52 Weeks to an Organized Home: Organize coupons (Week 7)

On the seventh week of the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home challenge, the  focus was organizing coupons.

I used to clip coupons each Sunday from the paper. There were colorful inserts packed with coupons. However, I found that many of the coupons that I clipped eventually would expire because I didn't need the particular items.

Also started looking more closely at the price of generic items versus brand-name items. Even if I'd use a coupon with the brand-name items, the generic items always came out less expensive.

The type of coupons I do keep and sometimes use are ones for places like Joanns, the co-op, and local businesses.

So, when this task for this week came up, I went to the basket on my desk where I used to put coupons. It was filled with many expired coupons. Got rid of those.

Also found a Christmas candle that's battery-operated in the basket. That will be going in the Christmas bin for next year.

As I was looking through the basket, there were many pleasant surprises:
- $55 in iTunes gift cards
- $50 on a Kohl's gift card
- $30 in movie passes
- $25 at a local thrift shop plus a 30% off coupon
- $6 in $1 off cards for the co-op
- $1 off a large pizza at the local pizza place
- 58 cents remaining on a gift card at the grocery store
- punch cards that I had already had stamped and was almost at a reward level (e.g., one dozen free bagels, $10 off a Fare for All order at the warehouse)

That's $167.58 that I found just by going through the coupon basket!

I'm super excited about organizing coupons and gift cards this week. That was a very productive use of my time.