Coupon burnout - how to avoid it

I, Amanda, had suffered from a BAD case of coupon burnout. I had worked a TON of hours around Christmas time, got sick, taking down Christmas stuff, and having to reorganize closets to make room for all my new Christmas stuff. then I stopped making time for my coupons. I would put the inserts into a pocket of my notebook and then they became "out of sight, out of mind." Also, once I cleaned out my coupons at the end of the year... so many of them were expired! i was depressed! I was SERIOUSLY burnt out. i dove headfirst into couponing and hit the ground running. it was like i overdosed... I started to procrastinate, coupons wouldn't get cut for two or three weeks. sometimes by the time i got to them... they would have expired! i stopped printing Internet coupons, and i stopped checking my favorite blog! it spiraled out of control! my savings went down to only 30%! last month, i read some posts about coupon burnout and how so many newer couponers will go through this! i then got my notebook caught up, and i am back on track! now i can help YOU avoid this and learn from my mistakes!


*ALWAYS PACE YOURSELF*

i cannot stress this enough! I didn't and i suffered. i would put off cutting coupons until the night before payday or my shopping trip and i would be up all night cutting like 10 inserts at one time, so i was exausted by the time i went to bed and only got to take a quick nap. therefore, my thinking skills were not up to par and i would make impulse buys or costly mistakes. i will advise the following schedule (but make one work for you!!!).

• look through your coupons and pull the inserts when you get home with your papers. I am a visual person, so i have to see the coupon to catalog it in my mind what coupons i have.
• that same night go through your notebook and pull expired coupons. also, at this time i will see if there is a coupon that is close to expiring and if i will not be able to use it, i will give it to someone who might. (co-workers, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, ect.)
• the next day ( if you get the early edition on saturday like i do. do this the same day of it is sunday), cut all copies of your inserts. i have discovered the quickest and most efficent way to do this. i used to tear all my inserts one page at a time, then cut them, THEN separate them into catagories, then put them in the notebook. this took SOOOOO much time! this is a more efficent/space saving way to do it. take (#) copies on one insert. tear off the first page of each one and stack them together. (no more than 4 per cutting, so if you have more than 4, do 2 or more stacks) cut the coupon(s) and place them in stacks according to their catagory. (see previous post about catagories in you notebook) repeat steps with following pages of insert. take a break if you need to in between several inserts (if you are behind like i was)
• do all this while listening to music or watching tv. something just relaxing. if its only two sets of inserts, this should take no more than an hour or two. After you have cut all your coupons, paperclip your piles (so they dont blown away or get knocked off my a cat, dog, child, ect.) and take a break! play online, go for a walk, make dinner... whatever! give yourself a couple of hours and come back to it.
• place your coupons in their catagories in the notebook or organizer, and pull your ads from one of your newspapers.
• Monday - plan your trip. write your grocery list for the week, two weeks, month, whatever! Then take your ads and look at what is on sale, compare it to your coupons and write it down on some notebook paper. list the store, then the item with sale price, and the price of your coupon. this should take about an hour. take a break.
• check ineternet for any additional coupons you might want to use. also take envelopes and write down what you are getting at each store with before and after prices. at the top have the store with total estimated price (dont forget about tax!) put in corresponding coupons.
• you are now ready for your trip! take your notebook with you in case you find a awesome unadvertised deal! (like clearance!)

*TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS AND SPACE OUT YOUR TIME*

total amount of time (not including shopping) should take between only 4-6 hours each week if you keep up with them! make yourself a schedule that fits with your work schedule! i have sparatic work days, but I am also able to cut coupons at work when we are slow and my work is finished. (if i have never mentioned before, i friggin LOVE my job!!!) So my schedule for coupon work is not set, but it seems daunting when it really isnt! for LESS than the time of an average work shift, you can spend that time to double your money? uuuh TOTALLY worth it!

*TAKE IT SLOW*

Take your time. its like riding a bike. the first time you ride without your training wheels are you gonna ride down a mountain? (i hope) no! its the same with coupons. dont get discouraged if you are not getting shopping trips like on tv! my first transactions i only saved about 20-40%, and that is great! give yourself a good timeline and goals. "i want to be able to save 40-50% by the three month mark after starting couponing." thats a very realistic goal. Also, you do not have to cut EVERY SINGLE COUPON! i did this.. bad. i would cut coupons for stuff i knew i wouldnt need or use! why do i need more pasta coupons when i already had enough to feed the us army? know your stockpile as you are planning your trip. so by the end of the month im pulling a huge pile of coupons that i didnt get to use because i didnt need them... and its discouraging.


*HAVE FUN WITH IT!*

enjoy the "coupon rush", you cant enjoy it if you are so exausted you can think straight. Also, perfect your happy coupon dance ;) Happy Couponing!!!


Awesome Coupon Tip of the Post: Before order something online at a site, google the site in another tab/window. somethimes there will be a promo code (digital online coupon) for the site listed with the site link. ;)