Organize in Style FREE coupon booklet

Being a Professional Organizer, of course I LOVE this freebie!  Sign up here for a FREE Organize in Style coupon booklet.  It includes $35 worth of P&G coupons!

Thanks, Moneysavingmom!

7 Organizational Tips to Help You Manage Paper Flow

Looking for ways to manage the plethora of paper that consumes your life?  Checkout the article I wrote here.

I love my new FREE business cards that came in the mail today!  I ordered them from Vistaprint and only paid for shipping!

Sunday Fun and Organization

Since we go to the Saturday night service at our church, the kids and I have the whole day together on Sundays while Chris is at work (we'd rather have him home with us!).  We got a little pool time in this morning with Chris' parents before the rain started.  The kids got to use there new Speedo water wings and were like fish in the water!

I've also done a few quick organization projects around the house that have needed attention for awhile.  I started with our 2.5 year old son's closet and dresser drawers.  It feels so good to get the smaller sizes and warmer clothes outta there!  See below and after pics below.

Then I worked on the kids hall linen closet.  It doesn't take long to get chaotic in there!   I love it because both of these small org projects took less than an hour to accomplish!

Little man's napping and then we're off to Publix to buy newspapers and hit some deals.

               

BEFORE 

                                AFTER

Spice Cabinet Organization

BEFORE

AFTER













Even though I love being organized, my spice cabinet seems to stay in a constant state of chaos.  I finally had enough and took 10 minutes yesterday to clean out and reorganize.  Whew!  Much better! 

I'd love to see before and after pictures of your organizational projects.  We all need a little inspiration!

A Guide to Coupon Organization

My good friend and reader, Dana, asked me how I organize my coupons.  I'm so excited to share my method with everyone!  I will preface by saying that just because this method works well for me, another method might work better for you.  Therefore, I've included links to some of the blogs I follow so you can read about  their coupon organization methods.

Let's jump in!

1) I use the Binder method.  A dear friend met me at Panera one morning last year when I was desperate to learn about couponing and showed me the binder method and how it works.  I immediately went to Target and purchased the supplies I needed to get started.
You'll need:
1'' (or larger) binder
Baseball card inserts (Target sells packs of 15 for around $5-look for them in the Baseball card section near the front registers)
Sharpie to label the inserts
And of course coupons!

2) Label the inserts with categories in the upper left hand corner and assemble them in the binder.  Start with 1 insert per category.  For categories like "Dairy" "Toiletries" "Paper" "Baby"and a few others, I usually have 3 or more inserts since there are tons of products in those categories and my coupon stockpile has grown.

Here are my categories (yours will vary):
Kroger
Publix
Target
Organic
Air (i.e. air freshners, candles, sprays, etc)
Baby (i.e. wipes, diapers, baby food, etc)
Bread
Candy
Cereal
Cleaning
Condiments
Crackers
Dairy
Dessert
Drinks
Drugs
Feminine
Frozen
Hair care
Household (i.e. lightbulbs, batteries, etc)
Laundry
Make-up
Meats
Nuts
Paper (i.e. napkins, TP, papertowels, kleenex, etc)
Pasta/Rice
Plastic (i.e. baggies, tinfoil, plastic wraps, etc)
Restaurant
Retail (i.e. Toysrus, Petsmart, etc)
Sauces
Snacks
Soaps (i.e. dish detergent, hand soap, bar soap, etc)
Soups
Toiletries (i.e. toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, razors, mouth wash, etc)
Vitamins

3) Clip only the coupons you'll use or would giveaway if you could get them for FREE and file them in the appropriate inserts.

4)  Label white envelopes with store names to house the coupons you'll use on that week's grocery trip.  (i.e. Kroger, Target, Harris Teeter, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Publix, etc).  My binder has a front pocket where I keep any coupons that need to be filed along with that week's store envelope(s) and the current week's circulars in case I need to refer back to them.

5) As you're looking through the weekly grocery store/drug store circulars, pull out the coupons that match the items on sale and put them in the corresponding store envelope with your grocery list.  *When I make my list for each store, I always include the coupon value next to the item so when I'm shopping I won't have to dig through my envelope to find the amount off.  Stores like Publix and Kroger will automatically double any manufacture coupon .50 cents or under at the register.  Harris Teeter doubles any manufacture coupon .99 or under at the register.  So if you have a .50 coupon for Heinz, it's actually $1 off!  *Look at the first 5 numbers of the UPC on the coupon and on the product.  If they're the same, you can use the coupon on that item.  Many times a coupon will specify a certain new product that just came out but if the UPC's match you can use it on any proudct of that brand.  *You can stack one store coupon and one manufacture coupon per item.  I love stacking Target store coupons with manufacture coupons to get sweeter savings!

6) I keep my binder in a large black purse and ALWAYS take it in the store with me along with my store envelopes.  You never know when you might find an unadvertised deal that you can't pass up!  If your binder's with you, you'll be able to go right to your inserts and find the category of the item on sale.

7)  Clean out expired coupons at least once or twice a month so you can stay organized and efficient.  Hold onto the weekly coupon inserts (that include coupons you didn't clip) so you can refer back to them if needed.

8)  To accumulate coupons (so you'll have a nice stash of multiples for stockpiling items), I buy two copies of the Sunday newspaper every week to get the coupon inserts.  We also get a local paper in our driveway once a week that includes Sunday's coupons.  I asked a few neighbors for their copies because I noticed they were throwing the newspapers away.  That's like throwing away cash!
I've also e-mailed companies directly (like Pepperidge Farm, Dannon, Orajel, Clif Bars, Ovaltine, etc) to brag about their products and request coupons.  It works!  In addition, I print online coupons from the below sources:
Coupons.com
Redplum.com
Smartsource.com
Target coupons here
Kroger coupons here (digital and printable) *My Kroger does accept expired coupons.

It's also wise to keep a print-out of Store Coupon Policies in your binder.
Harris Teeter's policy
Kroger's policy (Thanks, Mommy Snacks!)
Publix policy (Thanks, Southern Savers!)

Read below for other coupon organizational methods:

Crystal at Money Saving Mom uses the coupon box method.  Go here to read about her method.

Collin over at Hip2Save reveals her couponing method here in a 2 part video series.

Kristen at Couponing to Disney organizes her coupons like this.

Jenny at Southern Savers has some great video tutorials on couponing basics here.

What method works best for you?  Do you have any tips to share?

Kitchen Org Project Part I

Sadly, even a professional organizer can have "hot" spots that look like this!  It literally took me less than 2 minutes to clean out this kitchen cabinet.  Britain is my little helper!

Then, I decided to tackle another "hot" spot in the kitchen.  This cabinet is where we keep our paper recycling bin, placemats, drink stockpile and a few misc. items.

Since I was on a roll, I took a few more minutes to rearrange the tupperware and pots/pans cabinet.  Tupperware has always been the hardest to keep organized so a few months ago I cleared out a drawer for the lids.  It's so much easier keeping them separate.  

Organize and Simplify

Speaking of organization (see my post here), this is a great read with quick tips for organizing and simplifying your home.  Even if you only have 15-20 minutes a day to spare, pick one "hot" spot and commit to transforming that area or drawer.  You'll feel great about your accomplishment and experience more peace in your home.

I'd love to see your before and after pictures.  Send them to me at frugaladee@gmail.com and I'll post the results so we can all rejoice together!

Peaceful Solutions - Professional Organization

                                            BEFORE                                              AFTER

                                       BEFORE                                                   AFTER

I HEART organization.  No, not every drawer or closet in our home is picture perfect BUT I thrive when things are orderly.  I crave the peace it brings when everything is in its place.  Our decor is very simple and we don't have a lot of knick knacks which helps keep things looking neat and organized.

Back in 2008, I started a side business called Peaceful Solutions, as an Organizational Coach.  I'm very passionate when it comes to helping people create peace and order in their lives.  I had the privilege of working with six families over the past two years.  My life long dream is to launch Peaceful Solutions full-time (might need a name change!) so I can do what I love on a consistent basis and have the opportunity to set my own hours around our family's schedule.  Until then, I'll be focusing on the areas in our home that need regular attention (craft closet, kitchen drawers, closets, etc) and continue taking side org jobs as I have capacity.  My time is more limited these days so it's difficult adding my side business back in on top of everything else.

Starting this week, I'll begin posting tips and pictures of my own home organization as I tackle some of our very own "hot" spots.

Peaceful Solutions
Equip.  Encourage.  Empower.

Testimony of a Hopeless Packrat 


     Prescription drugs mixed amongst the spices; a pantry so jam packed, food is desperate to be found; lidless tupperware crammed in a cabinet with no hope of being used…this describes the state of my kitchen…until my appointment with Brooke Byers of Peaceful Solutions. What a concept that someone would LOVE to come into my chaos and help me sift and sort, purge and salvage. That, after all, is a job I despise. Brooke made this process not just tolerable, but fun and enlightening. Starting us out in prayer, and then blessing me with inspiring music during the process are the extra touches that bolstered our journey. I loved our big hooplas when I would get the courage to throw something away or donate to charity. Of course the highlight was looking at all my extra space at the end of the day, in addition to knowing everything had a place AND I knew where that place was. She has definitely encouraged, equipped and empowered me! (See pictures above)