Keepin' it Fresh

So one of my biggest questions from people is: how do you keep yourself motivated to keep doing the "coupon thing". A lot of people get off to an enthusiastic start and fizzle after a few months. But this is not surprising - because it really is a discipline. So don't worry, you're in good company! Here are a few of my thoughts on what you can do to avoid it, or snap out of it: 

1) Take a little break when you need it! Don't be afraid to let some deals go by without taking advantage of them. Just because you skip of week (or three) of clipping Sunday paper inserts, or haven't looked at coupons.com in a while, doesn't mean you ought to throw in the towel. Don't worry about "getting caught up". Get your kids to go through your coupon binder and do a little detective work: ask them to go on a hunt for expired coupons and take them all out (and don't worry if they miss a few or take too many - it's worth it not to have to do the whole thing yourself)! Don't try to clip all the coupons that you missed - that will just be an overwhelming task that you'll dread. Just start where you are and gradually re-fill your binder!

2) If you do want to try to clip the missed coupons, call a fellow coupon girl friend and see if she wants to come over for a sip and clip! Have a glass of wine and visit while you clip coupons. Make it fun - not a chore! 

3) Take a relaxed approach. Don't run yourself ragged driving all over town every week trying to get to all the stores. Maybe go to Target once a week, and pick the drug store with the best deals for you - and go to only that one. But don't try to do Wal-mart, Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, and 4 different grocery stores every week. You're just asking to burn-out! 

4) Help a coupon newbie! Sometimes helping explain how it all works to someone who is new to it will give you inspiration, remind you of things that you've forgotten, and help ignite a fire! 

5) Take a look at your savings and that should be enough to get you smiling! I needed this boost just recently, so I went digging for "pick me ups". Here's what I found:

• I just cashed in 9,000 Viggle points for a second $5 CVS gift card! Love that they have this reward! I have been off the "CVS circuit" for a little bit and have no ECB's - but now that I have 2 CVS gift cards from Viggle, I can go in and start the cycle again with no out of pocket expense! Love it! 
• I've been a very lax Shopkick user - rarely ever remembering to use it. But I just noticed that I have enough "kicks" to cash in and get a $5 Target gift card! Awesome reward considering I've done pretty much nothing to get it! 
• I've been piling up my Swagbucks and finally cashed them in for amazon credit! I was able to order Egyptian Cotton Towel sets - 4 of each: Bath, Hand, and Wash Towels - and they're shipping for free! All for absolutely zero cost to me because I saved up all my amazon cash! So incredibly excited to get nice, new towels!!!