Frequently Asked Questions

Whenever I go to the store, I am consistently asked a series of questions by women who pass by me and notice my coupon binder. So, I thought it might be a good idea to list some questions and the answers I am most frequently asked. (Please remember, I am not nearly as good at this yet as some are, as I am still learning just like you!)

Q: How do you get so many coupons?
A: Online (at the sites listed at the left) and in the Sunday paper. If the paper has really good coupons, I often buy a few papers. Sometimes I find them reading in other people's blogs. In magazines, too. All*You magazine had a ton of them in the August issue.

Q: How do you keep track of so many coupons?
A: It was a bear to originally get organized with my binder but after that, it's not nearly as bad as you might think! I got the baseball cards sheets at Wal-Mart for about $4 a pack and the dividers were about as expensive. I had an unused binder around home. I would strongly suggest you get a binder that 1. Has pockets inside and out and 2. Zippers up all the way around it (to save you a mental breakdown when you drop it) and 3. Has your name written on it/ in it (for days when you leave it behind at some store.) Now that I am more organized, I just clip the coupons (often the kids help do this), organize them into the divided groups and place them in the baseball card sheets. It takes me about an hour to clip them and put them in the sleeves each week. An hours worth of time, though, saves us a few hundred each week at the store.

Q: How did you get started doing this?
A: A friend took me with her one day to Target and Wal-Mart and showed me how you can save money by printing off internet coupons and gave me the names of a few great sites. After going with her that once, I was hooked!!! Brooke, you rock!

Q: How much time does it take you each week? Doesn't it take a lot of time?
A: Well, yes, it can. It takes me a good hour to clip the coupons and another to organize and put them in the binder. It also takes me time (a little over an hour or so) to go through the ads in the paper and list all the places I want to "hit" each week, as well as the deals I hope to find (according to the ads and coupons I have) each week. But, I do this because I have found our family's food budget has been cut in half, while the quality of products we have been buying and the amount has greatly increased. For instance, we never bought anything name brand, we were always running out of things like shampoo and toothpaste (5 kids...lots of teeth and hair!) Now, we have a stockpile of those things because I bought them on sales with coupons and paid hardly anything for them!!!

Q: Do you run all over town for deals? Doesn't that seem like a waste of gas? How can that save you money?
A: Well, no. I try to plan my routes accordingly. Most stores are within a 15 to 20 minutes radius of my house. So, that makes it easy. I try to go to the farthest store first and work my way back home. I also try to limit the trips to once a week. That, in itself, is probably the biggest money saver.

Q: Do you really save that much money?
A: Well, although I am not as good as many out there, I have cut my family's food budget in half! So, I guess it's a work in progress but I'm happy.

Q: Don't you just get coupons for 'junk food'?
A: No, not really. I have found coupons for all kinds of things from deli meats, fish, produce, canned goods, beauty supplies, laundry soap, etc. You just have to look.

Q: Do you go to stores that 'double' coupons? Do stores still do that?
A: The only store in my area that doubles coupons is Kroger, and only to 50 cents, but it's every day. So yes, I shop there a good bit but, I shop at other stores, too, depending on the deal I find.

Q: How is your binder organized?
A: It's divided into categories. The front of my binder has a pocket that holds pens, a pad of paper and scissors. The coupons are in plastic baseball card holders. The categories are then divided into groups: Personal and Makeup, deodorants and razors, first aid and medicines, paper products, laundry and cleaning, yogurt, beverages, meat/ cheese and deli items, frozen dinners and snacks, ice cream, cereals, baking needs and snacks, pastas and rice and sauces, batteries and household items, restaurants. In the back, I place the week's store ads so I can show them to store clerks when I need to or compare a price.

I hope that clears any questions you may have had. Sometimes it's fun to have people stop me and comment about my binder (it does get some looks.) But sometimes it can be a little frustrating (when I am in a hurry and trying to shop quickly, for instance.) But I am always happy to help someone else get started or answer some questions. If you have some.... ask.