Happy Friday: Old Fashioned Coupon Box
Sent from reader, Niki:
I just wanted to share with you a picture and quick story of an encounter I just had with an older lady who has been couponing since 1980! I was in the bread aisle at lunch today in my local grocery store when I looked over and saw a lady with a old box full of coupons. She told me she had a relative, who was a carpenter, fashion it from an old shoe box but customized to her specs.
She said she has been couponing since 1980 when coupons for Cheerios were $0.05 and she still has those coupons because they don’t have expiration dates! I just thought the uniqueness of her coupon box and how long she’s been couponing was a nice departure from the trend we are seeing today.
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awesome. boy we have it made today with the help of the internet.
And bloggers
hm, what were the cups for?
I was thinking the same thing, maybe paper clips and pens?!
Maybe one cup is for pens,highlighters,clips,small calculator. Another one for coupons she will be using for her current purchase and the last cup.. maybe for coupons she will be picking up on grocery aisles.. or maybe she brings her own drink?
I had the same question. What are those cups for? lol
I sent this pic to Collin months ago so I can’t remember what she used the cups for.
Niki
What a great box!! Would love a ‘custom’ coupon box like that!!
I can totally make you one http://www.etsy.com/shop/reclaimedgoods1 We do custom orders all the time for wood things. We use old pallets or barn wood.
love it!
Well if you think that’s old, LOL, I’ve been couponing most of my married life-there just weren’t too many around in the early years. Man, you make me feel old now! When we lived in FL, my husband made me the nicest wooden three drawer cabinet complete with handles, that was a fine piece of craftmanship-complete to my specifications. Boy was I proud! That was in the ’70’s. Only problem is that the coupons were a lot smaller then, so I’m trying to find a use for it now. Presently have it sitting beside my bed as a night stand of sorts. Any other ideas? And if you’re wondering, it’s been 66 years together…but I don’t feel that old. 🙂
wow! awesome story! thank you so much for sharing!
awww, congrats!! i want a love like that one day 🙂
Thats so sweet!
Hope we can see a picture =)
Lol, made me feel old too! 1980’s wasn’t that long ago… was it?
I was thinking they were sample cups 🙂
I know where you are from Nikki ….lol…Pensacola fl… I have seen her in CVS….lol…
I was thinking the same thing or someone has a box very similar. I’m from Pensacola too! What a small world =P
Uh, I live in West Haven, CT actually. I took the photo at Stop & Shop in Shelton, CT.
Fantastic!
I am 49 yrs old and have been seriously couponing since 1982. Made me think that is alot of coupons over 30 yrs! : P Love her box she uses!
I love it! Thank you for sharing!
would she be able to use her $0.05 cheerios coupon today? i think not because it probably doesnt have a proper bar code. but i am still curious!!
No she can’t. I have some old ones too. I tried to use a 30cents off Hefty bags just a month or so ago. They wouldn’t take it because it didn’t have a bar code. I shop there alot, but they wouldn’t let me use it.
Kroger allowed me to use my pre-bar code coupons since it did contain the address for them to send the coupon. Container of Quaker Oats for 80 cents (after the 10 cents coupon was doubled and it was part of a 10 for $10 sale).
Like maflies1, I, too, have been couponing since ??? I really think in the 60s. I still have some 10cent coupons and several that have no expiration date. Unfortunately, I threw some away not long ago. Probably not worth anything, anyway. I have used some and of course there are no UPCs, because there was no such thing then. The cashier was very nice and told me not to cut off the UPC. I did explain to her. Here in AZ Fry’s make all coupons worth at least $1.00, even those ten cent ones!
How cool!
Use a file box or a box u can get at walmart for 5 bucks! I love it and it makes it so I don’t clip all the coupons anymore
That’s such a great story! I would never have been able to coupon without Collin! 😉 I was also wondering what the cups are for and if those are envelopes that the coupons are in. It’s so interesting to see all the different ways couponers organize their “stash” LOL!
I’ve been couponing for about that time too. Well before it became a fad.
love it, but the 80s were NOT that long ago. I’m 40, but feel 19 and that made me feel ancient 🙂
Hats off to that lady!
wow thats so gonna be me! Thanks so much for teaching me collin, because of couponing we have gotten new tvs money in the savings account it is great!
thanks for posting the pic and story Collin! I love it!! It made me remember how my grandmas’ table was always covered with coupons whenever I would go over there. Little did I know then, that I’d be couponing as well!! But it’s my dresser that’s covered..LOL, (when I’m lazy and don’t put them in my binder right away..) 🙂
I wonder if it has a lid. I would hate to drop it and watch all of the years of hard work and dedication scatter everywhere.
lol that would so happen to me. i’ve dropped my binder so many times the cover broke off once and i duck-taped it back on!
That is so conveinent! My coupon binder is always falling in the buggys child seat when I’m shopping. I have to turn my book sideways to keep it from doing so. Lol
I made my first coupon box probably close to 30 years ago. It was wood also, but not that big! And yes, I still have some of those no exp date coupons too! Then about 17 yrs ago, I asked my son to make me a new one in his “woods” class. I still have that one 🙂
I started couponing in the 80s too. Coupons were in the food section of the Wednesday newspaper. A friend of mine told me, if you save 3.00, thats 3.00 you can invest. Back then, interest was through the ceiling. I did it cause I was a starving college student.
I also have been couponing a long time, since about 1982. I discarded most of my no expiration date/little value coupons but do still have one for Wheat Krisp crackers for 40 cents that says copyright 1991.
One low moment in my couponing life was when I left my coupon box behind in a shopping cart. Went back and also checked with the service desk but the box never turned up. I remember hoping that whoever found it needed it more than I did and also glad I did not leave the baby behind!
In those days I used a box made for check storage. I was plenty wide and not very tall. Worked well! When the last one I had became too damaged, I had to change to a photo box since no one has checks to store anymore but the photo box is not as good. Keep telling myself to go to binder, but when something has worked for 30 years, it is hard to make a change!
“I was plenty wide and not very tall” The funniest typo ever – my coffee almost hit my monitor!
Make the switch to a binder you’ll get used to it quickly and before you know it any other system will feel awkward. That’s what happened to me, I now find that any box or accordion style holder seems cumbersome as I have to take the time to keep searching through it – with a binder I can see up to 18 coupons at time and find that I am catching way more unadvertised deals than I ever would have with a coupon box. Of course the fact that it’s pretty and I can sling it over my shoulder also helps me to actually take it in the store.
Thanks Nancy for noticing the typo…and glad you got such a chuckle out of it!
I am considering the switch to binder and will take your points into consideration. Thanks for posting them!
Love it! I have been couponing since 1988 when my son was born. I used a metal recipe box for my coupons then. Over the years I switched to envelopes because the coupons got bigger. I tried the binder method a year ago & hated it! I went back to envelopes that are now in my ThirtyOne organizer tote. It looks more like a purse. Thanks to Collin for making me a better couponer!
This brought back a memory of when I was a kid and my sisters and I opened a box of Rice Krispies. Inside was a huge wad of 7 cents off coupons. Those coupons w/o an expiration date lasted MANY years!
Last year at work I was on my lunch hour organizing my coupons and an older co-worker told me she used to coupon when she had a young family. She said that the store that she used to shop at would take any coupons for any products they sold and give you the cash value for the coupon. So she didn’t have to buy the item. Customers could basically exchange their coupons for its cash value as long as it was for products the store sold. She said her son’s used to kid her all the time, but it really helped with the family budget. I’m sure that it took a lot of coupons to add up to any kind of savings, but any money you got for doing that was more than you started with!
That’s GREAT!… and looks like quality workmanship, too! It’s inspiring!
I made my own box for sorting coupons, a few months ago, because I trade and (also) clip coupons for others. (Actually, this is the 2nd box — the first one worked out so well, I decided to make a sturdier one and get fancier with it.)
I have been working on a design for a (custom) coupon carrier — one I can take with me when I go shop. I haven’t come up with the design that’s just right for me yet (can’t always find parts I need, etc.), but I’m working on it.
Seeing this custom box is (indeed) inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
🙂
Looking good!
I have been couponing since in the 70’s, refunding to, use to have shoe boxes of coupons, now have binders an stacks all of the house
I am in my 50’s an plan my trips to the store when the sale bills come out
Every Sunday at Walgreens Happy Couponing everyone. Thanks for sharing the picture
I have been couponing since my 20’s and am 50 now. It is nothing new. I use an old check box for my coupons and it works better than a binder because I have to many coupons (friends and neighbors) for a binder. Each category is over an inch think with all the coupons. Mine is cardboard so it is a lot lighter than a wood box. Ha! Each month has been changed to a grocery category. Have been using it for years and actually left it at Krogers once in my buggy and got it back the next day as they kept it for me knowing I would come back to get it.
I feel so ancient……I have been couponing since the 80s as a newlywed and still use the box method. I started with an old shoebox, but now use a platic shoebox that I got on clearance at Target for $3. I HATE the binder method (the littel pockets drive me crazy). Couponing has gotten so much easier since the internet. My favorite used to be the rebates you could get from Gerber and Beech-Nut babyfood. I saved the labels and got coupons or free toys, bibs, bottles, and baby spoons!
Great story Nikki..the best part of this story..whomever typed up the info..was the fact you referred to the lady as “older’ and the shoe box as “old”.. I work with the elderly and really appreciate when folks refer to people as elderly, older, senior citizen; etc..instead of ‘old lady/man’.. thnx for sharing.