I know I say this frequently but, take your coupon binder with you everywhere you go! (Of course your coupons should already be cut out and organized inside the binder or it really doesn't matter any way!) I was reminded again yesterday of the rewarding savings I'm able to grab because I always have my coupons in the car.
After driving my daughter to Volleyball practice I decided to make a quick run to Smiths, which was just down the street. I hadn't planned on going to the store - it just kind of happened. I decided to walk around and check for unadvertised deals (cuz I'm addicted to savings) when I came upon and endcap full of clearance Trident gum. There were piles and piles of gum marked at just $0.37 per box. Because my coupons were cut out, organized and tucked away in my coupon binder I was able to quickly find my $1.00/3 Trident coupons (of which I had 5) and get 15 packs of gum for $0.04 ea!!! With the combined clearance and coupon discount I saved $13.65!! Holy cow, do you know what I can buy with an extra $13.65?
Ok, so I would never pay full price for gum anyway, but still, because I was prepared I was able to capitalize on an otherwise lost savings. I know some of you may not like to cut your coupons out, but rather save them by the whole insert. I love that anyone saves their coupons, but keeping them in piles in the corner of your room, filing cabinets or accordion folders also saves you from saving the maximum amount of $$$ possible. Not cutting coupons out makes shoppers coupon collectors, in my opinion, meaning they just collect dust in the corner. I know that I am more apt to go shopping if my coupons are cut out and at the ready, than if I have an uncut stack in the corner. In the seldom moments that I have to get to the store, if I had to sit down and hunt through stacks of inserts for only the coupons I needed at that moment I would be more likely to not take them with me or just not buy the product all together for lack of savings!
It really does not take any more time in the long run to cut your coupons out up front. Not only does cutting out any coupons which your family would use if it were cheap, free or a family favorite, save you money on unadvertised deal finds, it also helps you keep track of what coupons you're keeping verses relying on someone's website to tell you what you've got. As a bonus, if you use the coupon binder method with clear baseball card pages to organize your coupons, you will actually memorize your coupons after repeatedly seeing them on a weekly basis.
If you haven't tried the binder method give it a shot and I think you'll find that having your coupons ready and waiting at all times is the key to successful savings.
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