I Don't Have The Time To Do This!

The number one thing I hear is "I don't have the time clip coupons and look for sales." I want to teach you to do this quickly and efficiently. Organization is always the key to not taking a lot of time to do something.

As a stay at home mom and a wife who wants so badly not to waste her husband's hard earned money, I really have to make the time. No, I do not have tons of free time. I manage 5 blogs now including this one. One is an entire newspaper and it takes a lot of time. I have a 1 year old toddler, another baby on the way, help my husband with whatever needs to be, and still make time for my laundry and cleaning my house. As my family gets more involved with our church, I will have less time but this is one area as a "keeper at home" and the wife that God wants me to be, I have to make time for.

When you first begin, it might take a little longer but soon you should be able to get this down to fifteen to thirty minutes. Use the time in the car, sitting at an appointment, watching a program on TV, or sometime when you are just sitting to do this. Make those time of "waiting" into useful productive times.

1. Every week, get the coupons from your Sunday paper. Do not clip them, just mark the date on the outside and put in an organized binder. (For this, you can use a three ring binder with page protectors or one of those binders that has the slots.)

2. Pick one day of the week when you print online coupons. Visit the list on the side column or in the post Great Coupon Sources. Also check here once a week for additional coupons, just look on the side column for the Coupon section. Printing coupons this way should only take about 15 minutes, maybe less if you already have most of them.

3. When you get the Sunday paper, take the sale ads for your local grocery store and pharmacy. For this area, pull Walmart (if it's in there), Target, SuperOne, Hugos, and CVS.

4. Look through the sales ad for the things you may need. Use CVS for your toothpaste and a lot of your personal care items as those will often be fairly cheap or free. Look for the LOSS LEADERS in the grocery store ads. These items are priced very low so that they will bring you into the store. For example, this week SuperOne had a box of Pillsbury Cake Mix for $.50. You had to clip the SuperOne coupon for it but you could also clip a manufacture coupon and combine them and possibly have gotten it for free. (Cake mix is good to have on hand for cupcakes for the teen activities or kid's activities when you don't have tons of time. As a youth group leader, I do tend to keep a few boxes on hand in case we have a last minute activity.)

5. Make your weekly menu based off of the sale items. I can hear many asking if this will work for those on a strict diet or very healthy diet. Yes, it will. My family tries very hard to eat quite healthy and this works for us. Look for produce on sale and sometimes you'll find coupons for that coupon. Target is excellent for having sales on produce and then having a coupon for it online. Just this week, they had a online $1.00 coupon for broccoli and romaine hearts. Chicken is something we like to purchase and often times that will be a LOSS LEADER for the local grocery stores. Every once in a while, fresh fish will also be extremely reduced. Watch the ads and use them and your coupons to get the best deal in town.

6. Prepare your list for each store before you go town. Also clip the coupons that will go with the sale items that you plan to purchase. Do not wander the store. If you wander, you will waste time and most likely buy things you didn't plan for. (It is okay to look in the clearance racks because you might find an item you have a coupon for or just plain need.) Stores want you to wander and really do not want you to buy only off your list. Prepare for this by getting your items and get out of there! :-) I went to four different stores and spent one hour getting everything I need. I also had a one year old with me who I had to get in and out of the car.

Use these tips and you will probably spend just as much time doing this as you would if you were to just wander the store "looking" for the items you needed.