Day 21: Your Choice.....Coupons

WOW!  Today is the last day of the 21-Day Organization Challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons!

Hard to be believe just a few weeks ago, my house was in complete disarray and totally un-organized.

And now it is...um....semi-organized?!?  It is - but there is still MUCH more to do!

No, truthfully, the organization in this house has greatly improved. The 21 tasks, whether small or large, have made my daily routine more efficient and just down-right easier. 

Thank you Toni for hosting such an awesome challenge! Can't wait to get started on your weekly challenge! There's always something more to do to keep/get this household organized!

Thanks also to all the other bloggers for their supportive comments! And for giving me such great ideas!

Now...on to Day 21.

Toni told us to pick our own challenge for today - to highlight something that we have organized at our house.

So, I chose kind of a weird thing...my Coupon Binder. I keep it very organized - it really never gets to out of shape.

I started using coupons in 2008 when my husband and I moved into our first home. Money was tight as we purchased needed items for our new place.  I say that I truly started 'couponing' in late 2009 when I found out I was pregnant with our first child. 

(Isn't there some statistic that says it takes $250,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18? If that doesn't make you want to save money, I don't know what will!)

When I first started using coupons, I used one of these small photo albums. I just grouped like items together. It was small and easy to throw in my purse.

I qiuckly outgrew that binder as I started using more coupons, so I grabbed an old binder from college, picked up some cheap tabs at a back-to-school sale, bought some baseball card holders, and made up this binder.

I have 16 different tabs, such as snacks, soup/bread, baby items, pet items, etc. This is the best way for me to easily find the coupons I need as I am creating my shopping lists.

I am not an 'extreme' couponer by any means, but I estimate that I have cut my grocery bill in half by using coupons and pairing them with store sales.  I also price match other grocery stores' ads at Walmart (since Walmart and our small, local grocer are my only choices for shopping).

Couponing does take time and patience, but has definitely proved to be worthwhile for my family.

And that's a WRAP! We're done!