Last week I posted about my idea of a coupon database. Since then I have created and populated our database. I also made an organization system for the coupons so that they are easy to find once you find them in the database. Here’s how I have it set up:
I started by making the criteria for the database. The column headers are as follows (click on image for full size):
- Expiration Date
- Brand
- Type
- Description
- Savings
- Manufacturer or Store
- Quantity
- Envelope Location
- Used?
Fairly straight-forward.
Next I populated a whole mess of coupons. Here is a screenshot of my work (Again, click on image for full size):
As you can see from the screenshot, this database makes it very easy to find a coupon for a specific type of product. If you ran out of cereal and want to see what coupons you have for it, you can easily filter on cereal in column C (Type). If a certain brand is on sale and you want to see if you have a coupon that will drive the price even lower, you can filter on that brand in column B.
Okay, so the coupons are in a database and you can easily find the best coupon for your purchase. Another important aspect, though, is physically finding the coupon. The best idea I have so far (and I’m sure there is a better way of doing this that I haven’t thought of yet) is having envelopes with expiration dates on them.
Each week has their own envelope. For example, there is an envelope for coupons that expire 7/29/2012 – 8/4/2012, 8/5/2012 – 8/11/2012, and so on. Once you find a coupon you want to use in the database, you then go to the corresponding envelope and take the coupon out. This is the unfortunate manual aspect of couponing, along with cutting out the coupons and entering them into the spreadsheet.
The thing about couponing is that it’s a numbers game. I have heard many people say that couponing would cause them to buy things they otherwise would not buy, or that there “aren’t coupons for the things I need.” If you tap into all the sources of coupons (internet, newspaper, email, etc.) it’s okay if you end up throwing 95% of them. Some just aren’t that good.
I’m an organization and efficiency freak, so if I can speed through a stack of coupons and get them all organized in a database it makes it worth my time. If I’m randomly searching through a pile of coupons every time I need something, it’s a waste of time and money. It would take longer and there’s a good chance I won’t find the best coupon for what I need.
I plan on refining the system a bit and in the near future will post a super sweet final version of the excel file for everyone to download. That is, everyone who wants to maximize their savings ;)
Anything you would change about the process?
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Photos by Victoria Carlson (my wife!)
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I hate the manual process of couponing too, but I like the idea of your database! I’m not sure if it would be more work or not (you decide), another idea would be scanning the coupons and including a link in the Excel sheet of where that file is located on your computer. I’m not sure if that would be more work or not. What are your thoughts?
@foseroo Hmmm that would work if you could use the scan of the coupon AS a coupon, but otherwise just sounds like more work? The problem with coupons is the manual process of organizing the physical coupons you want to use : /
Pretty sweet database idea. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with for handling the printed coupons. The stack of paper drives me nuts.
@AverageJoeMoney Yeah well we do have the envelopes going on, but I still have to see how that works. There has to be a better way, just haven’t thought of it yet.
I am always impressed by people who are able to organize their coupons. You database idea is pretty impressive.
@OrnellaGrosz Thanks! Yeah if you can’t organize them it almost defeats the purpose. I hate trying to find the right coupons manually in a pile. I’d rather just know which ones I have within seconds!
That is quite the database. My only suggestion would be maybe using one of those accordion folders you can get from the office supply store to organize your coupons. Maybe each folder could represent that particular week. Not sure if that is a better way, but at least you don’t have so many envelopes to deal with. The coupons are separate, but all together in one place.
@MakintheBacon Oh that’s a good idea! My wife had that idea as well…we might have to try it out
Very cool! Glad you found a way to make it work and I hope it saves you money and allows you to find the little buggers when they’re hiding.
@Money Life and More Yeah the key is to make it worth your time. If you are spending 40 hours a week on couponing, it’s probably not worth your time (unless you get everything for free like on Extreme Couponing!)
Wow, you really are a professional accountant – even at home!;-)
@MariasSelf Haha I do what I can ;)
Wow, that looks like quite the system. We have nothing near that but we do have alot of coupons. I’m not sure if I would invest the time to do all this but if it works for you then so be it. Coupons have saved us thousands of dollars.
@CanadianBudgetB Believe it or not it saves us a TON of time. Very easy to figure out what coupons you have on hand.
@DC @ Young Adult Money @CanadianBudgetB Let me know if you are interested in sharing your system with my fans!! They love coupons!!! Cheers mate Happy New Years….
CanadianBudgetB DC @ Young Adult Money Feel free to share it with your fans! I’m all for people sharing links to my site, of course ;)