I have a hugely thick binder full of every insert that is still active, as I semi-explained in the last couponing post. I'm going to go in to the "Why?" in more detail in this one.
The "why" is actually really simple- because you never know when a deal is going to drop out of the sky.
For instance, I was skipping along happily this past April, browsing some of my favorite coupon sites, when I saw a listing for a pet treat coupon and deal. I grabbed my binder, flipped to my 2/27 inserts and took out the Redplum insert. There it was- $2.50 off any Purina Pro Plan Roasted Slices dog treats.
These treats run around $4-$5 normally, which is more than I will spend on dog treats. However, they were on sale at PetSmart for.. dun dun dun... $2.50.
Yep, I walked in, picked up a package and walked out with them for $0.19- the cost of tax. It's a way my newspaper keeps paying for itself beyond the initial coupon clipping!
Hold on to your inserts until every coupon is expired. I may recycle inserts if there are only a few coupons still active in there, but I keep these pages and they go in the front pockets of my binder, or the individual coupons go in to my "Maybe" small folder. You never know what deals are going to pop up later and you sure don't want to know you had that coupon and tossed it away- especially if it means free $5.00 dog treats!
It doesn't take much time or effort to keep the inserts. You can even just paper clip them and toss them in a box if you want to, though this is less tidy and makes it harder to dig through them quickly. My binder stays on one of the bookshelves in the living room. I date the insert with a sharpie marker and put it/them in a protective sleeve in order by date. Voila! It takes perhaps 2 extra minutes of my life each Sunday and I can't tell you how many great deals I've been able to take advantage of because I keep them.
-Kristen
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