Coupon Organization

Coupons can save you a good bit of money... if you remember to use them. Part of making sure you get the most out of your coupons is a good coupon organizing system. I have tried several methods (binder, envelopes, etc.) and this is the one I keep coming back to. If this method doesn't work for you don't give up, just try something different. Coupons are worth the hassle.

Personally, I don't waste time cutting every single coupon out of the paper. I just cut the ones I know I will use and save the rest of the coupon "inserts" in a file folder sorted by date. When MoneySavingMom or someone mentions a coupon they usually tell you which insert it was in so you can go get it out when you need it later. You can also search the "Virtual Coupon Organizer" at CouponMom to see if/when a certain coupon came out.

This has been especially helpful since I started shopping at CVS. I buy things there that I normally would not have saved the coupon for, but since it is free, I'll get it. This "system" has saved me a bunch of time...and space in my coupon file! The down side to this is if you don't have a coupon with you that would get you a great deal, like if you find something on clearance for instance. But it is still much better than cutting out the ones know you will use and tossing the rest!

Coupon File Box (above and below)

My coupon box is an accordion style check file from Walmart (costs about $4). It is a bit longer than a regular coupon organizer which is nice since I don't have to fold some of the longer coupons. It also has a little compartment in the front that I use to store scissors, a pen, and a calculator. Put your name and phone number on your coupon organizer somewhere so if you lose it (say in a church parking lot... not that I've ever done that!) then you'll hopefully get it back.

Open

Closed

Organize your coupons so you can find what you need quickly. I organize my coupons by category. I use envelopes to divide each category. For example, in my "mouth" section I have envelopes for toothpaste, mouthwash, toothbrushes, floss, etc. On some of my envelopes, I jotted down the known lowest price (like from Sams or Aldi) for items I buy frequently. That way I know if I can get a better deal with the coupon then I should stock up.

Envelopes

This is probably obvious, but make it a habit to go through your coupons and remove the expired ones. I hate when I think I've found a great deal and then notice the coupon is expired!

In the back of my coupon organizer I have an envelope for each store I shop at (Piggly Wiggly, CVS, Walgreens, etc.) and as I make my list I stick the coupons in the store envelope. Do bring your coupon organizer along though even if you pulled all the coupons out ahead of time to match your list...you never know when you'll find a deal.

Google Voice

This post will fall into the "good stewardship" category. Using the money my husband works so hard to earn wisely is one of my main goals in life. If you make any long distance phone calls and are paying for them on your (landline) phone plan, I highly recommend that you get a Google Voice number. GV has a lot of features that I think are worth having but the best in my opinion is free long distance. Calls anytime, anywhere in the US won't cost you a penny.

I don't make too many long distance calls but for the few I do the fees ad up quickly. Several years ago I started asking for calling cards for birthday and Christmas gifts, so except for the few times I forgot to use the calling cards, I haven't paid for long distance. But now that we have free long distance I find I am more willing to pick up the phone and call our family/friends in Arizona for little things. It's been a lot of fun!

Using GV for long distance is a lot like using a calling card. There are a few extra buttons to push but I'm more than willing to do that to save the money. Once you have a Google Voice number set up it is easy to make a long distance call. You simply call your GV number (which is a local number) and enter a PIN. From there you can dial the number and GV will connect you.

If you have a blog you can put a widget on your blog for others to call you for free. They just enter their number in the widget box and GV will call them first and then you!

There is a lot more to Google Voice than free long distance. With a GV number you get:

• One number: a single phone number that rings all your phones
• Free SMS: send, receive & store text messages online
• Block calls: send unwanted callers straight to voicemail
• Record calls: record phone calls and store them online
• Conference calls: join several people into a single call
• Screen callers: hear who is calling before you pick up

If you want to know more here's a short video:

Google Voice is free. You can request an invite here. If you request one from Google I'm not sure how long it is currently taking... maybe a week or two. Or if you know someone with a GV number already they can "invite" you.

How about you? Do you have Google Voice? Do you use it? Like it? Ever heard of it?

I'm a Stockpiler

I have been thinking about this idea a lot lately and then I came across this blog post that I found interesting. Thought you might want to read this too. I have been following the "pantry principle" for about 10 years now (since I first read about it in the Tightwad Gazette) and I think it has saved us a lot of money. If you have been in my basement "pantry" or looked in my upright freezer you know it's true I have a lot of food stockpiled. But that food was bought at the LOWEST price I could find.

part of our stockpile

When my four "biggies" go on sale I really stock up and those are: peanut butter, cheese, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and ground beef. I only buy peanut butter when it is $1 or less. I buy a case or sometimes 2 to get us through until the next sale. So I spend $12 on peanut butter at once instead of buying each one individually for $1.50 saving myself $6 maybe more (not including coupons) that I know I'm going to spend anyway.

Chicken breasts aren't a good deal to me if they aren't about $1.66 per pound but sometimes I have to settle for anything under $2 per pound. If it's more than that I just don't get them. I used to be able to get ground beef for $.99 per pound but that hasn't happened for a LONG time. Now anything at about $1.5o or less per pound is a good deal in my opinion. (Found some at Woodman's two weeks ago for $1.25 per pound!)

Cheese also used to go on sale for $1 (8 oz. packages) but the lowest I've gotten it lately is $1.25. The cashier always gives me a strange look when I buy 20 packages of cheese. Once a lady at store even asked me what I was going to do with it all. I told her the expiration date for cheese is usually a long way off so as long as you keep it in the fridge it will be fine. (I used to freeze it but then it crumbles and I hate that.) I stack it on the bottom shelf in the way back of the fridge. But it doesn't last long in this house of cheese lovers...we go through a lot of cheese. Since it is perishable and takes up fridge space sometimes I do pay more for cheese since I just cannot buy enough to last me until the next sale.

Just think of all the things you buy on a regular basis. Even if you didn't use coupons, if you only bought that item when it was on sale, buying enough to last you until it is on sale again, you would save a good sum of money. Don't have enough space in your cupboards or linen closet to stash bargain food and toilet paper? Think of other places to store it. Keep a few items handy in the kitchen (or bathroom) and put the rest in the basement on shelves. I very rarely run out of anything. I don't ever use the last bit of ketchup and say "oh, we're out of ketchup I better get some when I go to the store". I open the next bottle that I had stored in the "pantry" and add it to my list to get when I see a good sale or find a coupon. It has gotten to the point that when we get down to 40 rolls of toilet paper or 10 jars of peanut butter Jerry will say to me: "Hey, did you know we're getting low?"

Aldi has lessened my need to stockpile some. Lots of items are the lowest price there all the time, so I don't feel like I have to stockpile things that I know I can get there on a regular basis. But sometimes with a sale and a coupon I can beat an Aldi price so I try and stock up when I can. Sometimes I don't have enough coupons to really stockpile. Sometimes it is too perishable to stockpile...can't stock up on lettuce! Some things never have a coupon or rarely go on sale. That's when I think Aldi saves us money. We're able to get most of our groceries there for around $100 per week. Not back for a family of eight!

Stockpiling also saves money in other little ways. Saves on gas, fewer quick trips to the store to get one or two items. Cub scouts knocking on the door for the food drive...no problem, just pull out a few cans and boxes. It's also a bit of "insurance" in case we have a bad snowstorm and can't leave the house. We could eat from the stockpile and would really only need milk and produce for at least a month or maybe even two!

Menu Planning

While I love saving money, I really dragged my feet on this one. I don't know why, but I just did not want to do it. Now that I have been menu planning for over a year I can promise you it is worth the effort. If you are really busy then a menu is a must! You will not only save money, but time as well. I plan my menus for one month at a time (weekly can work too). When I sit down with the calendar, the first thing I do is mark all the games, meetings, etc. so I know what nights I need a quick meal. A planned, quick meal means no fast food, which saves us a bunch of money.

The real key to saving money with menu planning is to do it backwards. To save money, you DO NOT plan a menu and then go shopping for the needed ingredients. You shop, taking advantage of the deals and sales, then plan your menu around what you have in your pantry and freezer. That way you are getting the best deals and using what you have. Always keep an eye out for sales on the items you use most. When you see a good deal...STOCK UP! When you use what you have and only use items bought at low sale prices you save even more!

I have menus for breakfast and lunches too. Those aren't as creative as the dinner menus, but I didn't just want to have cereal every morning either. So I made a two week rotating breakfast and lunch menu. I don't even have to think about what to make for breakfast or lunch anymore! I love it! I always know what to stock up on (saves money!) because we have the same 10 things! Since half of our family can't read yet I put together a clipart menu for the rotating breakfasts and lunches; the kids know what to expect and really hold me to the menu. Now not only do I save money, I don't have to wonder what to make, AND I don't have to answer the dreaded question: "Mom, what are we having...?"

Here are a few additional links to help with menu planning if you are interested:
Organized Home
Family Grocery Budget
Menu Planner
Money Saving Mom
The Simple Dollar

[I wrote this (minus the links) for my twins club newsletter but thought I would share it here as well.]

A Tip to Stay Cool

I got this tip from the guy that installed our AC at the old house. It won't work for you if you don't have a basement.

It is much cooler inside our house than outside today even though the AC is not running. This morning before it got warm, I closed all the windows. I also closed all the blinds where the sun was directly shining in. Then I went to the thermostat and turned the fan to the on position but left the AC off. This circulates all the air in the house including the cooler air in the basement through the whole house.

This trick won't last all summer but it works when the days are hot and the nights are cool. As the sun moves over the house shut the blinds/shades as needed or if you won't be home just leave them all shut. The trick is to keep the heat/sun out as much as you can and bring that cool air in the basement up. This works well even in a two story house.

Even when you run the AC, if you have certain rooms of your house that warmer than others keeping that fan running will even out the temperature. It worked great for us in our old house and it seems to be working well in this house as well.

Budget

Last night my husband and I had our "Annual Budget Review". We sit down once a year, at the beginning of January, and set new budget limits for the year and review how we did the previous year. Sometimes we have some nice surprises and other times we are shocked at how much we went over budget (last year we were way over on dining out!). Strange as it may sound we actually look forward to our yearly review. It is also fun to look back at all our budgets from years past.

We use Quicken to keep track of all our accounts. We don't balance the checkbook on paper at all anymore. Since it is all on the computer we print off a "report". We can look up anything we need since it is all right on the computer. We try very hard to categorize where all our money goes. We did pretty good...this year we only had $9 in miscellaneous for all of 2007!

We used to be "average" savers. We would save up some but something would always come along to eat up the savings and if it got too high then we would spend thinking we had enough. Thankfully, we had minimal debt...a car payment, an occasional credit card we didn't pay off right away, and, of course, the mortgage.

But we had a major break through in our finances a few years ago. We sat down and added up all the non-monthly bills. You know the ones that come and you think "why didn't I save up for this....I knew it was coming". We took that total and divided it by 52 weeks and started putting that into our savings account by direct deposit (so we didn't have to think about it) when J got paid each week. We also figured out what we should have left each week after paying ALL the bills and added that to the direct deposit amount as well to kind of force of to save. We thought we'd see if we could live without that money but knew it was there just in case. It was kind of our habit to spend it if it was there.

Our non-monthly bills list is as follows (I'm sure everyone's would be a little different):

Water bill (ours come quarterly)
Medical bills (not covered by insurance)
Vet bill (annual exam and meds)
Dog grooming (quarterly)
Car insurance (twice a year)
Life insurance (quarterly)
Gifts (birthday, Christmas)
Safe Deposit Box (once a year)
Car registration (once a year)
Car repair (just in case)
Property taxes (once a year...we do not escrow ours and earn the interest in the mean time!!)
Tax preparation fees (once a year)
Subscriptions (newspaper)
Membership dues
IRA contributions
Home repair
Clothing
Charity (not tithing that is weekly)
Church activities (kids, trips, etc)

Basically the only things we budget for on a monthly (sometimes
weekly) basis are:
Mortgage
Telephone/Cell phone
Electric/Gas
Gas for the vehicles
Groceries
Household (paper goods, shampoo, etc)
Dining out (we really need to cut back on this one!)
Internet
Medical/Dental (comes out of paycheck weekly)
Tithe

A little over one third of the paycheck goes right to savings, some to be spent later when we need it, and some to be saved. So now when those non-monthly bills come we transfer the money from savings to checking and pay them. No problem. Plus with the "forced" savings our account really started to grow! So much so that we looked into other places to keep it so it would earn more interest for us. We finally decided on a money market deposit account (MMDA) which has the great interest rates of a money market but is also insured like a regular savings account. Now we keep our savings there (we use Capital One's MMDA) and love to see the interest! Way better than our bank and no minimum balance either!

Using this method we no longer carry a balance EVER on a credit card. Our vehicles are paid for so no more car payments. Right now we are trying extra hard to save for a down payment on the new house. Once we have the new house we would like to work towards paying off the mortgage early. We have done all of the above over the last few years as our family has been growing (and most years we have had high medical bills as well since we have a high deductible plan and preemies!). We often wonder how much we could have saved by now if we had only started sooner!

I just thought I would share...this is what works for us. As far as saving money goes, I think the most important thing is do SOMETHING. It doesn't have to be this method or any other in particular...find what works for you and your family!

Until I write mine (ha!)...here are some financial books I found helpful if you are interested...check the library:

• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
  
• The Two-Income Trap and All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren
• America's Cheapest Family by the Economides
  
• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
• Raising Kids with Just a Little Cash by Lisa Reid
• Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two Income Economy by Jonni McCoy
• Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin