The Magic of Couponing.

Tonight was the first night of my couponing adventures. Ok, that is not entirely accurate. I have witnessed the magic before this night. I have seen the wonders of stacking, doubling, and buy one get one free sales. Until tonight, though, I had never been a "couponer" myself.

The first part of becoming a couponer was taking the plunge and buying a binder in which I could organize them. The second step was purchasing the coupons. Now, I have learned it is best to buy your papers in multiples. The first week I bought two papers, the second week I bought four. After three two-hour sessions of working on and organizing my binder, I was on a roll. For your viewing pleasure I have put together pictures of my binder in all its glory. We shall call it, "The Binder".

Here is The Binder. It is a 2 inch black basic 3 ring binder.

Inside of The Binder are clear pocket pages. I have some of the coupon style pages, but these are better, the same kind as used for storing baseball cards.

All of my categories are split using page dividers.

Lots of lovely coupons tucked into place.

The Health and Beauty section is one of the fuller categories.

I keep a list in the front of tips and tricks to remember. More on those later.

This is where I write out the rough draft of my list, in a notebook clipped in the back of the binder.

The final list from today's shopping trip.

So I went into Publix today with a list in hand, and all the coupons I needed for this trip already tucked into a pocket page in the front of my binder. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it is fun to browse up and down the aisles to find good deals on the things that are on sale. I have seen how this is beneficial. But today, for me and my sister in law, we were on a mission to get in and get out because we both had families to cook dinner for. My list consisted of 5 or 6 different products, but totaled out to 24 scanned items. I say scanned items, because my butters were two packs, making my total items 28.

This was my long receipt. 

Here was my total. I paid  $7.30 :)

Here was my score!

Today while couponing I got as follows: 6 boxes of Nutri-Grain bars (assorted flavors), 4 16oz bottles of International Delight coffee creamers (for us addicts!), 6 Maruchan Yakisoba meals (glorified Ramen, assorted flavors), 4 2packs of Smart Balance butter, 2 Speed Stick deodorants, and 2 Nivea chapsticks. I saved $49.40!! The savings covered the cost of my 6 newspapers in triple. I've spent a grand total of $12 on newspapers, and this is not the only day I have saved. It is worth it friends! I was not a believer before, but now I am!