Tip Tuesday: Any Way You Cut It

How to clip your coupons, let me count the ways.  Everyone has a preferred method and there are pros and cons for each kind.  Here are a few I have tried:

Scissors:
Yep, by hand one sheet at a time.  Pros are that you get a nice clean edge.  Cons are that it is very, very time consuming and can you say "carpal tunnel" (ouch!).

Multi Sheet Scissors:

I'm told this is how the professionals do it.  They stack multiple sheets of the same coupon (some staple the coupon together) and cut strait through all sheets.  There's a YouTube video here (I don't agree with everything she says, but you'll get the idea of how to use this method.).  

Pros are that you can clip a lot of coupons pretty quickly.  The Cons, in my opinion, are a very big chance of ruining a coupon.  The first couple of times I tried this I ruined several coupons by clipping off parts of barcodes or expiration dates.  Most Marketing people try to fit as much on those little sheets as possible so if your sheets aren't lined up exactly they'll be ruined.  I also found that I had to trim some of the coupons as I was putting them into my binder (more on my new binder next week) and having to double clip is just a waste of time.  Plus I'm a little OCD when it comes to cutting on the dashed line...

The Guillotine:

This is my current way to clip coupons.  I love my paper cutter (guillotine, isn't that a weird thing to call it!).  It is an indispensable tool in our household.  

Pros are that you get a nice clean edge right on the dashed line (hallelujah!), it is much quicker than cutting by hand, and no sore hand from scissors.  Cons are that it takes more time than the Multi-Sheet method (I guess you could do more than one sheet at a time, but then you run into lining up issues.)  

I do sort my pages before I cut them (like the lady in the video) since it makes putting the coupons into my binder much easier and quicker.

Here are some of the Guillotine Paper Cutters that Amazon offers.  And here is my favorite:

You don't need anything huge, fancy, or expensive.  I do, however, think it is a great investment if you plan on cutting a lot of coupons.

Well, those are a few of the methods I have tried and my thoughts on each.  There are more out there.  I'm always looking for easier, quicker ways to do things so if you know of something leave a comment so I can try it too.