You can do this, too!

As you know, I teach a Coupon Mastery course at Waubonsee Community College.  It's a fun class and not just because I sometimes bring in shopping trips for show-and-tell that may or may not have the shampoo lid securely fastened, thereby covering all my purchases in Pantene.  Ahem.

In my class, I teach the basics of frugal shopping: finding coupons, which blogs and websites are worth your time, organizing coupons, efficient and ethical coupon use, and how to get the best deals at area stores.  By using coupons and shopping smart, I regularly save 50-60% off my grocery bills, and I get many items for free at area drug stores. 

For example, here's my CVS Thanksgiving Day shopping trip: 

Here are some close-up pictures of what I got:

There's brand name cereal, dishwasher detergent, medicine, candy, nail polish, toothbrushes, Kleenex, a universal remote control and more.

This merchandise is worth $136.17, and I only paid $13.75 out of pocket for it.  And the truth is, I even made a mistake during this shopping trip. Had I gotten my coffee before I shopped instead of after, I would have been more alert and saved myself about $4.50 out of pocket. 

Here's what I got from Walgreen's on Thanksgiving:

And here are some close-up photos of the merchandise:

At Walgreen's I got toothpaste, laundry detergent, deodorant, razors, hair ties, toothbrushes, medicine, probiotics, vitamins and more. 

This merchandise is worth over $242.14, and yet I paid only $17.68 out of pocket.  Keep in mind that the majority of the out-of-pocket expense is tax. 
I can teach you how to do this!  My class is aimed at folks who are new to couponing, and those who coupon a bit but are looking to take their skills to the next level.  Of course, everyone is welcome, no matter if you are a coupon newbie or a coupon master.  If you have doubts about taking a couponing class, read this testimonial from a student who took my class in Spring 2011.  Then, sign up for Coupon Mastery.  There are two sections this semester, and the first one begins in two weeks at the downtown Aurora campus from February 9-23.  The second session will be at the Plano campus March 15-29.  I hope to see you there!

Happy couponing!

More kitchen fixes

Some cabinets and drawers in my kitchen are just perfect the way they are--I wouldn't change a thing in there. 

For example, I'm in these cabinets and drawer every day, and the organization and tool placement works just fine for me:

The cabinet that holds my mixing bowls and baking supplies was not as neat and clean, however.  In fact, two specific things about it were driving me nuts.  Take a look:

Do you see the problems?  My Silpat mats (second shelf up behind the Pyrex mixing bowl) were constantly unrolling and getting all over the place.  The top two shelves were also a mess. 

I solved the Silpat problem by securing them with plastic cuffs meant for gift wrap rolls.  Worked like a charm!

And since I bake pies and cakes a lot more often than bread, I moved the cake pans within arms reach on the third shelf and moved the bread pans up to the top shelf.  Doesn't that look so much neater?  It certainly is a lot more practical.



It's important to me that my kitchen is organized and neat. Obviously, it makes navigating the space to prepare meals much easier.  But more than that, I find that a neat kitchen does wonders for my mood.  If I can manage clutter in my kitchen to make it a fun and efficient place, then surely I can do the same for the rest of my house.  A clean, organized kitchen gives me hope!   Onward to the rest of the TMI house!

Shout out!

I have to give a big shout out and thanks to all the ladies in my XTreme Couponing Class at Waubonsee Community College. I had a great time, ladies! And I hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did. Thanks for being such a fun bunch!

Coupons organized...and a confession

The confession first: you know those posts I wrote about organizing my coupons (find them here, here and here)...well, those posts were written way back in January. That's right, weeks--NO, MONTHS--ago I had grand plans for revamping my coupon system for maximum efficiency and use. You know, just like Martha.

I tried to just use the inserts, but that failed after a few weeks. Then I tried to switch to Jamie's system, but that took forever. And while I was trying to get my old/current coupons sorted and shoved into those little slots, weeks went by. Inserts kept piling up. I was quickly running out of room in the binder and couldn't keep up with the necessary clipping and sorting. And each week, I'd be flipping through tons of inserts to find the coupons I needed. I was wasting time and losing out on great deals. And that is unacceptable!

Finally, I made a decision: I was going back to my old system. Sure, my old coupon caddy had gotten stuffed to the point of crazy disorganization, but it could be salvaged. And salvage it I did. I got new envelopes to replace the torn ones, new colored notecards to replace the plain white ones.

The notecards/envelopes are grouped according to where items are located in the supermarket. They are grouped by category (bread, cheese, rice, etc.) with a few brand name categories thrown in for super-organization (Kellogg, Pillsbury, Campbell's).

Once the the categories were in place, I began clipping and sorting my amazing backlog of inserts. I started with approximately 24 inserts--the stack was several inches high. Now, after just a week of clipping, I'm down to a few inserts an inch high. I'll have this done by the end of the weekend.

Already I've taken my revamped system to Jewel, and my relief at having a system I know and trust was amazing. I sailed through the store like Martha sails through an antique shop--with ease, confidence and the knowledge that I will get the best deal going. As for the notebook system, I'll be passing it along to MOM2. The coupon caddy is all mine.

For those readers who could care less about coupons, this will be my last post on the subject for a while. (But seriously, you should be clipping coupons!) Now, I'll turn my attention back to my quest for domestic diva-dom. Happy Friday!

Organizing those coupons

I am a big believer in using coupons. Combined with store sales and rebates, using coupons can greatly reduce the cost of grocery and health/beauty items. Eventually, I'd like to track my grocery spending to see exactly how much I'm spending and saving by shopping sales and using coupons. For now, I am secure in the knowledge that the answers are, respectively, not a lot and a ton.


However, my coupon habit is threatening to get out of control. For years, I used a tiny 4x6 inch accordion-style coupon holder. I wasn't serious about couponing then, and it suited my needs (which was to feel like I was saving money by using coupons, without actually doing it). Last August, when I really started clipping coupons, I bought a large yet portable storage tote and set up a system a la Money Saving Mom. For a while, this worked.


Unfortunately, my coupon collection kept growing and growing. And because Jewel and Dominick's stores in this area (Chicago and suburbs) take expired coupons, I never throw any away.

For a few weeks, I tried the method from Erica at I Heart CVS. I kept all of my inserts whole, and would just clip out a coupon when I needed it. The problem is, I only know what coupon I'll need 20% of the time. The rest of the deals are found when I'm at the actual stores. So to stand in front of a good deal in the store knowing that at home, there's a coupon that would make it a GREAT deal was just awful. Obviously, this system doesn't work for me.

Now, I'm giving a new system a try. It is similar to what Jamie does at I am a Money Magnet. On Saturday I hit Office Depot to get a sturdy binder and the plastic pockets to hold all the coupons. I also got alphabetized dividers.
Already, I can tell that setting up this system is going to take a while. I need to get all my old coupons out of my tote and get them in the binder. Then, I need to go through the stack of miscellaneous coupons and get those in the binder. Finally, I have coupon inserts going back 4 weeks. Those coupons need to be clipped and put into the binder.


Can you tell where my spare time will be going this week?

Fundamentals of frugal shopping

This summer, I'll be teaching two community education courses at Waubonsee Community College: Public Speaking for Career Advancement and The Secrets of Savvy Shopping. Teaching a public speaking course is fine. I've done it before (for credit courses for four semesters) so I'm not worried. Teaching people how to get the deals is new to me, so I'll be bouncing a lot of my ideas and material off of my good readers.

Starting with:

Amanda's Five Fundamentals of Frugal Shopping (doesn't that sound snappy?)

1. Shop sales and use coupons to get the best deal.

2. Take advantage of all customer loyalty programs and rebates whenever possible.

3. Stockpiling: when something goes on sale, buy as many as you can reasonably afford, use and store.

4. Don't bother with brand or store loyalty. Buy the best deal and shop where the deals are.

5. Prepare for each shopping trip with a plan/list and stick to it!

In class, I'll cover the different rules of each area grocery/convenience store, when a warehouse club makes sense (it often doesn't), how to find and organize coupons for maximum efficiency, how to get many items for free or next to free at CVS and Walgreens, and how to tell if the deal is right for you.

Over the next few days, I'll focus on my coupon organization system...because that's where I'm having the most problems. My current system is featured above, and while it worked nicely for several months, it's no longer adequate. I'm working on one a little more Martha-worthy.

Join me as I sort this mess out.