Got a little too much rice, cereal and BBQ sauce?

With a couple of good months of triples, you're pantry may be starting to get a little packed.  Why not use this weekend to clean it out?  I rotate my stock on a regular basis throwing out the expired and pulling things that I'm way overstocked on to donate to someone who can use it. 

New Life 91.9 is partnering with Bruster's Real Ice Cream to help feed the hungry by having a non-perishable Neighborhood food drive. You can drop off your non-perishable food items April 30th and May 1st at any Bruster's Real Ice Cream location in Ft. Mill/Tega Cay, Mooresville, Kannapolis, Matthews, Cornelius, Monroe and Indian Trail.

Favorite Links

Here are some of my favorite links that I use quite often:

Forums: There are several forums that I frequent to get information. There are 2 that I love that are devoted to couponing. You can search deals listed by store, trade coupons,find coupons, information about free stuff, information about rebates, post deals you find, and just network with fellow couponers. If you are new it's a good idea to read the postings in the forums devoted to beginners or newbies. My name is Melsie on all of these:

Hot Coupon World

A Full Cup

Charlotte Mommies (particular to couponing is the Domestic Goddess Forum)

Coupon Database: There are several coupon databases out in the Internet world but I really like HCW's best!

Hot Coupon World coupon database

Here are a couple sites I use for previewing the upcoming coupon inserts, to see if I need to get additional papers this week:

Taylor Town

Sunday Saver

Orginization: This site is a favorite of mine for all kinds of organizational helps. There are stockpiling calculators, binder labels, all sorts of templates to make your life easier!

Grocery Geek

Online Coupon Codes: Anytime I place an online order I look for a coupon code first. There is almost always one for free shipping or a % off.

Retail Me Not for online coupon codes

Get Rewards for doing very little: Ebates is an online reward system that pays you a %age based on the total amount you order. They have lots of stores listed through them. Every company I've ever bought something online from, is listed there. Swagbucks is an online search engine that awards you points that you redeem for very cool things, like gift cards! It is AWESOME!!! I made it my homepage and I average about 5 swagbucks a day just searching!

Ebates (tell them Melsie7000@aol.com referred you and I'll get credit)

Swagbucks

Organizing your coupons

My friend Nancy did a post about her coupon binder and it reminded me I wanted to do a post on organizing coupons.

There are several ways you can do it. You can get an accordion coupon organizer. You can find them at the dollar store or in the dollar bins at Target. I found this one at Promopeddler:

I used to have this type, but when you accumulate a various amount of coupons, you may want to upgrade to the binder which is what I currently have:

OK actually I admit I have two binders, but I'm a tad OCD with coupons! I have one binder for food items, which I primarily take into grocery stores, and I have one binder for non-food that I primarily take into drug stores. Both binders are zippered and this is very important!

You can find binders everywhere since it's back to school time. If you can stand waiting until September you can probably find one on clearance somewhere at a good price. I decided to splurge and picked the one pictured above at Costco for 9.99.

Inside the binder are lots of baseball card holder inserts. You can get these at Wal-Mart or Target near where the baseball cards are sold. It looks something like this once you've set it up:

I have also seen shoe boxes, photo boxes, briefcases, recipe box holders, empty wipes containers, zippered CD cases and tote bags. You can get creative and use what works best for you. You will also need some type of diving system for your container. I use 3 ring hole punched dividers for my binder.

Once you have your container and dividers picked out. You need to come up with a method. I organize by category. Some people organize alphabetically by manufacturer name. For example Kraft, Kellogg's, etc. It is too hard for me to remember who makes what, so I chose to categorically organize.

Here is a list of my categories in my Food Binder:

Baking

Beverages

Bread

Breakfast

Candy

Canned Goods

Cereal

Condiments

Cookies

Crackers

Dairy

Diet

Frozen Foods

International

Meat

Pasta

Produce

Rice

Snacks

Sauces

Spices

Here is a list in my Non-Food binder:

Baby/Child

Bags, Plates, Cups

Batteries

Cleaning Products

Dental

Deodorants

Facial

Feminine Hygiene

Foils Wraps

Hair Products

Laundry

Lotions

Makeup

Medicines

Pantyhose/Misc.

Paper Products

Shaving

Soaps

In my binder I also carry some essentials:

I can't tell you how much of a lifesaver it is to have a pen, calculator (that little pink calculator came from Staples and it is a clip and has a magnet on the back I use it to clip my coupons together while I'm at the store) and a pair of scissors with you in your binder. You never know when you may want to clip a coupon. I like to keep everything in my binder, even uncut coupons so when I have a minute waiting in carpool line or at the Dr's office I can clip or sort through my binder. I keep my binder in my car so I ALWAYS have my coupons.

I also have pockets that are divided for each store. In these I keep my list for that store, the sale ad and my rain checks for that store. I also have a pocket where I can hold any coupon inserts that I haven't cut yet.

You can also pull the coupons you plan to use for that store and put them in the stores folder then when you get to the store all you need is to pull your list and the coupons and you are ready to go.

I would love to hear what you use. Please comment on what works best for you!

See you at the sales!

Melissa