Using a spreadsheet?

[cats_n_coupons]

Hey all, I'm new and a little overwhelmed... I've read about how to do this stuff and how to organize your coupons, but the binder method and other similar methods seem like they won't work for me in terms of knowing what I have while in the grocery store.

Does anyone here use an Excel spreadsheet just to list what coupons you have? I saw suggestions for using a spreadsheet to track best prices and things like that, but not for actually listing what coupons you have and when they expire. I can access Excel on my phone, so if I emailed the document to myself before hitting the grocery store I could search it to see what I have in my "binder" (which at the moment is an accordian file thing that is not very well organized).

Any thoughts?

[$Saving!]

I would think that would be very time consuming, considering how quickly coupons expire

Instead, before going to the store, how about if you made your list and matched your coupons at home?

I've been couponing 30 years now and have always found it easier to make my list (per store on an envelope with coupons matching the envelope inside) and then I'm able to go in the store, find what is on my list and be done quickly.

Amazingly, the more you clip and file coupons, the more you'll remember what you have coupons for too - seems impossible but true

The only spreadsheet I keep is one that I enter my receipts on, by store, what I spent, what I saved with coupons, store sale savings and then it auto populates totals and percentage saved. And there is a master page running cumulative totals auto populated based on each store page as well.

That way I know how much I've spent as the year goes on, and what my saving % is overall as well as by store.

Hope that helps!

[fluttervale]

I'm trying a new system where I list my coupons in an Excel spreadsheet, by category, date, etc., and have a printable list to check prices. Then I'll go home, do my matchups, get my coupons, and go back.

I hit 4 stores a week.

[Beka27]

I would think that would be very time consuming, considering how quickly coupons expire

Instead, before going to the store, how about if you made your list and matched your coupons at home?

I've been couponing 30 years now and have always found it easier to make my list (per store on an envelope with coupons matching the envelope inside) and then I'm able to go in the store, find what is on my list and be done quickly.

Amazingly, the more you clip and file coupons, the more you'll remember what you have coupons for too - seems impossible but true

The only spreadsheet I keep is one that I enter my receipts on, by store, what I spent, what I saved with coupons, store sale savings and then it auto populates totals and percentage saved. And there is a master page running cumulative totals auto populated based on each store page as well.

That way I know how much I've spent as the year goes on, and what my saving % is overall as well as by store.

Hope that helps!

How were you able to set that up? I was trying to do that but I can't figure out how to do the formulas or whatever to calculate the savings. I'm not the most "excel-savvy" but I'd love to be able to keep running totals starting for the new year. You don't happen to have a blank one you could email the file for?

[$Saving!]

How were you able to set that up? I was trying to do that but I can't figure out how to do the formulas or whatever to calculate the savings. I'm not the most "excel-savvy" but I'd love to be able to keep running totals starting for the new year. You don't happen to have a blank one you could email the file for?

Check your PM -

[clippyclippy]

I use a spreadsheet that a blogger for our newspaper (Raleigh N&O) keeps on the website. It's updated every Sunday morning and I love it because I don't need to worry about regional coupons - the coupons on the spreadsheet are identical to my inserts.

The reason the spreadsheet is so useful to me is because I file by insert. I clip all the coupons out, but then file them by date/type. If I'm looking for a coupon, I can pull up the spreadsheet on my computer/phone and see right away where to find it.

For non-insert coupons, I make my own spreadsheet. It only takes a few minutes a week to enter the new coupons I've collected. It's easier to look at the spreadsheet than to flip through the file that I keep in my coupon box (organized by category).