Tuesday's Trash to Treasure: Coupon Binder

Coupon Binder Tutorial
Reuse: Office supplies

Materials:
*Binder
*Page protectors
*Baseball card sheets
*Tabbed dividers

This tutorial is super easy, and most people will have all of the materials laying around their office/home already! Let me start off by saying, I'm not a huge coupon-er; but I don't mind saving money, so coupons are my friend! Compared to most, I definitely don't have TONS of coupons, but I love being organized, so a binder is perfect!

_First off, you need a binder. What size? That's up to you. How many coupons do/will you have, how often will you use it, etc etc. I personally do not use many coupons simply because we eat mainly fruit, veggies & meat (not a lot of the "junk" food like many coupons are for). And for cleaners, toiletries etc, I do use coupons for those, but not many since I hate having product just sitting there (totally opposite to those who truly coupon). SO, having said all that, I personally use a 1.5" binder.

_Next, you'll need something to keep your coupons in: sheet protector or baseball card sheets. I use baseball card sheets so I can see all my coupons. 

_Now, to get even more organized, grab some tabbed dividers and make categories for the coupons. If you need help starting, follow this website & they have FREE print outs for each category!

How E-mealz saves my family $$$

Any of you seen that "Extreme Couponing" show? Yeah. Me too. Pretty ridiculous for those of us who don't have 40+ hours a week to give to clipping and searching for coupon deals. I'm not against coupons, don't get me wrong, but why not make a show where people could actually relate? Because that just would not be fun to watch! :D  Anyways, before that show even first aired, I was seeking ways to cut my families grocery bills down! Spending $400+ a month on groceries for TWO people was pretty ridiculous! My sis-in-law got me hooked on E-mealz. www.e-mealz.com. Its a VERY doable & affordable way to plan out your meals. My other problem was that I HATED figuring out "what's for dinner?". This company will not only plan out your meals for a week (5 days), but it gives you your itemized grocery list of exactly what you need for each meal (this way you're not wandering the aisles buying random items for dinner, as usual), PLUS on top of that, most meal plans cost around $35-$50/wk! It's easy too! All you do is find which plan works best for your family:

Meal Plan Options

Regular Family Meal Plans

(Serves 7 meals for 4-6 people)

Plan	Posted
Kroger	Sun
Publix	Wed
Wal-Mart	Thurs
Any Store	Wed
ALDI	Tues
Ralphs (CA)	Thurs

Regular Meal Plans for Two

(Serves 5 meals for 1-2 people)

Plan	Posted
Wal-Mart for 2	Fri
Any Store for 2	Fri
ALDI for 2	Tues
Publix for 2	Wed

Specialty Family Meal Plans

(Serves 7 meals for 4-6 people)

Plan	Posted
Gluten Free (Wal-Mart)	Thurs
Gluten Free (Any Store)	Thurs
Low Carb (Wal-Mart)	Wed
Low Carb (Any Store)	Wed
Low Fat (Wal-Mart)	Thurs
Low Fat (Any Store)	Thurs
Low Fat (Publix)	Wed
Portion Control (Wal-Mart)	Fri
Portion Control (Any Store)	Fri
Portion Control (Publix)	Thurs
Vegetarian (Any Store)	Tues
Vegetarian (Wal-Mart)	Tues

Specialty Meal Plans for Two

(Serves 5 meals for 1-2 people)

Plan	Posted
Low Fat (Wal-Mart) for 2	Tues
Low Fat (Any Store) for 2	Tues
Portion Control (Wal-Mart) for 2	Wed
Portion Control (Any Store) for 2	Wed
Low Carb (Wal-Mart) for 2	Wed
Low Carb (Any Store) for 2	Wed

After you figure out what's best for you, sign up ($5/month) and start saving time & money!! If you do want to coupon with this, think of how much more you can save! Its easy to coupon with this plan, all you do is look for coupons to match your grocery list!