanted to share my chart with you and also, I created a version for you, in case you think your kids could benefit from a little more routine too!

This is his AM routine.

And this is his PM routine.

For your scheduling pleasure, I have created a version for you!  If you have Microsoft Publisher, you can download the version that looks like the one above only missing the name.

Click the links below for the Publisher versions:

Microsoft Publisher Morning Routine

Microsoft Publisher Evening Routine

If you don"t have Publisher, you can download the .pdf version below.  Note that the appearance is a bit different on this version and you'll just write in your child's name at the top of the page.

Click the links below for the .pdf versions:

.pdf Morning Routine

.pdf Evening Routine

Thanks for reading.  Happy scheduling!

  

Positive Discipline: Reward System for My Son

I'd like to preface this post by saying that I am no kind of child expert and that I am merely a mom, sharing my idea with you for rewarding my son for positive behavior.  It was suggested to me that rather than focus on the negative behaviors I don't want my son to do and doling out consequences for those, I place more emphasis on the behavior I do want him to do and reward that behavior.

Now don't misunderstand me; I am not saying that kids don't deserve consequences and discipline for bad behavior.  But, I can certainly see how rewarding good behavior would send the right message.  B.F. Skinner would agree, I'm sure!  Anyhow, I digress.  I simply wanted to say that there are as many correct ways to parent as there are children and that we are trying something different and I wanted to share what I am doing with you, in the event you might find any tidbit helpful.  Also, I wanted to note that my son is a seventh grader so if you choose to use any of my ideas, you'll know they were tailored for a 12 year old.

We chose to start small rather than take on everything at once so we will be focusing on 3 positive behaviors for now.  For the time being, the 3 behaviors are:

• School attendance
• Homework
• Chores

Our 3 behaviors can and probably should change as he gets a good grasp on what is expected of him and masters the behavior.  But for quite some time, we will be working on these.  My son has a behavior chart that lists each behavior and the day of the week:



On the page following this chart are both the description of each behavior goal and an explanation of the reward system I am implementing.  I feel the description of each goal is an important part of the reward system and that it needs to be in writing and posted so that my son knows exactly what is expected of him and what each behavior entails.  For our current 3 behaviors, these are the explanations:

 







Description of Behavior Goals:

 

1.School attendance: Make it to school every day on time and be on time to each class

Ø Note: Absences will happen and you might be sick but you only get a green check if you went to school all day

Ø There is 1 exception: If Mom pulls you out of school early for a doctor’s appointment, you can still earn a green check if you were on time to school and each class before you left

2.Homework: Do every homework assignment and hand in on time; work on homework as soon as you get home from school each day you have homework

3.Chores: After homework is completed, complete chores from daily, weekly, and monthly chore charts

 

I scoured the internet looking for reward ideas and also came up with quite a few on my own based on what my son likes.  Feel free to use any of the following reward ideas or tailor some for your child based on what they like to do.  Also, it's my opinion that the best rewards don't cost anything but consist of time spent with your child.  For example, playing a board game together.  That said, I did include some rewards that would cost money as well.  My son has been made aware that he can choose these rewards provided that we can afford them at that time.  Here are the reward ideas:

 

Rewards for Nick’s Good Behavior:

Ø Ultimate Awesome Week!!! = 21 green checkmarks 

Ø Possible rewards for an ultimate awesome week  

o  Mom or Bill makes dinner of your choice

o  Mom does 3 of your chores 3 days the following week

o  Help Mom make a special dessert to celebrate your awesome week (brownies, cookies, etc.)

o  Trip to candy store for candy of your choice under $5

o  Work on craft of your choice with Mom

o  Stay up until 10:30 one night the following week

o  Mom will play 2 board games of your choice with you

o  Sleepover at Grandma’s house

o  Mom will buy you a candy bar of your choosing

o  Go to Dairy Queen for ice cream

 

Ø A Good Week = 17-20 green checkmarks

Ø Possible rewards for a good week

o  Watch a movie/program of your choice after homework and chores (On demand, DVD, etc.)

o  Mom will do 1 chore for you next week

o  A drink from Starbucks

o  Mom will play 1 board game of your choice with you

 

Ø A Decent Week = 13-16 green checkmarks

Ø Possible rewards for a decent week

o  Make hot chocolate with marshmallows with Mom

o  30 extra minutes of computer time

o  A soda of your choosing

 

Ø 0-12 green checkmarks

Ø Sorry you didn’t have such a great week this week but no worries; next week is a fresh start and just work on doing your best and being the best Nick you can be!

 

Ø 2 Ultimate Awesome Weeks in a row

Ø Possible rewards

o  Trip to library to check out books of your choosing

o  Go on a long walk with Mom (During warm weather)

o  Have a friend over for dinner

o  Skip all chores for 1 day next week

o  Go to a park with the family (During warm weather)

 

Ø 3 Ultimate Awesome Weeks in a row

Ø Possible rewards

o  Trip to Half Price Books for 1 book of your choosing under $20

o  Game night with the family – Mom, Bill, etc. will play several games with you, e.g.: cards, Monopoly, etc.

o  Skip all chores for 2 days next week

o  Special day out – e.g.: a museum, Sky Zone, Great Times (an Indianapolis establishment similar to Chuck E. Cheese), etc. (Provided we can afford it that week)

 

Ø 4 Ultimate Awesome Weeks in a row

Ø Possible rewards

o  A Lego set $30 or less

I also included a note with the reward system that explains how getting consecutive multiple Ultimate Awesome Weeks will work:

 

 

 

 

v When you have 2 or more Ultimate Awesome Weeks in a row, you not only earn the reward for having a single Ultimate Awesome week, but rewards continue to build.  For example: The first week you have an Ultimate Awesome Week, you earn a trip to Dairy Queen.  The second week you have an Ultimate Awesome Week and then you choose to have a sleepover at Grandma’s house for your weekly prize but you also get to skip all of your chores for 1 day the following week (a reward for 2 Ultimate Awesome Weeks).  The third consecutive week you have an Ultimate Awesome Week so you earn your weekly reward like a candy bar of your choosing plus your 3 week reward like a trip to Great Times!!!

 

So this is what we are doing in order to encourage the type of behavior I'd like to see out of my 12 year old. We haven't had much experience using this system yet, but I will report back on how well it works! Thanks for letting me share!

 

 



My "Master Project List" and a Colorful Free Printable

So, if you are anything like me, you like to take on a lot of projects but don't always finish one thing before starting another.  I'm probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to this!  Part of the problem is that I really get into so many different things and find so many things interesting and fun to do and so at any given time, I could be working on 10-15 different projects, sometimes more!  No joke!  

Having this many projects unfinished in addition to my normal responsibilities could be daunting, but I have a system that seems to work for me and I wanted to share with you!  If you too find yourself starting to crochet that scarf as a gift for your cousin before you've finished your vacation scrapbook, you might be able to benefit from keeping a Master Project List.

Here's a glimpse at my List.  I list the name of the project (duh), what supplies I'll need, websites pertaining to the project and/or inspiration for the project, and then have a section for notes.  In the notes section, I jot down whatever doesn't fit in the other three columns and also number my projects to keep a running tally of how many things I'm tackling at the time.  

So what's on my Master Project List?  A lot! I put all my crafty projects, organization projects, and even more on the master list.  This is my home for everything I spend my time on.  Currently, I have these things on the list:

• Scrapbooking projects
• Crochet projects
• Organization projects
• Couponing
• Blogging
• Smash books & journaling projects
• Every mini-project related to creating the command center (See this post for more info)
• Sewing projects
• Jewelry repair and jewelry-making projects
• Cross-stitch
• Holiday gifts & crafts
• Even credit repair!  (I'm building our credit back up and doing the research on Fair Credit Reporting, etc.  Side note: creditboards.com is an excellent resource for this!)

Basically, if it takes up any of my time and isn't part of my daily routine/responsibilities, it goes on the Master List.  One of the neat things about keeping the list in addition to staying organized and on top of everything, is getting to check things off of the list!  It's pretty cool to see all of the things I've taken on and how many I've been able to check off!

So now that you've seen a peek of my list, why not print your own.  I was in a really good mood when I made this printable which explains why it's so colorful!  Here's the clicky:

Here's the uber-colorful printable version of my Master Project List!

Have fun, get organized, and get to checking things off the list!  I'd love for you to share with me.  What types of things are on your Master Project List?