Since my last coupon tip was titled “Time to Stop Clipping“, I thought I should do a follow-up and let you know how my couponing has changed since I started respecting my time more. At first I tried to stop clipping coupons and file the inserts by date so I could find any coupons I needed by knowing which insert they were from. Well, that didn’t last long because when it came down to it I really like having my coupons organized by category in my coupon file. What I didn’t like were the large chunks of time I was spending dealing with the coupons.
Here are a few positive changes I’ve made to make my couponing more fun and less time-consuming:
* Spend Less Time: I spend shorter periods of time on my couponing as I can fit it in throughout my day. I no longer am staying up late to work on my couponing.
* Be Selective: I am not clipping every single coupon that comes into the house. I am being selective and only clipping those coupons that I know I can use or those that I think would have a higher value to members of the Coupon Exchange that I participate in.
* Do Less Research: I am not doing any coupon research for hypothetical shopping trips that never happen. I am only doing research for shopping trips that are planned around a specific need – not just the pursuit of a great bargain.
* Be Happy: I love couponing and it brings me joy. So I’ll keep doing it as long as I am having fun, but I’ve got to place some limits on myself to keep it fun!
What are you doing to respect your time and be happy couponing? Please post a comment here to share! Curious about the other 31 Coupon Tips?
Thanks for sharing your tips, Reagan! I also like to leave the coupons grouped together.
I was using a coupon binder and while I loved it, it was too big and took too much time clipping EACH ONE to fold and stick into a baseball card holder that fit in the binder. I rejuvinated my couponing by switching to a shoebox with labeled envelopes. I wrote the category on the envelope flap and underneath put a list of what might be in that category. For example, I have a “Body Cleanse” category (for lack of a better name) that contains mostly lotions, body washes, deoderant and a few other things. Here’s the way it saves me time, because the way I WAS doing it took me HOURS it seemed. When I am clipping, I don’t clip out the individual coupon. Usually the coupons are grouped and I leave them grouped. I cut them into their category but say there are 3 coupons for deoderant all lined up (this happens often)…I cut down one side, fold the bottom coupon under if it’s too long and put it in the “body cleanse” envelope. It now takes me like 10 minutes to cut coupons and it’s no harder to find them when I am in the store. If you are looking for a way to reignite your couponing fire, this is a good way to change it up a little because I made this with things I already had!