I’m excited to announce that I have officially received my first blog awards. Jenn over at Beautiful Calling was sweet enough to send these awards my way last week. Thanks, Jenn!!

For the “One Lovely Blog Award” you need to:

Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.
Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won.

For the “Beautiful Blogger” award you need to:

Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.
Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won.
State 7 things about yourself.

Here are the 15 Bloggers that I am passing these awards on too:

• Getting Freedom
• Domestic Cents
• Small Notebook
• Heavenly Homemakers
• Living Locurto
• Life as Mom
• Outside the Box!
  
• Just Doing My Best
• Organizing Your Way
• Juggling Motherhood
• Homegrown Mom
• We Are That Family
• Jendi’s Journal
• Hip2Save
• I’m an Organizing Junkie

7 Things About Me

…that I didn’t tell you here.

1. If you ask me what my favorite color is, it will be different depending on my mood that day, because I don’t really have a favorite color.
2. I love pasta. I could probably eat a different pasta dish every day and be happy.
3. I’ve never been in a tanning bed and don’t plan to. If the sun doesn’t tan me while I’m out and about, I’ll just stay white.
4. I don’t mind washing laundry, but folding and putting it away is a whole different story. If I actually get the towels washed, folded and put away in the same day, I’m proud of myself. Pitiful, I know.
5. I love wearing flip flops, so I’m super excited about it finally getting warm here in Alabama.
6. Lately, I’ve gotten a little lax when it comes to working out. I’m going to have to take my own advice and get back into a regular schedule.
7. My favorite Bible verse is, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

I guess that’s it. Don’t forget to check back in tomorrow for the continuation of my couponing series.

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(This is part five of my couponing series. If you haven’t been following this series, you’ll probably want to start here to get caught up.)

Once you’ve gathered your coupons and organized them, you’re going to want to know where the deals are and how to get them.

Now, here is where we get to the fun part. As I mentioned in my very first post, there are ladies out on the web who gather the ads for grocery and drug stores each week, and then match up coupons that correspond with the items that are on sale.

Today, I’m going to introduce you to a few of my favorites and explain how to use the information they are giving you.

The first thing we need to look at is coupon lingo. If you look at a coupon match-up blog, the first thing you’ll probably think is, “This doesn’t make any sense. What do all these abbreviations mean?”

Well, I’m going to get you started in the right direction by sharing a few of the most common types of abbreviations you’ll see and giving you a couple of examples of how you’ll see some of them written out.

Okay, here is the abbreviations list.

• SS = Smartsource Newspaper Insert
• RP = Red Plum Newspaper Insert
• PG = Proctor & Gamble Newspaper Insert
• $1/1, $2/3 = One dollar off of one item, Two dollars off three items
• 2/$3 = Two items for three dollars
• 1/31, 3/14 = Month and Date of Sunday insert (January 31st, March 14th)
• BOGO, B1G1 = Buy One, Get One Free
• B2G1 = Buy Two, Get One Free
• CRT = Cash Register Tape
• ECB = Extra Care Bucks (CVS)
• Exp = Expires
• IP = Internet Printable
• MIR = Mail in Rebate
• MQ = Manufacturer Coupon
• OOP = Out of Pocket
• PSA = Prices starting at
• RR = Register Rewards (Walgreens)
• SCR = Single Check Rebates (Rite Aid)
• WYB = When You Buy
• YMMV = Your mileage may vary (Depends on your store whether they will allow you to do the deal)

If you’d like, you can print this list for future reference. Click here to download the printable version.

Here are three examples of how you might see deals listed on a match-up blog.

Example 1 (Kroger Deal):

Dial Hand Soap 7.5 oz or Irish Spring Soap 3ct at $1
-$1/3 Dial Multibar pks, Hand Soap or Foaming Hand wash RP 3/07
-.35/1 Dial Hand Soap, or Washes RP 3/07

Here’s what it all means:

• Line One: Dial Hand Soap 7.5 oz or Irish Spring Soap 3 ct is currently on sale for $1 each.
• Line Two: There is a coupon for one dollar off the purchase of three ($1/3) Dial Multipacks, Hand Soaps, or Foaming Hand Washes. You can find the coupon in the Red Plum (RP) insert that came in the March 7th (3/07) Sunday paper.
• Line Three: There is also a coupon for .35 cents off one (.35/1) Dial Hand Soap, or Washes in the Red Plum insert from March 7th.

These are both manufacturer coupons, so you would only be able to use one per purchase, or in the case of the first coupon, you would have to purchase three soaps in order to use that coupon.

Example 2 (Walmart Deal):

Pantene Nature Fusion Shampoo & Conditioner, $3
$3/2 Pantene Product, exp. 4-30-10 (PG 03/07/10)
$1.50 ea. wyb 2 after coupon!

Here’s what it all means:

• Line One: Pantene Nature Fusion Shampoo & Conditioner are currently on sale for $3 each.
• Line Two: There is a coupon available in the Proctor & Gamble (PG) insert that came in the March 7th (3/07/10) Sunday Paper for three dollars off when you buy two ($3/2) Pantene products. This coupon expires April 30th, 2010 (exp. 4-30-10).
• Line Three: When you buy (wyb) two of these Pantene products and use the coupon, you will have paid only $1.50 for each.

Example 3 (Target Deal):

Starbucks Coffee 12 oz $7.99
-$1.50 off Starbucks Coffee printable (store coupon)
-$1 off Starbucks Coffee Bag, March All You Magazine

Here’s what it all means:

• Line One: Starbucks Coffee 12 oz bag is priced at $7.99 each.
• Line Two: There is a printable coupon for $1.50 off Starbucks coffee. You can click on the link for access to the printable coupon. This coupon is a store coupon (particularly a Target store coupon).
• Line Three: You can find a manufacturer’s coupon for $1 off a bag of Starbucks coffee in the March edition of All You Magazine.

In this particular case, you can combine, or stack, the store coupon with the manufacturer’s coupon for a total of $2.50 off one 12 oz bag of Starbucks coffee, making the total $5.49 for one.

Keep in mind that even though the blog you’re reading may reference a certain coupon in a particular insert, it is possible that you may not have received that coupon or it may be for a different value because inserts do vary by region.

I hope these examples help make sense of some of the match-up confusion. At first deciphering the lingo on some of the blogs can be a little overwhelming, but soon it becomes second nature. It just takes a little practice.

Now, I know you’re interested in finding some of these blogs and checking them out to see what kinds of deals you can score.

My Favorite Match-up Blogs

First off, there are many, many blogs on the web that do coupon match-ups and you’ll have to decide which ones you like best and which ones work best for the stores in your area. Since I live in the southeast, I gravitate toward blogs that do match-ups for stores that are located in my area.

I’m going to list a few of my favorites and give you an idea of the store match-ups you can expect to find on each. All these ladies, in addition to store match-ups, alert you to various online samples, new printable coupons, deals and rebate offers.

• Southern Savers - Jenny does match-ups for pretty much everything in the southeast it seems - Kroger, Publix, Target, Bi-Lo, Food Lion, Harveys, Winn Dixie, Ingles, Harris Teeter, CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. She’s my all-time favorite.
  
• Hip2Save - You will love Collin! In addition to tons of online deal alerts, she does “Follow Me Monday” videos that are fun to watch. You’ll just have to check them out for yourself. Collin does match-ups for Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid.
  
• Deal Seeking Mom - Tara highlights the best deals for many stores including Aldi, Food Lion, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Meijer, Menards, Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid.
  
• I Heart Publix - This site is devoted to posting Publix deals. Michelle generally has the ad and coupon match-ups available by Monday evenings. This is great because the ad doesn’t come out until Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the area.
  
• I Heart CVS, I Heart Wags, and  I Heart Rite Aid - Michelle also does match-ups for CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens along with early ad previews.
  
• I Heart Saving Money - You might have guessed, Michelle also keeps this blog up. Here you’ll find additional deals and offers.
  
• Totally Target - Yes, this site is specifically devoted to keeping you up-to-date on the latest price cuts, Target store coupons, clearance finds and weekly ad deals.

Now, as I said, these are just a few of my favorites. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, I suggest checking out The Grocery Gathering at Becentsable.

Well, I think this should get you started. I’m working on the drug store tutorials on how to take advantage of their awesome rewards programs. Stay tuned!!

Related posts:

1. I’m Finally Giving In…. ..and blogging about using coupons. I've been putting this off for two reasons really. First, I'm not a coupon match-up...
2. Coupon Organization Methods Today, I'm going to introduce you to three common methods for organizing your coupons. However, the best way to organize...
3. Rite Aid: Single Check Rebates Guide After ExtraCare bucks and Register Rewards, I think you'll breath a sign of relief today once you see how easy...

Are you as excited about continuing this series as I am? In case you missed the first few posts of the series, you can catch up by starting here.

Today, I’m going to introduce you to three common methods for organizing your coupons. However, the best way to organize them is whatever way fits your needs and your lifestyle best.

I’ll give you some pros and cons to the following methods, and then you can make your own decision as to which one you think might work for you.

The most common methods of organization are:

• Accordion File
  
• Coupon Binder
• Shoe Box/Plastic Box

Accordion File

With this method, you label the accordion file tabs by insert name and date, and then place each weekly insert behind the appropriate tab label.

For example, if you get a Smartsource and Redplum insert on March 14, you would label the first tab SS 3/14 (Smartsource 3/14) and the next tab would be labeled RP 3/14 (Redplum 3/14). This way you don’t have to cut out the coupons until you actually want to use them. (I’ll explain in the next post how you’ll know when you want to use them and how you’ll know which insert to look in to get the coupon you need.)

If you don’t have a lot of time, but want to be able to snag the advertised deals, this might be the best option for you. However, the main disadvantage is that you can’t easily take these into the store to look for unadvertised deals and clearance sales.

Coupon Binder

The coupon binder has become, by far, my favored method over the past several months because it is easy to take to the store.

To set up a coupon binder, you’ll need a two to three inch binder, a package of baseball card sleeves, several divider pages with tabs, and a good sharp pair of scissors (for cutting all those coupons, of course  ).

When setting up your categories, my suggestion would be to categorize by type of product. In other words, some of your categories might be “Beverages”, “Dairy”, “Medications”, and “Paper Products”. This way when you come to these sections in the store, you can flip to that category and you’ll be able to see all those coupons quickly and easily.

Organizing this way is particularly advantageous when it comes to grabbing those unadvertised deals and clearance items.

The obvious disadvantage is the time it takes to actually clip the coupons, and then file each one into the baseball sleeve pockets.

Shoe Box/Plastic Box

Now, I consider this system of organization to be somewhere between the accordion file and the coupon binder. I’ve personally not tried this system, but I know it works well for some.

You’ll need either a shoe box or plastic box, preferably with a lid, and divider cards with tabs. For this method, you will simply cut out your coupons and place them behind the appropriate divided and labeled categories inside the box.

The pro to this system is you have all your coupons cut and categorized. Therefore, you can take it into the store with you to look for other deals and clearance items. You also don’t have to worry about folding coupons and cutting them just right to fit into the little baseball card sleeves.

I would say the cons to this system are, first of all, clipping all the coupons, and then, although the coupons are already cut and categorized, it’s not quite as easy to just glance and see what coupons you actually have.

Other Organization Information

I do have a few other things I want to mention regarding coupon organization.

It is quite common for someone to use more than one of these methods simultaneously. For instance, even if you are using the accordion method, you will need to either have a box or binder for storing and organizing other loose coupons you collect along the way.

On the other hand, some couponers will only clip coupons for the things they are most likely to purchase and place them in a box or binder, and then file what’s left of their inserts in an accordion folder. This way they save the time of cutting everything out, but if for some reason they need a coupon from one of the inserts, they can still easily find it.

In addition to my binder, I have a mini accordion file that I use for organizing the coupons I plan to use for specific shopping trips.

I wrote the name of each store I shop at on the tabs. Then as I plan my shopping trip for the things I know I’m going to buy using coupons, I place those coupons behind that store name. For me, this makes organizing my coupons for the shopping trip much easier, especially if I’m going to several different stores in one day.

Like I said in the beginning, it’s all about finding the method, or methods, that work best for you.

I hope this gives you a few good ideas for organizing your coupons. Now, I can’t wait to show you how easy it is to find all the deals out there. Be sure to check back on Monday, so you don’t miss it.

Related posts:

1. I’m Finally Giving In…. ..and blogging about using coupons. I've been putting this off for two reasons really. First, I'm not a coupon match-up...
2. Where to Find the Deals Now, here is where we get to the fun part. As I mentioned in my very first post, there are...
3. Type of Coupons and Proper Usage You now know what couponing is about, so let's take a look at the actual coupons and the proper ways...