Emily wrote:
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and I love all the
helpful tips and advance notice on deals. I’m a recent homeschool
graduate headed to a Christian college in the fall. I have been
stocking up on toiletry items for about a month now, and I’ve saved
lots of money! I’m trying to cut my expenses for next semester.A lot of people I’ve talked to say that they don’t have the time
to clip coupons and plan detailed shopping trips. I, too, had time
fitting it in at first, but I’ve found a couple of ways to redeem my
time that i wanted to pass along.– Listen to something while you clip coupons. I’ve been listening to the Old Testament, for about an hour every Sunday evening.– Clip and plan while in the car. Obviously this won’t work well
for moms, but for people like me who are not the primary drivers it can
be a great use of time.
I normally clip coupons when I am on the phone or when we’re watching our Friday night family movie. I’ve also been known to clip coupons while talking with a friend, while on long drives (with my husband driving, of course!), or while I’m watching the girls play outside.
I pretty much always multi-task when it comes to coupon-clipping so it really doesn’t take me any extra time; I just fit it in while I’m doing something else that I’m already planning to do anyway.
What about you? When do you clip coupons?
I clip coupons Sunday morning before church. It helps me focus on my family, our needs and the great resources God gives us to provide for our family. My husband usually helps with the sorting and listmaking and my twelve year old looks for expired coupons as we go. We have everything together so we can run by CVS on our way home to snag deals while they are in stock after church.
I clip on mondays and then organize into my accordian file throughout the week. Since I send coupons to a few internet buddies, I get those piles together during the week also. Because I schedule one time during the week when I JUST clip and nothing else, the coupons don't overwhelm me.
Generally, I clip and sort throughout the week, and then on Friday evening or Saturday morning, I sit down and use the circulars to make a list. From that list, I use Hot Coupon World's database to ID any coupons that match and decide whether those "deals" really are deals. Then, it's a simple matter of pulling them from my expanding file and paperclipping them to the list that they match. All in all, clipping and sorting into the file is the longest part, so I do it here and there, whenever I have time.
Sometimes I clip my coupons during my 10 minute break at work.
I have an hour commute on the train every work day. Usually I am able to cut the coupons going one way and file them in my binder going the other way. I also match deals up when I’m done sorting.
I find that it is a lot easier to pick up the few free/close-to-free items in the city drug stores. When I get home to the suburbs, I can pick up the grocery items.
I clip Sunday Paper coupons and write out deals for grocery and CVS Sunday early a.m., alone, in the kitchen while watching “CBS Sunday Morning”, drinking coffee. Husband entertains children in another room or takes them to the park or to Starbucks to get mommy a cappucino. It is mommy’s coupon time and they do not bother me while I put together the deals for the week. I print out and cut out internet coupons about once a week during a baby naptime. I file coupons into my binder during toddler afternoon snack while he is trapped in his high chair and watching “Max and Ruby” . (Without a TV in my kitchen, life as we know it at my house would cease to exist.)
I’ve stopped clipping coupons from the Sunday inserts and, like a previous commenter said, I file them in a notebook binder in page protectors, with the dates noted on them. Since I don’t have time to clip coupons until after the toddler goes to bed, this has saved me so much time! (And it’s easier to find the printable coupons and those from other sources that I still keep in a coupon binder, since there are fewer in there.)
My favorite time to clip is in the car lane at school because the 1 year old is strapped in her car seat.
Will be figuring out a new time though since school is out for the summer and we’ll be walking to/from school in the Fall.
I’m de-lurking! Thanks for all the great advice!
I clip coupons on Sunday afternoons with my three girls, ages 2, 4 and 6. My 2 year old gets to practice cutting up the “trash” pieces and cuts out any pictures she enjoys looking at. My four year old practices cutting neatly and my 6 year old helps sort, organize and categorize the clipped coupons. We count the activity as part of our homeschool and my 6 year old has lots of practice adding, reading and learning about saving money! We have a great time together!
I have figured out how to clip them while I’m nursing my twins…works well since I have to spend a lot of time sitting with them!
I do the same thing that Debbie does, and just file my coupons the way they come. I do go through and clip the coupons I will use no matter what, and I do go through the inserts after a couple months and pull out the leftovers that have expired. Much to my husband’s chagrin, sometimes I decide to do this right when he is ready to go shopping.
I wrote about my coupon clipping strategy for tomorrows post. I must admit when I first started clipping coupons it was a total mess around my bed.
Thanks for all the great posts!
Our local Sunday paper comes out on Saturday so that night I clip mine after monkey (daughter) goes to bed and I polish my toe nails. While they’re drying I sit on the floor with coupons ALL around me. What better time to do my toes when I know I’ll be still long enough, clipping coupons (and putting them in my binder!!)
Umm…does anyone else notice that the names/blog addresses are off from the comments? Just wondering.
Also, Crystal…does HTML code not work in here. I tried to link to something and it came up as just type.
???
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Money Saving Mom here:
The names/blog addresses are under the commentor’s comment, not above as in Blogger. 🙂
When you leave a link, you’ll want to leave the full link and it will be hyper-linked.
Oh ladies you are missing the point!! I clip every Sunday morning whilst my husband makes a hot breakfast. I drive to Publix in the morning after sleeping in to get the paper and the mystery item for 1 cent (when you spent $10) and then he makes eggs and toast and juice et whilst talking to the kids. It is my zen time in a week of chaos!!!!!!!!!
I had a doctor’s appt today and I usually have to wait for a while so this time I was smart and brought my coupons with me. I had then all spread out on the examining table while I waited. Got a lot done! 🙂
During football or baseball games!
I like to clip coupons while watching either TV during the evenings or during the day if I have time. 🙂
I make it a habit to never just watch TV. So I clip and organize coupons while I watch.
I also clip on the way to church while my husband drives and the five little ones are nicely strapped in and relatively quiet. Or like others, in the evenings, or while watching my kids play outside. My 7 year old son is an administrative-guru-in-the-making and helps me clip and sort. All five of my children (two 4 year olds, two five year olds and the 7yr old) like to go into Kroger or wherever and look for the machines and see who can collect the most coupons. It helps having twelve hands and eyes…
I’ll clip all mine out while watching tv on Sunday night(after the 17 month old is in bed) and then when I get some free time, I sort and organize them(usually at naptime the next day)
Sunday afternoon, watching “The Office” on my laptop, hubby taking a nap. Works best for me. Of course if hubs is awake, then he HAS to comment “Who are the victims this week?” or when we pass a CVS (which I frequent) when driving around “They are STILL in business?” He calls my li’l stash the “shop.” “Can you get me a toothbrush from the shop, please?”
I love doing it. It is such fun.
I clip them when watching or listening to the news at 6 or 11.
I clip while I feed my kids lunch. I have to sit and watch my youongets and help him if needed, so I clip while Im at the table.
I don’t clip them! I used to try to, but got so behind because I could never make time.
Now I write the date on the outside of the insert and file them by date in folders in a hanging file holder. Since I plan my shopping trips around online sites (yours being one of them!), the dates of the insert where I can find the coupon is usually available online, and I go find the coupons and clip them as I need them.
I have a two year old who thinks it’s funny to snatch and grab my coupons so I have to cut them alone. What I’ve been doing is getting the paper on Saturday and then on Sunday mornings, if I can manage to get up around 5 am I’ll go out and grab my other Sunday paper, clip for an hour, plan my morning and get out of the house while Dad and Daniel are still sleeping. I try to get my “couponing” done and be home by 9 am. On my way home I’ll call and pick up Dunkin Donuts for everyone.
My husband and I are big NASCAR race fans and the races last 3-4 hours on Sunday afternoon. That’s become my coupon-clipping time as well. On Monday the grocery store ads arrive and once husband goes to work, I sit down with the Sunday ads, grocery ads, coffee, pad, pencil and coupons and start figuring out my good buys for the week and making my week’s menues. I often have an audio book or music going in the background.
My daughter and I (she’s 7) will sit at the table about once a week and chit chat while we cut coupons. I also cut coupons while watching tv, since I only watch about an hour a week of television, I figure it’s best to multi-task to make the most of that hour! I have also cut coupons while the kids were in their lessons (such as dance, soccer, gymnastics, etc).
I clip my coupons during my daughter’s nap time, and often play music in the background and have a cup of tea – so relaxing!
I have to admit that I enjoy clipping/organizing/planning so much that this is my ‘me’ time. I do it every Sunday afternoon. It’s Dad time for the boys and they usually do that in front of me, which I enjoy watching. So, I get a two-for.
I cannot do a thing when my daughter is awake during the day. I like to watch a TV show in the evening and clip coupons.
I clip my coupons on Sunday night, while dh watches tv. I really need to get a binder or something to organize mine, though.
I also clip on Sunday afternoons. I make the rounds and get my circulars after church and then, while the rest of the family naps, I clip coupons. 🙂 My whole system is in this blog.
I look forward to clipping coupons every Saturday morning (we get the Sunday paper with the coupons delivered on Saturdays). I clip them when my son and husband are watching TV.
I love to use my time in the car (with my husband driving) to do all sorts of things – plan menus, cut or file coupons, fill out any forms needed for upcoming appointments. It is a huge time saver, since you are sitting there anyway.
I work part time at an airline call center. We wear phone head sets so I have both hands free to cut out my coupons when I am not typing on the computer.
I like to clip while sitting at the table with the kids as they do their homework. We get to chit chat a bit and I’m there and available if they have any questions. Then they love to put them in expiration date order for me, lol!
🙂
We have a 50 minute drive (one way) to church and my husband always drives, so that’s the perfect time for me to clip coupons and organize my CVS deals for the week.
I have my three children help me whenever we can fit it in, usually in the afternoon when we are done school. We have so much fun together clipping coupons! They look forward to it and I get it done really quickly with their help!
I like to sit at the table while my two little ones (ages 2 and 4) play play-doh or color and I clip coupons then. That way I can still interact with them and help them if they need it, and they enjoy my company but I can get something useful done at the same time.
My other time is at night when I’m watching TV. My hubby likes to laugh at me as I drag out all of the inserts and start clipping away…
I clip mine on Monday mornings. I play my YouTube playlist while clipping. So I clip and sing 🙂
I usually have down time right away on Sunday afternoon that I use to clip while sitting and relaxing and visiting- don’t want to be busy running around during that time anyway:)
I often let DH pick a movie that I don’t really want to watch, but I’ll sit in there with him and work on my coupons.
I cut them after the kids go to bed and dh is working from home.
I just found your site and am now convinced that coupons are an asset in these times! I had my Sunday paper open on my desk and cut coupons while finishing off my dinner.
Well, maybe not the BEST time to do it, but it’s done for this week!
I clip when my bf ignores me and plays video games or watches Lakers!