Coupon'ing Queen Hopeful

Hi all, happy Sunday!
I hope you're enjoying
this rainy, lazy afternoon.
James has swimmers ear
so we had a l-o-n-g night.
Needless to say we're taking
advantage of our slow paced day.

Other than the ending of another
school year and baseball season,
what else have I been up to??
Well, I've been inspired by all
you coupon clipping, blogging mamas.
Inspired as in, I want to be in the
Shoppers who Snag $80 worth of Groceries
for $1.57 Club!
Like any other adventure, I began with research.
I read up on all the tips and techniques...
and now, I'm all in.

I started by developing a system for myself.
The goal was to create a simple,
cute and inexpensive coupon organizer.
I picked up a plastic container for $3.50.
Armed with my Cricut, decorative paper and Modge-Podge,
I got to work.
Once my organizer was pretty,
it was time to make it functional.
I used 5x7 envelopes as divider pockets.
To make them more sturdy,
I backed the envelopes with card stock.
Since I was a bit unsure of the best way to categorize them,
I took the easy route and just wrote on the envelopes.
Once I've perfected my method I can redo them.

So, what do you think??
I've been printing online coupons
and snipping the ones from the paper.
I even used a coupon this afternoon,
when I filled James' ear drop prescription.
That'd be a $15 co-pay for medicine
with a $25 CVS gift card in return.
Sweet!
I used the gift card to purchase ear plugs
and a few random things we needed here at home.
With the $7 remaining,
I'm planning a return trip for more bargains. :)
I'll keep you posted on my coupon clipping progress.
But now I wanna know,
do you love and use coupons?
What are your best coupon tricks of the trade??
Thanks for sharing! :D