oh big bertha

are you ready for it? are you ready to see "big bertha"?

who is "big bertha" (mrs. c. named her)?

she's my coupon binder.

it's excessive. it's obsessive. it pretty much all around too much.... but..... i carry her with me everywhere i go. i have a coupon for pretty much anything in there.
without further adieu.....

here's big bertha! yeah that's the chick-fil-a motorcops on the front of the binder.

she is an avery two inch easy view three ring binder. filled with 3 zipper pouches (1 for walgreens register rewards and cvs extra care bucks, 1 for target coupons, and one for homeland, walgreens, and cvs coupons. there are 10 plastic dividers for the coupons and 4 pocket dividers for ads, coupon policies, and such. there are over 600 basecard slots filled with coupons. i told you excessive, obsessive and overall too much!

i even have a cute bag that i got from target (and yes i used a coupon and got it for $2) that i carry the coupon binder around in.

i have the coupons divided into categories such as frozen foods, dairy, cereal/baking goods, meal sides/meat, condiments, drinks, snacks, kitchen stuff, household cleaners, medicine, face products (toothpaste, makeup, cleansers), body products (soap, lotions, feminine hygiene), hair products, baby products, misc (school supplies, pet supplies, anything that doesn't fit in the other categories), and food (restaurants only). the coupons that are about to expire are in the front of the baseball card holder and any other multiple coupons that have a later expiration date are behind it.

i keep the walgreens register rewards and cvs extra care bucks in front so i can access them easily. i keep the target store coupons in their own zipper pouch because none of the store around me will accept manufacturer coupons with another store logo on them. in addition, that's why i keep any walgreens, cvs, and homeland coupons in their separate pouch too. i always carry individual store coupon policies with me in case i do not get an experienced cashier at a store. i use one of the pocket dividers to put coupons in when i find them in the stores. many times i will find tear pads in the store. i will tear off a few for me and a few for mrs. c. and i put them in the pocket divider until i can get home and organize them.

people always ask me how i keep up with it. i usually get a sunday paper on saturday night. i will make a lists from each store of things i want to look at. i will clip any coupons i need/want. i will pull out any expired coupons and put in the new coupons. i will pull any coupons that i will need for a specific sale at a specific store and organize them in the front of my binder. so when i go to the store i have all the coupons i need.

i know some people like to not carry all their coupons around with them. they just pull the coupons they need and take them. i like to have all my coupons with me in case i find some great unadvertised deal or clearance item. this has yielded many free items. this system seems to work well for me (even though the kids cannot sit in the grocery carts anymore - of course they were getting too big anyway).

so that's her. that's "big bertha".