100% Newbie... PLEASE HELP...

[Nocturnica]

Hi everyone!
Let me begin by saying I appreciate any advice you can give to me to help me along the way. I am to a point of desperation in my life. I REALLY need this coupon thing to work for me. I am not in this as a temporary fix, I am changing my life style and this is now a part of my life. I don't want to be a part timer when times are hard. I want to be a couponer for life!
I have only a few options for shopping in my area, but once I learn the ropes, I am thinking a road trips are in my future. As of now, I have HEB (my local store is tiny), WalMart (Where I normally shop) and Walgreens (which I never thought much of, until I began researching coupons). My local stores do not double coupons, they do not have customer loyality cards and they don't off a discount or dollars off on a certain day of the week. So, I am limited on what I can do here local, but anything I can learn and do, can't hurt, it can only help me out of this deep hole I have found myself in!

I have a few questions I was hoping to get some advice on...
1) I have read about couponers keeping track of prices at their store thoughout the year, so that they know the best times to get the best deals. Does anyone have ideas on what needs to be included on this chart? I downloaded a couple samples, but I am not sure they include everything I will need as a newbie.
One has... Category, SubCategory, Notes, Qty, Size, Price, Unit Price, Store, Date
Another has... Date, Store, Initial Total + Tax, Initial w/o tax, Coupons+Doubles, Card Discount, Total Paid + Tax, Tax Paid, Total Less Tax, % Saved, Expenses/Bonuses
Yet another has... Item, Regular Price, Reg. Pr. 2, Reg. Pr. 3, Sale Price, Coupon Value, Notes
I am trying to create a price tracking chart for myself, one that will work with the way I have my binder organized. And I want to be sure to include everything I might need as a newbie. What do you have on yours?

2) I have not found anything in my research about keeping track of coupons as above. If they are basically the same each year as to what type of couopons are offered at certain times of the year, wouldn't it make sense to have one for coupons offered as well? That way you could purchase a few extra papers at that time of year, no?

3) I have decided on the binder method, and I have reorganized two dozen times or more, thank goodness for stick on labels! My binder has become somewhat of an ODC issue for me. Is this normal??? Geez, I have not even finished setting it up yet and I protect it as if it were gold! Oh, oh, oh, I know what your thinking......... It's your coupons, IT IS GOLD! Nope, not a single coupon in it yet!!! I am waiting to make sure I have it organized for what I believe to be the easiest couponing experience for me, before adding coupons. Plus, I still have to order the pocket pages for my binder, which leads me to my next question.

4) Pocket pages for coupons...

6, 8 and 9 pocket pages... I have read that they save alot of space, that they take more time to update your binder, that the the coupons are slightly harder remove. I have pretty much decided against the 6 and 9 pocket pages, but the 8 is still a possibility.
3 pocket pages (1 across, 3 down)... I have heard these are great, no folding, the entire coupon visable in each pocket. That they are easy to add to and remove.
Is this something that I really need to be concerned with? Does it really take that much time to fold the coupons or to add or remove them? Remember, my bindeer has already become an OCD matter for me, even before adding the coupons.
The 3 pocket pages seem ideal to me, but, I thought it best to ask the experts who have tried and tested the different pocket pages already, before placing my order.
the single page protectors will be used for other stuff, such as coupon policies, ad match policies...

5) Anyone near me wanna let me join you in this couponer adventure? I am in Kingsland, Texas. It is near Marble Falls, Burnet, Llano, Granite Shoals, Buchanan Dam

[meggers]

I don't use a binder, so no help there. I will say that just because 95% of couponers use the binder method, doesn't mean you'll like it. I think you just have to experiment with it & find your own preferred method.

Check out the stockpiling forum for seasonal sales cycles.

And yes, I think a spread sheet on coupons would be good to have. Especially since there's no coupons on holidays & then there's sometimes massive amounts afterwards.

Welcome to HCW! Consider becoming a trader so you can get the coupons you need most & trade out those you don't need. If you can't double, you can trade your .75 coupons for 1.00 coupons. The .75 coupons can be doubled by others so yours would be more valuable to them & vice versa.

The "trader in training" link is in my siggy, if you'd like to sign up to trade.

[Nocturnica]

Thanks so much for your reply meggers!

I have been researching my adventure for quite some time now, and I believe that the binder method will work best for me. However, not being 100% sure, I did purchase just a cheapy binder, lol
Thanks so much for the link to the sales cycles page, very helpful!
I will consider joining the traders, but I need to make sure I know what I am doing with my own coupons first, he he
Thanks again for your help!

[whitephang]

Heya, I am new to the coupon world too, and my biggest issue was finding a good way to orgonize my collection, I did manage to make my own style that may or may not work great for others, it is a little more complex but makes it SOOO easy at the store. I accually created a text document with different catagories for the store, and imputed the coupon info there with the experation, this way I have a few pages of coupons that I have that I can easily make sure I know I can get it better:

Kellog poptarts coupon saving $1 on any two boxes that expire on 10-30-11 for instance I would put under my Pantry list like so:

Pantry:
Kellog: Pop Tarts, Save $1 on any two (10-30-11)

this way I know, "Okay i got a coupon for that, its filed under october, I pull out my 12 month orgonizer and Bam I got it xD

Works well so far but I only have a hundred or so coupons...

I still need to know how to get the best bang for my buck, detailed info on how to get the best deals and combining coupons... Any help there would sure help me :D thx.

[Nocturnica]

hi whitephang, thanks, I will give that some thought. I think your list idea is smart thinking. I am only getting 2 papers per week, and printing alot of other coupons. So even though the weekly couponing pagegs say there was a coupons on 10/09/11, doesnt mean I have one, because I might have already used it. I think I will give your idea a try, perhaps in excel, for quick sorting, thanks so much!

[coupon_crazy_gal]

I do use a binder for my coupons and I love it! I use the 6, 3, 9 pocket folders. It takes time to trim some of them but you have to decide how much time you are willing to put into cutting them. Using a box might be better if you dont want to spend the time to trim them to fit. But for me I really like to be able to see all my coupons so that is why I like the binder method. It took me awhile to get my binder the way I want it. I love it so much and take it everywhere I go. Like you no stores in my area double so sometimes its harder to get the deals but it makes it that much better when you do find the really good deals.

[ladyeeyore7]

Over the years I progressed from one of those little pocket coupon holders to 2 binders, 1 food and 1 non-food. I use the 9 pocket sheets even though I occasionally have to fold the coupons. I collect about 5-40 of each insert per week. I like the 9 pocket since I average about 10-20 of each coupon they each need their own pocket and have the least amount of pages in my binder. I organize my binder alphabetically. I started out organizing it to match the aisles in my primary store but found that somewhat problematic in different stores. So I changed to alphabetic by common name or manufacturer. In other words Pringles filed under P, Kelloggs filed under K, etc. This seems to match my OCD brain the best. Also when I clip the coupons if there are coupons that are the same from different inserts and different expire dates I file them together in order, oldest date on top and newest date on the bottom. That way I am sure to use the older expiring cpns. first.

[wendylv5]

Good luck with everything. I am a newbie too.