How We Designed Our Budget Step 8- Knowing Our Coupon Savings!

CANADIAN BUDGET BINDER 10 STEP BUDGETING SERIES- Tracking Our Coupon Savings

KNOWING YOUR SAVINGS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR DEBT NUMBER

Knowing how much money we saved each month is just as important as knowing what we spent because it’s motivating.

If we don’t see numbers as motivators just debt than it’s not that exciting especially if you have lots to get rid of.

Another reason that we want to see our savings figures each month is because it helps us to look back at how far we have come. For example if in two years time you want to know how much money you saved in a particular month or year you will have those figures to fall back on.

Not everyone is coupon savvy or out to save a buck in their budget but for those of us who do I thought it would be a great idea to track our spending habits whilst using coupons and coupon apps.

Coupon apps have surpassed the paper coupon over the past few years which means there are less going around because manufacturers save more by allowing customers to utilize computer apps.

 

Tracking Coupon Savings 

When we started budgeting we began with something pretty basic where we downloaded a home budget spreadsheet free from the internet. We soon discovered that to satisfy our craving for knowing our personal budget savings we needed a coupon savings tracker of sorts.

There are coupon trackers and goal meters on the internet but we wanted something that was built right into our budget. We thought this would be easy on the eyes for us and less hassle with a separate tool.

The good part is that coupon savings are alive and well and many Canadians are still taking advantage of the savings whenever they can. Just because I wanted to make tracking savings easy for everyone we have this handy free tracking sheet that you can print and store in your budget binder.

  • Tracking Sheet: Coupon, Freebies, Trades, Trains and Rebates– Track your coupons and rebates with this tracking sheet.

See all Free Printable Budget Binder sheets on the Free Money Saving Downloads page.

Whether you get direct mail coupons, internet coupons which are coupons for printing (sometimes called e-coupons you get via email) or use coupon apps you should use a spreadsheet for tracking expenses or any money-saving that you might do in a given month.

If you get product rebates that’s another thing you will want to track because you got the item for free so that’s money savings in your pocket.

Canadian Coupon Sites to Order and Print Coupons online

You can also keep an eye out for inserts in your local paper by Smart Source and other random manufacturer coupons that come out monthly.  You can also order PandG Everyday Coupons online and they change them often so visit as much as you can.

If you are a coupon saving mom or dad, single or even married you can easily track expenses along with coupon usage with the Canadian Budget Binder monthly expense sheet template that we designed to manage our family finances.

If you are a student there is no reason you couldn’t use this as a college budget spreadsheet to track your expenses while in school. Attending University and College is a costly venture in life, one that can keep you in debt for a long time after graduation.

Take the time as a student to investigate the city you will live in and the best ways to save money. I’m not shocked in this day and age when I see students using coupons and coupon apps because money is tight.

The Best Coupon Savings Apps in Canada

Sources For Finding  The Best Canadian Coupons

How will I know how much I’ve saved using coupons?

With our Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet we wanted to have a running total of coupons that we had redeemed through the month.

Each month now we know exactly how much we have saved every step along the way. If you are someone who has set a monetary savings goal using coupons this might be handy for you.

For example: If you need or want to save $20 a month using coupons using a tracking spreadsheet will help you reach your target and goals because it’s a visual motivator.

My friend who blogs at Frugal Sally asked her readers about saving money and how they do it. One reader posted this great tip!

Whenever I intentionally save money, I move it out of my checking acct. Ex: if I save $15 using coupons, I then transfer $15 into my savings account. -Talara

We also recognized that we purchase quite a few gift cards or receive them as gifts for birthdays and holidays. We have incorporated this into our excel spreadsheet as well so that way you can track gift card expenses throughout the year.

If you don’t use coupons that’s fine, you can still use the Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet for all your budgeting needs. I’ve made sure it’s user-friendly and offer 3 different versions, paper and printable, with projected-expenses and with-out projected expenses.

Reasons why we wanted to know our Coupon Savings

  • Did we reach our monthly, yearly target?
  • To set a new goal for the following year or month
  • To monitor trends in coupon use
  • To monitor what stores we use the most coupons at
  • To understand our spending habits
Discussion:  Do you track your coupon savings each month? Leave me a comment below and I’ll respond.
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Photos Courtesy of:123RF

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