Couponing: the life or death of me

Have I lived the coupon life of cvs and walgreens walking away with a lot of items for nearly nothing? Have I scoured the weekly grocery ads to only purchase the must buy items and plan my meals around them? Have I done freezer cooking and not cared what the prices were only to get it done and to have an easy meal for my family to eat or else fast food? Have I gotten frustrated with all the time involved with couponing, raising 3 kids, working full time, selling pampered chef, and having a loving military husband who is gone more than half the year and thrown everything frugal I knew out the door? Yes yes and yes. This past year since the birth of my youngest I have lived in a life of price and frugal torture. I lived the frugal life for a year and did quite well (if I do say so myself). Then my lovely Ike came around and out went the time. I have also relied on chicks dig deals to tell me the greatest deals only to find that when you don't find them yourself you lose the "game" part of it. If anyone of you know me, being competitive assists in all areas of my life to keep me on track. I have truly desired to be the frugal
Mom again but the world hasn't developed an 8 day week yet. It wasn't until my sister's challenge that I have found the desire to not only put myself first but to also put my role as a mom and housekeeper first before all the other millions hats i wear. I must say not having a full time job has also helped in this area (although I have worked more last week than I did the past month. I think PRN status gives me freedom to not be connected to a facility instead I clock in and out and not stick my head in all the other areas( ok another post for this one).

With putting my family first I have found room and a desire to coupon again. Below you will see 2 methods ibhave attempted in the past. The first and best option for me is my coupon binder....yes I take this into the stores with me. The option I tried was to staple the coupons together to follow chicks dig deals and cut them
Out when I needed them. The second option didn't work for me as again there isn't any ownership in stapling. You aren't familiar with the coupons instead relying on someone else to hold your hand and tell me what rondo. I am making a revision to the coupon binder that I had during my frugal times. I am only cutting coupons for things that we use. This way I am not able to be lured into all the other fabulous cvs and walgreens deals that we don't need and are a good deal. Yes yes I did donate tons of new things I got for free, but that takes time and space. I would rather give in other ways. I am excited to use this method again. Tonight is the night I decided to clean the ole binder out and put the new in. What is your most frugal part of your day?