I'm having a lot of computer and line problems so hang in with me.
You have to have your coupon boxes really organized. I made mine in breakdowns of categories and then I made them alphabetical.
Let's take cleaning materials. You make this category "Cleaning Materials" and that's a no brainer but here's the trick. Break it down from there or you get lost in a quizzillion coupons.
Go from Dishes to Dishwasher to Shower to Toilet. Get my drift? And omgoodness it is so important to highlite expiry dates. And your cashier will love you to death for just highlighting the expiry date. And always but always leave your about to be expired coupons on a shelf for another.
I used to use coupons several years back but just in a a hit or miss, here or there kind of way. Stopped getting the Sunday paper and stopped getting coupons and forgot about them. Until that Extreme Couponing show. Cripes. I guess there really are people who put in 60 hours and dumpster dive and all to get entire cart loads of hot sauce for next to nothing. I'm not one of them. BUT, it did peak my interest just enough that I resubscribed to the Sunday paper again and started paying attention. Ooooh, hold the coupons until the item is at it's lowest price then buy. If you happen to get more than one coupon buy as many items on sale as you have a coupon for. Duh, why didn't I think of that myself? Too busy with small kids trying to burn down the house I guess. lol
So I got myself a binder and some card holders and a system that works for me and I've been doing pretty well. Some weeks the deals are better than others (so are the coupons). I managed to snag 16 bags of coffee on a BOGO plus an additional .50 off per bag. Bought the price down from $5.69 to $1.77 per bag. Not too shabby. I've also signed up for RSS feeds from a few sites that list weekly sales/deals/coupons. I've always been the 'buy a lot of chicken when it's on sale and freeze it for later' type. Now I do it with nearly everything.
The most surprising learning curve was CVS (drug store chain). They have "extra bucks", basically store money (like Kohl's cash) that you can earn on certain items. Combining savings from my store card, mfg. coupons, and cvs coupons you can save on the initial item then get extra bucks back to purchase other items (you can also use mfgr. coupons and cvs coupons on these items). Once you get the hang of it? You can stockpile toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, hell even mayonnaise for super cheap or free.
Glad you started this thread, td. I must have missed it earlier.
So very sorry about your cat. How lucky were you to have him in your life though! I'll bet he had a terrific time here.
