How to Make Your Own Coupon Binder

(I know, this had nothing to do with Free Clip Art or Images, but anything that saves me money so that we can have more disposable income for our craft ispertinent! :) Not to mention, it's not just food that I save on, a lot of times I get free tape, pens, markers, glue, misc. office supplies, paper, and great deals on ink, etc!) Still not interested.. don't read. There will be free images up tomorrow for you! :) I am not selling you anything! Promise! :) These are just my personal lessons learned and shared!

Hi, my name is Abbie and I am a closet coupon queen!! Seriously, last year I saved thousands? with couponing! There are so many great resource sites out there, I'm not going to recreate the wheel, but what works for me is different than anything I have found elsewhere so I thought it worthy to share.

There are so many options out there for organizing your coupons, envelopes, pockets, boxes, binders, etc.. If you are serious about truly saving money and stockpiling when prices are rock bottom then you'll need a serious system to keep yourself organized.

My personal recommendation is a coupon binder. You can assemble your own a lot cheaper, and we are here to save money aren't we? Having spent months tweeking mine, (I started by making my own pockets.. not the greatest idea when I have dozens and dozens of pages!) I have finally developed a system that is working. For me. Yours will grow and change as you figure out what works and what doesn't for you. What categories you need and which don't apply. No pets? Leave that section out.

A few recommendations:

1. Get a three ring binder and have it zip! Having dropped mine on numerous occasions trying to juggle it, a purse and two wee ones, a zipper is a lifesaver!
2. Make sure it has extra outside pockets! I use these to store my calculator and small scissors. I also tuck my coupons in them as I travel through the store, then when I am done shopping, all my coupons are in one place, waiting for me to hand them to the cashier.
3. Use baseball card protector sleeves to sort your coupons. They are perfectly sized for most coupons and are easy to find. I tried making my own and I needed too many. Just buy them, they will pay you back. Promise. You can find them at Walmart or online.

4. Use the Avery 31 day page dividers. That gives you 31 categories for your coupons.
I purchased mine at Staples. They weren't cheap, but they are sturdy and should last a long time. And the rainbow colors are pretty! :) They make me happy to sort my coupons.

Coupon Binder Categories

Here is a list of the categories that I use for my binder. Feel free to adjust them as needed! I have set these up for the Avery 31 Page Dividers.

1. Salty Snacks
2. Sweet Snacks
3. Bread/ PB & J
4. Fruit/Vegetables
5. Pasta/Sauce
6. Soup/Canned Goods
7. Baking/Spices
8. Breakfast
9. Rice/Prepared Sides
10. Condiments/Salad Dressing
11. Drinks
12. Refrigerator
13. Freezer
14. Candy/Gum
15. Food Packaging (ie. plastic bags, foil)
16. Paper Products
17. Laundry
18. Household Cleaners
19. Dish Washing
20. Candles/Air Fresheners
21. Medicine/Allergy/Colds
22. Vitamins
23. Oral Care
24. First Aid/Eye care
25. Beauty/Make-Up
26. Soap/Body Wash
27. Hair
28. Lotion
29. Shaving/Deodorant
30. Feminine Products
31. Pets

Other Items to personalize your own list:

• Baby
• Home
• Office
• Clothing
• Restaurants

Do you have any coupon organizing ideas that really work of you? We'd love to hear!

Feel free to 'PIN' this post. I am trying to figure out the code to add a PIN button to my posts but it's not working very well. lol! there is always something!

(Note: this is my post with my images, if you have seen them before but can't recall where, I started a coupon blog a while back and this is as far as I got!)

Enjoy!

xoxo~

Abbie

DIY Reusable Fabric Softner Dryer Sheets

Have you grown tired of buying, buying, buying? It seems like all I do is run out of this, run out of that, and am constantly in a state of using and throwing away. Using and throwing away. It's the little things that are adding up, costly and wasteful. (and that takes money and time away from my crafting and creating!!) This post is in direct response to the mound of dryer sheets I used to toss in the trash (I would use them twice, also to dust with, etc.. but at the end of their life they ended up in the garbage and I had to buy more.) At two loads of laundry a day (approx.) that is a lot of dryer sheets!

I tried using the idea on Pinterest of soaking a washclothe in fabric softner, ringing it out, letting it dry. Supposedly it would be good for 30+ loads. Nahhh... it worked for about 2, and I found myself constantly refreshing it, and it was hard to find sometimes in my laundry as the static was horrid and the washclothe would disappear into the nether world of a pantleg or sleeve.

I also tried adding vinegar to the wash.. that didn't work either! I hate static! :)

Here is my solution. It works. I've used it.

 You'll need:

A bottle of liquid softner.. I really like the fragrance of the Purex brand above. (no, I have not received anything for this post!) :)

A spray bottle

An old towel or some washclothes, preferably in a color that is bold and bright and is easy to remember as a 'fabric softner' sheet.

First, cut up your towel if need be. I used a bright old coral colored one so that I could easily find it in my load and would remember to set it aside and not stick it in the closet with the washclothes.

Next, I used a recycled Shout spray bottle. But any spray bottle would do. Mines not pretty but it's functional, and to me that is most important. (If it is small in size, cut down the amount of liquid fabric softner you put in it.)

Put one cup of the fabric softner in the spray bottle and fill the rest of it up with water. Shake gently to mix it.

My stack of 'dryer sheets' is in a small hanging basket shelf right above my dryer. When I toss in a load of laundry, I grab a sheet, spritz it 3-4 times with the watered down fabric softner and toss it in the dryer with the laundry.

That's it! I get hundreds of sprays per bottle (or per 1 cup of softner) instead of using a 1/4 cup per load in the wash. If I use it the wash, it washes out (duh..) and I find that it doesn't work well enough for the amount of product I use.  You may need to add a few more spritzes or a few less depending on your preferences.

Do you have any tips that REALLY work? I'd love to hear and I'm sure others would too!

Hope you find it helpful! Please feel free to Pin this post.. just be sure to link back to it!

Thank you!

xoxo~

Abbie

Hand Crank Clothing Washer Vintage Image ~ Free Clipart

Geee.. they had the right idea. This hand cranked washing tub is small, efficient, AND it is EnergyStar rated PERFECT as it uses absolutely NO electricity! Can you imagine??

Getting ready for school would definitely take a bit longer with this baby!

Enjoy your free clipart image!

xoxo~

Abbie

Vintage Advertisements for Vacuum Cleaners ~ Free Clipart

 

 

Time for some light housework, Sundays are great days for that! :)

Enjoy!

xoxo~

Abbie

Free Vintage Clipart Chair & Advertisement Image

Pull up a chair and stay awhile! :) Free antique chair furniture clipart image! Would love to see what someone does with this!

xoxo~

Abbie

NOTE: I have removed the comments option. :( I love to hear from you all so much and it makes me so happy to know that others love all of the images that I post as much as I do, but I am getting very tired of removing spam ads from my comments. It makes me angry when others try to post free ads! Percy & Bloom has fantastic sponsors who offer relavent, wonderful products, and they pay to advertise here and I don't want the comments littered with annoying ads for knockoff, crap products. Sorry about my rant. (if you are the person leaving the comments.. go away! You're bothering me!)

I do love hearing from all my visitors, so if you'd like, you can email me at damseldesigns@hotmail.com or you can contact me through the 'contact' button just below my header.