Taming the Paper Clutter Monster with your Planner (and more dental stuff)

This is another post about the wonder that is my revamped bullet journal and my six-hole punch.

The picture below is the paper ‘clutter’ that was brought into our house just yesterday.  AND, this isn’t even all of it.  Any mail that is addressed to my husband I set aside for him to open and deal with.

I separated it into 3 piles:  Dental, bills, coupons.

 

I had a dentist appointment yesterday with a new sedation dentist.  With my horrible experiences that I’ve had with dental procedures in the past, it was time to find a new dentist that would knock me out for anything – simple cavity fillings, cleanings, anything.

Yesterday I had x-rays done and a gum evaluation done.  And then they formed a treatment plan.  And then (it’s a fancy-schmancy office) they presented everything to me in a nice folder with their name on it, two business cards with my upcoming appointments, my treatment plan, and two other informational sheets.  It’s a nice thought…but it’s stuff like this that makes me nuts and makes paper unbearable.  *On a side note, I walked into this office and it smelled like lavender (relaxing).  As I filled out my paperwork, I noticed a little glass-doored refrigerator full of bottled water and juice.  Then while I was in the dental chair waiting for my exam, the hygienist whipped out a laminated sheet and asked if I wanted any complimentary services:  lip balm, a warm blanket, a warm pillow, an ipod to listen to with music of my choice, etc.  The plastic gloves they used are flavored (pink for bubblegum, green for mint).  And everyone that worked there was pretty and sort of acted ‘stepford-wife-ish’, but in a good way.  Super friendly, almost fake, but not quite.  And they were either wearing white or black.  The rest of the office was lavender colored (calming).  Anyways….a little insight into my new dental office.

So I brought home the folder they gave me, then checked the mail to find it stuffed with ads, coupons, and the electric bill.

I immediately threw out what I could (the envelope and other stuff that comes in the electric bill), and also the ads of places we never go (Albertson’s?  come on….even when their stuff is on sale they are WAY more expensive than any other grocery store here). 

I went through the coupons and clipped the ones I might use.

Then I went through my dental folder and pulled out what I needed.  I recycled the folder (meaning I put it in my ‘folder stash’ at work to use for something else).

This is what was left:

 

 

I got my planner and wrote down my appointment times for the dentist.  Then I 6-hole punched my other documents and filed them in the week of my appointments (after-care instructions for after my sedation appointment, etc.)  I did the same with the coupons and filed them as well.

 

 

 

And suddenly, my large stack of paper to deal with was no more!  Paper clutter is the WORST and I try to deal with as much as I can right as it enters the house.  Husband is pretty good about dealing with his stuff.  And we scan anything important that needs to be kept.  This new system has been great because all of my papers are always with me at ALL times.  I highly recommend it!

 

Bullet Journal

Can you believe I'm blogging about another planner?  I can.  I'm not surprised.  My last one didn't work out because it was too big and cumbersome.  I should have known, but I had to give it a shot first.

When my sister came to visit in June, she introduced me to the Bullet Journal.  In a nutshell, it is a planner/journal/tracker/list keeper, etc.  All in one.  And you make it your own.  Basically, you can take any notebook (although a higher quality one works better, like a Moleskine or a Leuchtturm).  Then you create your planner, lists, etc.  I started off with a Moleskine.  I made a monthly page for each month, then a weekly page behind each month.  Then I made lists and trackers.  That's what my Moleskine consisted of.  A lot of people do doodling, practice their handwriting, etc.  But I just never got into doing that.  I was more into making my lists and weekly pages look cute by using stickers and Washi tape.  I am not a doodler.  I do like coloring though and I love using cute stickers and tape.

But then I had to make some changes.  I was carrying my Moleskine bullet journal around, plus my wallet, plus my coupons in a separate pouch, plus the bills to be paid in a separate pouch and my checkbook and stamps.  It was too much.  I'd be at the store and have to whip out my coupon pouch, then my journal to look at my list, then my wallet when it came time to pay, etc.  It. Was. Too. Much.  I wanted the Bullet Journal to make my life easier, not add one more thing to keep track of.

So I basically transferred it to a zippered planner.

I wanted to still be able to add some flair to my general monthly and weekly calendar pages, but I also wanted to be able to add to it and reorganize the pages as needed AND keep everything contained.

The zippered binder is from Office Depot.  It's not large, it's a standard 6 punch size.  It can fit into all of my purses.  The 'insides' are all from Michael's AND my former Moleskine bullet journal.

Above is my calendar for September.  

Here is October:

Very simple....a standard monthly calendar plus some tape and stickers.  

Here's part of a weekly spread:

On the left side is part of this week.  You can't see the right side of the week, because what I'm now doing is putting the bills to be paid in my journal as well. I add them to whatever week they are due.  This is our insurance bill, which is due on the first.  I will pay it tomorrow.  Once it is paid, I remove it and put it in my bill binder (which I keep at work).  

I LOVE having the bills to be paid not only in one place, but in due-date order.  

Behind the monthly and weekly spreads (which include the bills to be paid, AND monthly habit trackers), I have a section for trackers.  I pretty much just removed these straight from my old Bullet Journal and hole-punched them and put them in my binder:

Mortgage payoff tracker:

TV shows to catch up on:

This one probably only make sense to me, but I like it:

After the tracker section, I have lists and other miscellaneous items:

Highlights:

 Coupons:

Restaurant coupons:

I LOVE having the coupons all here.  They are in order by type (pets, food, health, etc.)  When I'm at the checkout counter I can just tear them out to be used.

I bought a 6-hole punch when I decided to go this route with my planner.

I was hesitant to buy it at first because I wasn't sure it was necessary, but I use it ALL the time.  I hole punch everything to stick in my planner.  Not only everything that I transferred from my Moleskine, but also coupons, receipts, and 'things to be done' like looking into this balance transfer offer below:

It has made using this system even easier.  Plus it's pretty and gold and shiny. 

I keep all of my bullet journal supplies together in these two bags:

The first picture holds my most commonly used pens and highlighters.  The striped bag holds everything else:

Pens, pencils, washi tape, stickers, stencils and stamps.  All in one place.

I also added a plastic pouch in the back to hold my checkbook and stamps:

And then I added a plastic insert to the front of my planner to hold my cards:

(The receipts on the left are ones I need to enter into YNAB).

So my bullet journal has now become my planner, tracker, lists keeper, coupon organizer, bill organizer, and wallet.

I LOVE IT!!!  I love that everything is together and contained.  Most everything was purchased at Michael's (with coupons of course).  They have a great selection of planner accessories, including starter packs (that are blank, so you can start on any month), stickers, tape, etc.  I also added the little tassel to make it a little more 'me'. (Also purchased at Michael's).

So that's the latest on my journal.  I have a feeling this is the ONE!!!

Target Deal(s) of the Week

Today I ran to Target to check to see if they had any 'after holiday' deals.  Usually all of their gift sets are on clearance and you can find some great things!

I went looking specifically for 'body' type gift sets.  The desert is incredibly dry in the winter and I've used up a lot of my lotions and lip balms this year.  Time to get more!

All of the gift sets at Target were 30% off.  Now, these gift sets are usually a good deal, even at their regular price.

The Olay gift set was normally 9.99.  The Savannah Bee gift set was normally 12.99.  And the EOS gift set was normally 7.99.  Total?  30.97.

But at 30% off, they came down to $21.68.  Plus, I used my Target red card, bringing it down to $20.60.  AND I had a $5 gift card to use.

So I got all of this for $15.60.  Not bad, considering the deodorant is typically $8 and the body wash is $4.  

So if you're in need of some bath and body products, head to Target!  Now, if I had waited a few more days they probably would have been discounted even more, but they also may have been gone.  The pickings were slim enough as it was.  

p.s. - the Olay gift pack came with $35 worth of coupons!!

Target Deal of the Week

More great coupon deals this week!

Here's one:

Craisins

There were two coupons in the paper a couple of weeks ago.  $1.00 off a 5 oz package of Craisins, and then a buy one 5 oz package of Craisins and get a 6 pack for free.

So I got the Reduced Sugar Craisins (normally priced at $2.99) for $1.99.  Then I got the six pack (normally priced at 1.99) for free!

Then I got 5% off for using my Red Card and 5% off for using a pharmacy card, so I paid $1.79 for a 5 oz bag and a six pack of Craisins.  I saved $3.21!  

Not terribly exciting, but I was happy.  I'm not a fan of Craisins, but my husband likes them.  I mix them with nuts and put them in his lunch.  

Target also has a coupon booklet that they are handing out this week in most stores.  There are some good deals in there, mostly for Simply Balanced products.  There was a $4 off of a $10 purchase of Simply Balanced items.  Here's the deal I got:

Four Simply Balanced Soup cartons @ 2.28 each.

One package of Simply Balanced Quinoa @ 2.29 each.

TOTAL:  $11.41

Target was also having a 'buy 4 get 1 free' on the soups, so I got 5 soups for the price of four.

After my coupon, my total was $7.41.  Then I had a 5% Cartwheel, 5% for using my Red Card, and a 5% pharmacy card, bringing my total down to $6.30.  So I got 5 cartons of soup and 1 bag of quinoa for $1.05 each!  More than a 50% savings.

It always makes the mundane task of grocery shopping a little bit more fun when you can find great deals! 

Target Deal(s) of the Week

Wow, this is the first time I've blogged in November!  That's bad.  We've had a busy month and we just got back from California.  But before I blog about that, I'm going to share two Target deals that I scored today.  I'm going to ramp up my couponing a bit more.  We are saving for Belgium and anything that I can do to save a few dollars will help!

Deal 1:

Fancy Feast Broth

Our oldest kitty is 18 and she pretty much eats only cat treats and soft food.  And because she's 18, we let her eat whatever she wants.  Because...she's 18.  

Anyways, I don't buy Fancy Feast broth packets often because they are expensive.  However, our oldest kitty LOVES them.  So when I found two stackable coupons for a discount on 4 packets, I used them!

Original price per packet:  $1.17 x 4 = $4.68
Target Coupon: .75 off of 4 packets
Manufacturer Coupon:  $1.00 off of 4 packets
$4.68 - $1.75 = $2.93 for 4 packets

There was also a Cartwheel deal on these, 5% off.  Plus, I got an additional 5% off by using my Target Red Card.  This brought the total price down to $2.64 for 4 packets, or .66 each - a 44% savings!

Deal 2:

Clear Care

I usually buy the Up & Up Target brand for my contact solution.  It's around $7 per bottle.  So I usually ignore the name brands, because they are always way more.  Except for today! 

Before my trip to Target today, I checked out www.totallytarget.com for any deals.  This was the first one that came up.  There was a printable coupon from coupons.com for $5 off any bottle of Clear Care solution.  AND Clear Care was on sale at Target too.

Sale price:  $7.99
Coupon:  $5.00
New price:  $2.99

Minus 5% for using my Red Card, I paid $2.84 - a 65% savings!

So if you have cats and wear contacts, head to Target!  Ha ha.

Target Deal of the Week

My favorite deal at Target this week is kind of an odd one.  It's a cookbook!

I don't check many cooking or recipe sites, because I'm not a cook.  However, one that I've checked pretty regularly since I've been doing Weight Watchers is skinnytaste.com.

Gina Homolka, the founder of skinnytaste, wrote a cookbook!

Normally, this retails for $30.  Target had it on sale for $19.99.  AND, there was a 25% off Cartwheel coupon:

So the price came down to $14.99, then with my 5% off discount for my Target red card, I paid $14.25 for it.  Less than 50% of the original price!  It's a really nice book too, hardbound with tons of pictures.

I haven't made anything from it yet because I just got it today, but the recipes look really good AND there's a whole section of meatless main dishes!

Maybe this will inspire me to start cooking more, ha ha.  

Target Deal of the Week

It's been a while since I've done a Target post.  But I'm still couponing, Cartwheeling and combining deals to save the most money!

In the past few weeks, we've been talking about getting a wireless printer for our home.  Our current printer has been temperamental lately and it's very frustrating, especially when we really need to print something and can't rely on it.

So yesterday, I was browsing my Cartwheel app and sorted by 'Discount', so all of the highest discounts would show up at the top of my list.  And I saw this:

30% off of a wireless printer!  So I go into the store and look at the price....$99.99.  Not bad, plus with 30% off (actually 35% off because I would use my red card).  I called my husband and had him check it out online to make sure it would be compatible with all of our devices, etc.  He said it would work.  But before I put it into my cart, I decided to check the price online at Target.com.....just in case.  Here's what I found:

$69.99!!!!  I was so excited!!  I put the printer in my cart and happily wheeled my way to Customer Service.

Let me tell you two things about Target:

1.  They will price match pretty much anything.

2.  Their Customer Service department is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

I knew I would have to complete this transaction in Customer Service, because it was a price match (even though they were price matching to their own website).

So, the original price was $99.99.  I showed them the printer for $69.99 on Target.com, so they changed the price to that.  Then I saved 30% off of $69.99, bringing the price down to $49.  Then I saved 5% off of that by using my Target Red Debit Card, bringing the price down to $46.55.

I paid $46.55 for a $99.99 wireless printer!!!!!

Always, always, always check the price online if you're making a larger purchase.  And don't just check Target.com.  Target will price match with Best Buy, Walmart, etc.  And then if you have a Redcard, you'll get an additional 5% off.

Here it is sitting on our dryer at home ha ha.  We haven't hooked it up yet, that will probably have to wait until this weekend.

I love getting good deals!

Target Deal of the Week

There's some good deals in the Target ad this week people!!!

Deal #1:
Planters Nuts.  

Now, nuts in general are expensive.  And we eat a lot of them.  I tend to stick to the Market Pantry brand, because they are usually cheaper.  However, in the Target ad today, you could get a $5.00 Target gift card for buying three cans of Planters Nuts (a variety to choose from) that were on sale for $5.79 each.  I bought three, totaling $17.37.  I had a coupon for $2.00 off two cans of Planters Nuts, bringing it down to $15.37.  Then I got 5% off for using my 5% off card for refilling 5 prescriptions at the Target pharmacy (I get one of these every couple of months).  Then I got another 5% off for using my Target Red Debit Card, bringing it down to $13.84.  THEN, I got 10% off because Planters were in the Cartwheel app, bringing it down to $12.46.  And then they gave me a $5.00 gift card, bringing it down to $7.46.  So I essentially paid $2.48 per can.  Excellent!  That's more than 50% savings.

Deal #2 was a nice surprise.  Charmin Toilet Paper was on my list.  It was on sale for $12.99, and you got a free 3 pack of Puffs tissues with purchase.  I was thinking the free item was the little purse packs, but nope.  It was the big boxes:

Totally free!  One box for me to take to work, one box for my husband to take to work, and one box for my mother-in-law.  These weren't on my list because I already have a couple of spare boxes of tissue in the cabinet, but they were completely free!

Deal #3 was mostly a coupon deal.  A few Sundays ago, there was a coupon for $4.00 off any Almay cosmetic.  $4 off!!  That's a lot in the coupon world.  

I got this tube of mascara.  

Regular price is $4.99.  Minus the $4.00 coupon, bringing it down to .99.  Minus my 5% off prescription card, minus 5% for using my Target Debit Card, I paid a grand total of .89.  Big spender, huh?

There were some other good deals going on too that I took advantage of, stocking up on things we need (like Up & Up brand makeup remover wipes....buy 3, get one free.  This is the brand I use exclusively too!).

I think I solely keep Target in business.  And I love that I can help out my mother-in-law a little.  Usually once every couple of weeks I get to hand her a small Target bag full of free and/or heavily discounted goodies.  :)

Target Deal of the (Last) Week

Busy busy busy.  That’s what I’ve been.  A new dog is a lot of work!  He’s doing great though and we love him to pieces.

Yes, his tongue is blue.  We think he has a bit of Shar-Pei in him.  it just makes him more special than he already is!  Also....when I took this picture above, I said to him "smile pretty for Marita!"  Marita is the woman who worked with him at the kennel and rescue organization.  I send her pictures pretty regularly.  Anyways, he had been playing with the green frog (background) and I told him to come here and 'sit' and then smile pretty.  He listened!  Such a good boy.  :)

I wanted to share my great Target deal of the week (actually, it was the deal of LAST week…I’m behind).

Suave (the large bottles) were on sale for $2.79 each.  If you bought three of them, you got a $5.00 Target gift card.  I also had a $1.00 off coupon to use.  So I bought three, for a total of $8.37.  Minus my $1.00 coupon = $7.37.  Minus my 5% off for using my Target Red Card = $7.00.  And then they gave me a $5.00 gift card.  So I got three large bottles of Suave for a total of $2.00, or .67 each.  Amazing!

 Suave is definitely not my brand of choice, but my husband doesn’t mind it and I’ll use it too occasionally.  And it makes great bubble bath.  .67 for a big bottle of bubble bath is a pretty good deal!!

Still Couponing

I'm taking a study break (more on that later....maybe), so I thought I would blog.

I'm still couponing!  Not 'extreme'-ly of course, but I rarely make a purchase these days without using a coupon.  

When I first started last year, I got all excited and bought a huge binder with baseball card divider holder things, I had a complicated Excel spreadsheet, the whole 9 yards.  I had the binder that the major extreme couponers use.  Why I felt I needed that is beyond me.  My system broke down almost immediately (shocking).  It took forever to update it, and most of the time my binder (and spreadsheet) were full of expired coupons and ones that were just loose and ripped because I just didn't have the time to keep up with that complicated system.

So then I went old school.  I took a small notebook and wrote down all of my coupons (by category) and expiration dates.  I then ditched my huge binder and found a small pouch (I had originally purchased it a long time ago to hold my iPad Mini, before I got a proper cover for it).  I am pleased to say that the small pouch is still working.  But the notebook is history.  It was just too time consuming to flip through pages, compare it to the Target ad (I am still pretty much exclusively couponing at Target), cross off expired offers, etc.

So I did some research and downloaded an app for my phone called 'Coupon Keeper':

It.  Is.  AMAZING!!!  

Here's how it works:  you still clip coupons just like normal.  Once they are clipped, you scan the barcode of the coupon with your smartphone.  The app will then keep track of all of your coupons for you, alert you when some are about to expire, allow you to sort them by type (grocery, pets, etc.), by store (it recognizes my beloved Target coupons), etc.  Once they expire, they drop off your list. 

You can also search by product.  For example, this week Target had Tide on sale paired with a gift card (buy any 3 certain Tide or Downey products, get a $10 Target gift card).  So I typed 'Tide' and then 'Downey' into the search box and found coupons that I could use with this offer:

I then pulled them from my pouch and put them in my wallet to take to the store with me.  Easy peesy!  Once I pulled them out, I marked them as 'used' in the app, so they will fall off my list of 'active' coupons.  The app will still track them though and let me know how much I'm saving:

I'm pretty sure this is the system that will stick.  The pouch is small enough to fit in my purse, but most of the time I just keep it in my car tucked under the drivers seat.  That way I always have my coupons with me and my purse isn't weighed down.  I'm loving the app so far too.

By the way...if you are a regular Target shopper, it really does pay off to coupon there.

During my trip on Tuesday, my total bill came to $116 (groceries mostly, some pet food, etc.).  After handing over my coupons AND scanning the barcode from the Target Cartwheel app (e-coupons), It brought my total down to $100.  The Target Cartwheel app is amazing.  Most of the offers on it are pretty low (5% off or 10% off), but every now and then an amazing deal will pop up.  This time it was Special K cereal.  50% off!!!!  And guess what?  I had a coupon too.  I got these two boxes of Special K for less than $1.50 each:

Thankfully, my husband is not picky about cereal and he has a bowl of it every morning for breakfast.  

During this transaction for $100, I received two Target gift cards to use for my next purchase.  One of them was for $10, which I got for buying three Tide and/or Downey products.  The next one was for $5, which was for buying 3 packages of Slim Fast, which I happen to drink every day for breakfast:

When you receive Target gift card offers during a transaction, you can't use them towards that same transaction.  So I couldn't have handed them over and brought my bill from $100 down to $85.  However, you can do two transactions and use them on the next one.

So, for my next transaction, I just had one item:

I paid $5 for it, after my gift cards and Target Red Card (5% off).

See?  It's like free money, people!!  Especially if the items you must buy are items you would use anyways (like laundry detergent and breakfast shakes).

Couponing at just one store is NOT difficult or time consuming.  I spend maybe one hour a week, and I save usually anywhere from $10 - $40 each time I go.  Definitely worth it in my opinion!

(ps, we haven't watched 'Frozen' yet.  Sadly, it is still sitting on our kitchen counter.  Maybe this weekend?)