A Week In The Life Of A Not-So-Extreme Couponer - Coupon Sunday

Sunday is a busy day for couponers. The newspaper coupons come out in the Sunday paper. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I buy my coupons.

Reason #1: The coupon inserts in the Tucson newspaper are far fewer and smaller than in other parts of the country.

Reason #2: I was buying 5 newspapers a week, basically just for the coupons, and I felt so guilty about all that waste, so I turned to ebay to look for coupon inserts. I found I was always buying them from the same seller, so I now buy them directly from her website - Coupon Store and More. Rocio's insert prices are reasonable and while I do have to pay shipping, I find that, ultimately, I make it up in savings from the additional inserts that don't even come out in the Tucson paper. As a bonus, she usually has them available starting on the Thursday before they come out in the paper, so there's really no delay in getting them.

Anyway, so here's my typical couponing Sunday....

After we get home from church, I pull out my coupon binders. If you'll remember, I keep one binder that contains loose coupons and the inserts for the current month and one binder that contains the inserts for the previous two or three months. I go through that binder once a month and remove any inserts that are no longer usable.

I file that week's inserts in with the current month and go through the loose coupons, looking for any that are expiring that week. I pull the ones I am going to use and add the ones I am not going to use to my send-to-Korea pile. Some weeks I am feeling particularly industrious and will go through the inserts as well, looking for any coupons expiring that week that I may want to use. It doesn't happen very often, since I build my grocery list off of the sale ads and their coupon matchups. Again, it cuts down on impulse buying. I know of some people who keep whole Excel spreadsheets so they can keep track of what coupons expire when and what insert they are from, but I am a not-so-extreme couponer and I have other things to do, so more power to those folks.

It's doesn't sound like a whole lot to do, but it does take a while.

After I get everything organized, I spend a little time perusing the coupon blogs and store ads, looking for any smokin' deals that may be regional.

That's pretty much it. Sunday is our family day, so I try and keep my couponing to as small an amount of time as I can muster.

See you tomorrow!