If you missed part 1, click here.

Recycling can seem like such a hassle, so how would it fit in on a blog that has set out to help you live a simpler life? I want to share a few things with you that might make it simple enough, you might consider joining me!

6. Go Paperless: Try to stop using paper plates & towels (plastic utensils fit in well with this one too) and use cloth. Good quality cloth napkins, hand towels and dish rags can often be found at thrift stores for much less than buying from a big box store.

7. Put it to the curb: Find out if your area has curbside recycling, also check to see if RecycleBank will pick up in your town. (They reward you with points for your recycled material which you can turn into rewards).

If a curbside pickup is not available, locate the nearest recycling drop off center to you and try to incorporate a bi-weekly trip around your other errands & shopping trips. You could even see if a neighbor would be interested in alternating trips with you.

8. What about the odd stuff: What do you do with batteries, CFL light bulbs, old cell phones, electronics?

• For battery recycling locations, check out http://www.esho.com/
• CFL Bulbs, check out the EPA website
• Cell Phone recycling, check out call2recycle.org (or send them in for Swagbucks)
• For old electronics, check out this page on the EPA website

9. Swap or donate your stuff: Arrange a swap with some family, friends or neighbors and swap some stuff. Give your items a second life and get some "new to you" items in return. Just because you don't use it or love it anymore doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't.

If a swap doesn't seem likely, maybe donate the clothes or VCR you don't want anymore. Let's do our best to keep these items out of the landfills. (Please use your best judgement when donating items, if it's stained, torn, or broken beyond repair, it probably will be thrown out at the donation site).

10. Spread the word: Try to start a recycling plan at your office, put some boxes in various places for paper collection and a separate waste basket in the break room for cans.

At the company I work for, the cans are sold to an aluminum recycling plant and the profits are used to buy a special treat for the office a few times a year.

The best way to spread the word though, is to do it through your actions. Rather than just telling people what they should do, lead by example and maybe they will follow along.

What tips do you have to make recycling easier or more convenient?

Recycling can seem like such a hassle, so how would it fit in on a blog that has set out to help you live a simpler life? I want to share a few things with you that might make it simple enough, you might consider joining me!

1. Start at the store: Try and buy foods and products that have less packaging. The less packaging you bring into your home, the less will end up needing to be recycled or be thrown into the trash. Also, don't forget to bring any reusable bags you may have. (If you do not have any reusable bags, consider paper. If that is not a choice either, there are many places to recycle the plastic bags or you could drop them off at a thrift store, most will gladly accept them).

2. Make it convenient: Instead of keeping the recycling container in the garage, try putting it where the trash can should be. Make recycling easier by keeping the recycle bin close by and have a small bag for trash which could be taken to the garage at the end of the day.

I have also noticed several stores selling multiple compartment trash cans, although sort of pricey, could help with recycling. If you have the money in your budget for it, and the space as well, it could make your efforts quite a bit easier.

3. Opt of out junk mail: I don't know about you, but most of the paper in our house is brought in from the mailbox. Store fliers, credit card offers and magazines come in by the bundle. Not only does this take up a lot of space in my recycle bin, it takes up my time trying to decide what needs to be shreded or tossed or put in my to be read pile.

If you are interested in opting out of junk mail, check out the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for more information.

4. Stop buying bottled water: Do you purchase a lot of bottled water? Maybe a faucet mounted filtration system could save you a lot of money and help cut down on the waste. If the convenience of taking it with you is key, a reusable bottle may work for you.

5. Make a list: Keep a handy list of things that can and cannot be recycled. If you have to question whether plastic #5 can be recycled, it will probably end up in the trash. You could post this on the inside of a cupboard door or on the side of the container itself, where ever makes it convenient. Recycling Revolution has a decent list of common items that can be recycled, check it out here.

In an effort to keep things short and sweet, tips 6-10 will follow later this week. Even if you cannot make all the changes, every little thing counts. It takes time to develop new habits or routines, and the best thing to remember is to just keep trying.

What tips do you have to make recycling easier or more convenient?

I read a book within the last couple weeks called Green With Envy - Why Keeping Up With the Joneses Is Keeping Us In Debt. It was a $3 find at Big Lots :)

This book was a pretty quick read and serves as a great reality check for us to remember that "the grass isn't always greener on the other side". Unless you are walking in the other person's shoes, you really have no idea what their financial situation is, and you shouldn't concern yourself with it.

The book showcased a few couples who racked up an astonishing amount of debt just trying to keep up with their peers because they felt like they "needed" to. They "needed" better clothes, "needed" bigger houses, "needed" more vacations. So they started to buy those things, even though they didn't really have the money for them.

Each couple seemed to be able to juggle their finances for awhile so they could keep up their new-found lifestyle, but eventually it caught up to them and had a moment of panic when they realised just how much debt they accumulated.

Through the process of getting their feet back on the ground with their finances, each one of them wished that they could just go back in time, when they didn't have the debt, when they didn't spend all their money on "stuff". They were scared of what their friends would think of them when they found out, but they realised that their value isn't held within the stuff they own.

In conclusion, I found this book to be a good, quick read. We all need to remember that instead of keeping up with the Joneses, and thinking we will find contentment and that value is in the stuff we posses; we need to live within our means and remember where true contentment comes from, the stuff we cannot buy.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Making curtains: from this...


To this :)


The tree is decorated!


Our stockings have been hung

Very easy & quick Christmas craft project - found here on BHG

Napkin rings: another craft project found on BHG here

The Coupon Box - this is the method I have settled on, and I'm pretty sure I am going to stick with it for a long time! I use envelopes with a card sticking up on top all inside a wicker basket lined with fabric. Since I cut out most of the coupons I get, I have a pretty extensive list of categories for my envelopes. All I do is cut the coupons out once a week and file them, if I see something I will most likely use, I put it in the envelope for the store I plan to use it at, and write it on my list. During the week when I am doing coupon listings on the blog, I will print out some of the ones I think I can use and file them either in the correct envelope to use later or right into the store envelope if I know what the regular or sale price is.




Some of the advantages about this method are: the box is small enough that you could take it with you to the store if you wanted, without being heavy or extremely bulky. All of the coupons are organized by how broad or specific you make the categories. Since you are clipping the coupons, you should have a general idea of what you have. You can usually use what you already have lying around your house to make one of these boxes (or for very cheaply buy a basket and envelopes at the dollar store, along with your newspapers for the week).

The only drawbacks I have about this system is that: if my basket tipped over, I would have a bunch of envelopes all over the floor, and you can only stuff so many coupons into an envelope before you start to tear it.

If you would like to see and/or use the tabs I made for my box, click here

The above picture is my coupon box, and I want to end this series of Coupon Organization with a giveaway! One reader will win a fully made coupon box, pictured below, like mine (I will customize the tabs to suit the grocery stores around you)!



The giveaway will be open until 11:59:59pm CST on December 10th 2009. The winner will be announced on December 11th, 2009.

How to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling me what your current method of coupon organization is
2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed
3. Blog about this giveaway, and give the URL to the page where you blogged about it



The winner will be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or a new winner will be chosen. The winner will randomly be selected from all eligible entries using Random.org. Each person is allowed up to 3 entries into the giveaway, any additional or duplicate entries will be deleted.

The comments to this post have been closed, if you have any questions please send an email to shining.light.webmaster @ gmail . com (remove spaces).

If you missed the previous parts of the series click on over to see part 1 and part 2


The Couponizer - This is a great coupon organizing system to use to help you from sorting them to holding them. I used this system for quite some time and I loved it! You are probably wondering why I stopped using it then….? Well, I just have too many coupons for it to hold! The system worked beautifully, I would sit down and quickly cut my coupons out and place them on the CoupStacker, then when I was done I could just transfer each pile from the Stacker to the corresponding pocket of the organizer. Before I would go shopping I would make sure my loyalty cards were in the front plastic card holders and slide it all in its carrying case and head off to the store!

During my shopping trips, I used the front 2 pockets for my "plan to use" coupons and then once I actually put the item in my basket I would move the coupon over to the "use at checkout" pocket. This worked well for me since I usually will look at prices of items I have high value coupons for (I consider $1 or more to be a high value coupon) and if it is something I have room for in the budget to buy, I will, otherwise I leave the coupon in the "plan to use" pocket and once I got home, re-filed it into its correct category.

There were only a couple negative things about this system: if you cut out tons of coupons, you will likely over fill the organizer to the point it might not shut anymore, and once you get to that point of having too many coupons, you realize that there are not enough sub-categories to quickly find your coupons anymore.

Aside from those 2 reasons, I would definitely recommend this product to every beginner and even those of you who use the File System (after you cut them out, put them in the Couponizer, even keep a few "maybe I can use these" coupons in there too so you don't miss the unadvertised sale on those new items you've been wanting to try!

If you would like to find out more information about the Couponizer, or if you are interested in ordering one for yourself or as a gift click here or use the button on the left side bar.

Up next: The Coupon Box & A Giveaway!!!!

The Dave Ramsey web store is having a sale on most all books, CD's, DVD's, software & accessories!

This would be a great opportunity to pick up some books that are otherwise pretty pricey! Order now so you have a chance to read them before the New Year - you just might be able to keep your resolution to get out of debt following his advice!

If you missed Part 1, click here


The File System- This system is very good for the person who has the least amount of time to spend cutting and organizing their coupons. Reason being, you only cut the coupons you need!



This method works well if you read blogs or websites which give a thorough matchup of the sales with what coupons you need and which inserts they came in. After reading these sites, you should, in theory, be able to go straight to your box and easily find the coupons you need and cut only those out and be done.

The only materials you need to make this system work for you is a file box or cabinet (even a bankers box would work fine) and several hanging exterior file folders. You will want to make sure that you have a temporary labeling system for each file that can be easily changed, a post-it note would work well or even just a piece of paper taped to the top of the file.

This method is great for someone who is just starting out couponing because you do not spend an insane amount of time clipping and organizing coupons that you don't know how to really use yet! It minimizes the mess of stray coupons floating around and keeps them pretty well organized.

The drawbacks are pretty obvious to this method too though. If you constantly rely on someone else to find the deals for you, you inhibit yourself from really learning how to shop the sales and use coupons. Not one person will be able to tell you what the target prices are for what you should be buying for your family in your current stage of life.

You might miss some really great coupons if you don't really look through the ads! Also, when you don't cut them out, you have a harder time remembering what coupons you have since you didn't "handle" them.

One last point is that almost all stores run unadvertised deals and you won't have your coupons with you. (I'm not saying that you need to take advantage of every deal that you can, but the chances of you going all the way back home for a coupon are slim compared to just running out to the car)

Up next: The Couponizer

There are 4 types of Coupon Organization methods in which I am going to outline for you over the days ahead. There are probably a hundred ways to organize them, but these are the one's I've tried and can speak from experience about.

The Coupon Binder - This is basically a 3 ring binder (the zipper one's work best, in case they tip over) with baseball card holders inside. The initial cost for the supplies could be rather expensive, but if you look around or wait for the school year to begin, this shouldn't cost very much at all.

You will need to determine how many categories you will need, and buy the corresponding number of baseball card holders. If you would like to separate the different types of coupons you have, then you will need a set of dividers.

Once you have your binder, card holders and dividers, it's time to set it up. Begin by deciding how your want the flow of your binder to be. Do you want it laid out as your most frequented grocery store? Or do you want it alphabetical? Once you decide, it’s time to start loading your coupons into the card holders.

Some people use 1 slot for each coupon, or a different product on front and back and some people use the slots to hold similar items. The point of using this method is to be able to easily see what coupons you have and be able to quickly locate them.

A lot of times, the zippered binders have some really great compartments on the inside front panel. This area is great for storing the current grocery circulars, a pair of scissors, a pen, your shopping lists and any stores coupon policy you feel would be good to have on hand.

I have used this method, and I have used the binder method on a smaller scale as well (think day planner size).

*They worked great while I was using them, but if I slacked off any bit, my binder seemed out of control and full of expired coupons.

*This method worked quite well for someone like me who clips almost every coupon, but also became very bulky and heavy.

*I did not like was how massive it was to manipulate in the front seat of the grocery cart, I couldn't imagine trying to do that with a child up there too!

*My other problem with this method was that many of the coupons I get won't fit into those slots without having to be folded up so many times I couldn't tell what the coupon was for anymore.

*For other people this method works like a charm.

*They can see exactly what they have and all of the multiples of the same coupon are right there in the same pocket.

*If you can continually keep your binder organized, everything will stay right in its place and be easy to clean out any expired ones.

Overall, this method worked pretty well for me during the time that I used it often, kept it organized and actually put everything in the pockets!!

Stay tuned for the next installment of this series: The File System

Today was a very encouraging day as far as lifting up my spirit goes, let me tell you why: I paid off one of my debts, 20 months early!

A few days ago, I was feeling really down on myself because of some very derogatory remarks made to me by a coworker, and for a minute lost sight of my goals. Today, was a huge refresher as to why I cut coupons and plan out my grocery store trips, why I order water when we do end up eating out, why I constantly am turning off lights behind people and trying to pick up odd little jobs for some extra cash, etc. I am so excited right now, and this is just the motivation I needed today!