Damn you TLC...

for getting me hooked on Extreme Couponing!

So I think SOME of the people on the show, mainly those who let their "Stock piles" take over the entire house, are CRAZY! However the idea of paying full price for groceries AND diapers/wipes is frightening. With that said...I'm making the effort to start couponing. Let me clarify. Couponing. NOT EXTREME COUPONING! I will NOT be turning the guest room/garage or any other room in my home into a grocery store. I'm simply hoping to save a few dollars so my bank account doesn't go into cardiac arrest after Molly's arrival.

I started by reading a beginners guide at the Krazy Coupon Lady. She has some really great tips even for non-extreme couponing. (and apparently her book is AMAZING but as you can see from my post from two days ago I'm not getting a lot of reading done) I also created a coupon binder. (I know it seems like I'm turning into one of the EXTREME people but really I'm just that OCD)

I started out with a binder from Wal-Mart along with a package of baseball card protective pages and a set of really cute tab dividers from the clearance isle. This site had the binder divider categories that were most like the items we use on a regular basis. So I printed them and put them in the binder behind the tab dividers I created. (Each tab is labeled with a part of the house: pantry, fridge, freezer, bathroom, etc.) After putting the baseball card pages in I created a cute cover and then printed the coupon policies for the stores I frequent. (suggested by the Krazy Coupon Lady) I stashed these in the back pocket of the binder along with the weekly ads for the same stores. The envelope with the "R" on it is the stash of coupons that I'd use for that trip. That way I don' t have to take the entire binder to the store.

Now the only thing I have left to do is find the actual coupons to put in my super cute coupon binder. Wish me luck!