For today's Make My Monday we are fortunate to have a guest post and giveaway from Andrea at Watermelon Wishes. Andrea makes the most beautiful diaper bags and totes. You must take a peek at her amazing "hip" handbags on her website, blog, or at her etsy shop .
Pockets of Time
Pockets of Time
by Andrea at Watermelon Wishes
Most moms can agree: time is a valuable and scarce resource. “Couponing” or the act of clipping, organizing and utilizing coupons, does not have to be a time consuming project and can be easily incorporated into even the busiest lifestyle if you seek out and utilize what I call “pockets of time”.
As the mother of four children, ages 2 to 15 years, I spend a tremendous amount of time in the car driving from one activity to the next. Typically, most destinations require me to wait anywhere from ten minutes to an hour for my children. While this is not enough time for me to run an additional errand, I do put the time to good use by using it to clip and sort my coupons.
For the purpose of couponing and a host of other things, I always keep a pair of scissors in the glove box. I find it easiest to only clip those coupons which are for products my family consumes on a regular basis. These days, the average coupon in my purse is for a dollar, so even a handful of useful coupons can add up to meaningful savings.
Unsophisticated, my coupon filing system consists of a 7” x 5” fabric clutch that looks like an envelope with snap closure. Absent of any dividers, I simply clip and then stuff the coupons right into the envelope. Handmade especially for me, by me, I love it because the flap features a handy exterior slip pocket that allows me to separate those coupons which are for items on my current grocery list --- thereby saving even more time because I do not have to sort through all of the coupons again when I am in the checkout line at the store.
How do you make time to coupon? How much time does it take you to clip per week? Does that time justify your savings? How do you organize your coupons? Share your thoughts on couponing and you will be entered in a random drawing to win a one of my aforementioned fabric coupon clutches. The winner will be announced here August 9, 2010.
