Quite often I have people quietly confess to me that they are “way behind” on their coupons. I feel so bad when I hear this because they seem to think they have failed somehow…or even worse, that they are the only ones who experience this!!

When I teach my coupon classes I always tell people that you are not doing yourself any good if you are trying to do more than you are capable of. If you take on too much at once…you will not succeed. Take on a little bit at a time and it will be much more manageable; and you will have something you can feel successful about!

That goes for seasoned clippers, too. Every single one of us gets behind on clipping coupons… I hear it from even the “Big” bloggers from time to time. Me? I’ve had a VERY difficult time keeping up with my clipping since we moved. There is so much to do that the coupons fall to the end of the list…and create their own little pile.

I find myself from week to week picking around and grabbing the few “important” coupons of the week so that I can manage at least some savings at the store. When I get to the store I see the sales I’m missing…knowing a coupon is out there that I don’t have with me due to my own disorganization. In turn: my budget suffers. I spend more than I should, I make more trips to the store than I should and I haven’t re-stocked my stockpile.

So what do you do when this happens? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again!!

1. Clean out expired coupons. I use a coupon binder, so the first step for me is to go through the binder and pull out all of the expired coupons. This way I’m at least starting with a clean slate.

2. Start at the end and work backwards. It takes me a loooong time to admit defeat and put my old inserts into the recycle bin; so the best method is to start with the most recent inserts and clip those first then work backwards. This way you will not fall further behind and you have the coupons that will last the longest ready to go.

3. Admit defeat. Clip what you can then send the rest to recycle. As I mentioned…this is hard for me, but necessary. Move forwards and accept that you have better things to do with your time than spending hours catching up on coupons. Despite what that crazy extreme couponing show tells you…. it is not worth it to spend THAT much time on coupons.

4. Start over again. Just move forward, no guilt…and start over again. Like I said earlier…it happens to the best of us from time to time.

Planning menus, using coupons and stock piling items are all essential for me in maintaining my family’s budget; but I don’t always get ALL of them accomplished (some weeks I don’t get ANY of them accomplished!). When I find myself falling behind I just start with the smallest of things (the menus) and work my way back.

If you let go of the “catch up” or “all or nothing” mentality you will find yourself getting much more accomplished and it will be much more enjoyable, too!