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Tip of the Day: Simplifying Coupons

Clipping coupons is a great way to save money. However, if you don’t have a good system to manage them, they can become more trouble than they are worth.

Is It Worth Your Time To Use Coupons?

How much are coupons worth? If you calculate out the time it takes to cut, sort, pick out and purge the coupons, are you still saving money? In many cases I would guess no.

Do the calculation: figure out how much your hourly income is (after taxes). Figure that clipping coupons is going to take 10 minutes, sorting and filing another 10, choosing the coupons to use each week 5 minutes, and purging expired coupons another 5. 30 minutes total (I’m being skimpy on my estimates here). Is what you make for a half hour at work worth the amount you are saving on the coupons? If not, stop using them.

If You Use Them, Only Use Them For What YOU Want

If you are on a very tight budget, these coupons can make a world of difference and are worth using…but only if you use them on items you would have bought anyway. Coupons are a great way to get people to try new products. Make sure you don’t get trapped into that marketing scheme!

A Simple Coupon System

If you decide to use coupons, here is the system that I have used :

1. Buy a coupon holder with built in dividers. Set up the dividers to be general categories, specific to what you buy and where you live. For example, when I lived in Wisconsin, there were no coupons for dairy products, so I didn’t make this a section. My sections were Cereal, Dry Goods, Frozen, Paper/Cleaning, Canned and Health/Beauty.
2. Put an index card in each section. If you have tinted cards, these work best, otherwise take a highlighter and color the top of each index card. This is the divider for those coupons that have no expiration date.
3. Sort your current coupons into the categories, and sort out those that have no expiration date. File them.
4. As you clip new coupons, sort them into the categories as you are clipping.
5. Once a week, go through the front section of each category and remove expired coupons. Pull those that will expire in the next week and decide if you want to purchase the product.

Summary

Coupons can be a great savings device if they are used effectively. If you decide they are worth the time and effort, a simple system for keeping them will make a world of difference!

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