And I'm barracking for AUSTRALIA!!!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
cycling my way to a healthy life
No laptop. Instead, will get a bicycle.
My tax refund came in overnight (thanks, Australia!) so we'll be going shopping for a new set of wheels. The non-gas kind.
Let's hope I make the most of it.
My tax refund came in overnight (thanks, Australia!) so we'll be going shopping for a new set of wheels. The non-gas kind.
Let's hope I make the most of it.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
dreaming of a new laptop
I hope my husband comes home with a laptop that is NOT made out of Lego :)
Yeah, I think I'm going to put my hard-earned cash into a new laptop. We'll see...
Yeah, I think I'm going to put my hard-earned cash into a new laptop. We'll see...
Friday, August 1, 2008
journal your days
So, I was at Barnes & Noble last night and saw all these beautiful journals.
I was inspired. I'd love to keep a paper journal. But I wonder if I really have anything of "substance" to write about each and every day.
I was inspired. I'd love to keep a paper journal. But I wonder if I really have anything of "substance" to write about each and every day.
my coupon organizer
Alyssa from "Keeping the Kingdom First" kindly showed the world how she organizes her coupons. So I thought I would do the same!
Here are my trusty Coupon Organizer Buddies:
I have only been couponing since May of this year so I'm new to all this. Before this current method that I have now, I used to do the "Envelope Method" where I kept all my coupons in one envelope. That worked fine the first couple of weeks and then it got out of control. So I decided to try out the "Photo Album Method" and I think it's safe to say that I will be sticking to this method because it works perfectly for my needs.
Let's start with the Photo Album first and my organizing ways:
I bought this photo album from WalMart and if my memory serves me right it cost around $3.50. It came with the photo holders of around 130. So I knew that since I was only starting off, 130 slots would suffice.
I organize my coupons according to when they were going to expire. I figured that this would be the easiest way for me to work out when certain coupons expire. I would later find out that it was so much easier to keep track of which coupons needed to be either a) used or b) culled from the photo album.
I used Post-It Notes to mark on the side where each month begins. It made it easy for me to find certain months. As far as how it's organized within each month, at the beginning I used to just slot in coupons wherever, not really organizing them in any category. But the last couple of weeks I've organized them according to "FOOD" or "NON-FOOD". I don't bother with trying to have the coupons arranged by the days they expire within that month.
As you can see, I try to fill the photo slot as much as possible. I consider myself to have a great photographic memory so my knowledge of which coupons I have is pretty good. Plus it also helps that other bloggers and certain forums remind me which coupons are out and which ones are going to expire. I used to keep an Excel Spreadsheet of all my coupons but that got too much to maintain so I've since stopped using it.
I also have a "2009" section for any coupons that don't expire until next year. They're mixed in altogether and I'll sort through them maybe come October 2008.
So that's the Keeper of my Coupons. Nothing fancy but the method works really well for me.
Now, on to the organizer that I take to the stores:
Here is my trusty "Coupon-to-Store Organizer". I bought this at the Dollar Store back in May and on the same Sunday that I decided I wanted to get into couponing. Back then I was a novice and actually believed that this was all that I needed to store ALL my coupons. I obviously had no idea what was to happen in the future!
Anyway, this is how I've modified the organizer to suit my needs:
Each store that I coupon at gets 2 compartments each. I shop at WalMart, Walgreens, Schnucks, Target and Hy-Vee so each of them gets 2 slots each. I merely used (again) a Post-It Note to cover the categories that were pre-printed onto the organizer. The main labelled compartment is where all the coupons for that week goes. The other spare slot is for any coupons that I know I could regularly use at that store but may or may not get for that particular store run. I just like to have it handy just in case.
I also have 2 other categories:
It's pretty self-explanatory: Hot Food Q's and Hot Non-Food Q's. This is where all my good Toilet Paper coupons go, the Kraft FREE WYB 3 coupons, etc, etc. The items that I know I could use at anytime and at any store. All my FREE coupons also go here.
So there you have it, my coupon organizer. Like I said, this method works really well for me. I keep it well organized so that it also keeps me organized when it comes to couponing.
I chose to use this method because I know that if I didn't clip and file my coupons individually, I would have a hard time a) knowing which ones I have and b) knowing where the coupon I need was! I don't mind clipping my coupons because I only really get (at most) 3 copies of each insert a week. Plus I'm really anal about cutting them perfectly and organizing them accordingly.
Oh, and I have a special bag where that large photo album goes into and I ate it with me wherever we go out. Even if we're not going to a store it still comes with us. Just in case...
If you would like to see how others organize their coupons, go visit Alyssa at Keeping the Kingdom First!
Here are my trusty Coupon Organizer Buddies:
I have only been couponing since May of this year so I'm new to all this. Before this current method that I have now, I used to do the "Envelope Method" where I kept all my coupons in one envelope. That worked fine the first couple of weeks and then it got out of control. So I decided to try out the "Photo Album Method" and I think it's safe to say that I will be sticking to this method because it works perfectly for my needs.
Let's start with the Photo Album first and my organizing ways:
I bought this photo album from WalMart and if my memory serves me right it cost around $3.50. It came with the photo holders of around 130. So I knew that since I was only starting off, 130 slots would suffice.
I organize my coupons according to when they were going to expire. I figured that this would be the easiest way for me to work out when certain coupons expire. I would later find out that it was so much easier to keep track of which coupons needed to be either a) used or b) culled from the photo album.
I used Post-It Notes to mark on the side where each month begins. It made it easy for me to find certain months. As far as how it's organized within each month, at the beginning I used to just slot in coupons wherever, not really organizing them in any category. But the last couple of weeks I've organized them according to "FOOD" or "NON-FOOD". I don't bother with trying to have the coupons arranged by the days they expire within that month.
As you can see, I try to fill the photo slot as much as possible. I consider myself to have a great photographic memory so my knowledge of which coupons I have is pretty good. Plus it also helps that other bloggers and certain forums remind me which coupons are out and which ones are going to expire. I used to keep an Excel Spreadsheet of all my coupons but that got too much to maintain so I've since stopped using it.
I also have a "2009" section for any coupons that don't expire until next year. They're mixed in altogether and I'll sort through them maybe come October 2008.
So that's the Keeper of my Coupons. Nothing fancy but the method works really well for me.
Now, on to the organizer that I take to the stores:
Here is my trusty "Coupon-to-Store Organizer". I bought this at the Dollar Store back in May and on the same Sunday that I decided I wanted to get into couponing. Back then I was a novice and actually believed that this was all that I needed to store ALL my coupons. I obviously had no idea what was to happen in the future!
Anyway, this is how I've modified the organizer to suit my needs:
Each store that I coupon at gets 2 compartments each. I shop at WalMart, Walgreens, Schnucks, Target and Hy-Vee so each of them gets 2 slots each. I merely used (again) a Post-It Note to cover the categories that were pre-printed onto the organizer. The main labelled compartment is where all the coupons for that week goes. The other spare slot is for any coupons that I know I could regularly use at that store but may or may not get for that particular store run. I just like to have it handy just in case.
I also have 2 other categories:
It's pretty self-explanatory: Hot Food Q's and Hot Non-Food Q's. This is where all my good Toilet Paper coupons go, the Kraft FREE WYB 3 coupons, etc, etc. The items that I know I could use at anytime and at any store. All my FREE coupons also go here.
So there you have it, my coupon organizer. Like I said, this method works really well for me. I keep it well organized so that it also keeps me organized when it comes to couponing.
I chose to use this method because I know that if I didn't clip and file my coupons individually, I would have a hard time a) knowing which ones I have and b) knowing where the coupon I need was! I don't mind clipping my coupons because I only really get (at most) 3 copies of each insert a week. Plus I'm really anal about cutting them perfectly and organizing them accordingly.
Oh, and I have a special bag where that large photo album goes into and I ate it with me wherever we go out. Even if we're not going to a store it still comes with us. Just in case...
If you would like to see how others organize their coupons, go visit Alyssa at Keeping the Kingdom First!
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