Organizing Yourself Before You Go To The Store
How to Extreme Coupon Shop: Organizing Yourself Before You Go To The Store
This is a challenging but vital part of couponing. I can not stress enough the importance of this. If you don’t do this step it will cause more stress and you will always spend more then you need to. This will usually cause you to stop couponing too.
When I organize myself, I work hard to get everything I can into the same place and in order of how I will be shopping for it. To do this, I suggest a few things.
Disclaimer: I want to be sure to tell you that the method I use may not work for you. This is kind of like the coupon organizing. Different methods work for different people and you may have to experiment a bit.
Before I go to the store I always start with my computer, my coupons and some scissors. I will sit down and look at all the deals. I use the clickable print list on the site. I click on what we need and then add any additional items to the bottom of the list after clicking print. This list is organized by store. With some stores I go further by organizing the list by how I would shop at the store. To do this you will need a store map that tells you what items are on what aisles.
After I have the list made I take my coupon binder and file and get the coupons out, or I print them off from the computer. I take all these coupons and I put them in the same order as my list. This way as I go down my list I have the coupons in order to double check that I have them. Then I put them into an envelope in the order they go. I have taken the envelopes and cut the top off of them. I added 1/2 a 3×5 card longways with each store written on the part that sticks out of the top. I then put each envelope in the accordion organizer. Each store gets it’s own spot. This gives me everything I need for my shopping trip in 1 place.
I also take my binder with me shopping, but I didn’t do this the first few months I was doing coupons. I would only take my accordion organizer with me, and only got what was only list. Now that I have more practice at couponing and I feel like I know more, I am able to take my binder with me and shop the clearance items with it.
If I have my kids I also be sure I know what items they can help me get and what coupons they can hold. Also be sure you get snacks or things to keep them occupied. The carts with the cars on the front are great for keeping them occupied also. Just be sure you plan things to keep them occupied so they aren’t complaining and causing added stress to you as you shop.
Be sure to check out the most current printable coupons.
For the next post in the series see Shopping With Coupons and Kids
Hi. I just started couponing and your site has really helped me the most and I’ve seen so many of them. CouponGal was my favorite, but now your site is my new fav. I have been trying to figure out how to make one of those binders and you told me exactly where to go: Target. I’ve caught on so far to the couponing thing bu Iwish I could pull off some of the buys that I’ve seen on Extreme Couponing. I even feel inadequate if my savings percentage isn’t higher than 40 or 50%. Am I asking too much?
hi Michelle and thanks for the nice things you said. One thing to remember is that Extreme couponing is not reality. Those people plan for 3 weeks the shopping trip they usually collect coupons from others and they aren’t buying things that people eat all the time. most don’t buy meats or cheeses. Many also have stores that double. So when you see the 90-100% saving on the show you are seeing more then just a normal shopping trip. anything above 50% is a great percentage. don’t get discouraged by that. I regularly only save 50-60% especially on grocery store shopping because they things I get are fresh items, but getting them on sale. I don’t get many boxed or processed items. remember that savings are savings and you are doing a great thing for your family!
Hi, I’ve been following you for the last 6 weeks now and thanks you I’m saving an average of 80-90% each trip. My boyfriend is my partner and he is 100% committed to couponing which make it only 1/2 as long to organize. We shop at Walmart, Target, Rite aid, and Walgreens. I organize 2 trips and he organize the other two. Now my question is, where can I find the store map? I would really love to have that, sometimes I get frustrated and no employees in sight. I would love to just have a map and organize my coupons by the aisle like you so to save time.
Thank you.
The map is at the customer service desk. just go ask them for it. it is either a map or a list of what is available on each row.