My Etsy Story

I have been wanting to start blogging again (well, really just for the third time), and sharing my Etsy story seems like a good place to start.  My shop is an outlet for all of my organizing.  I use just about every printable item I sell on the site in my everyday life.  In this digital age, I still much prefer writing things down on something that looks pretty; much in the same way I prefer to have a book in my hands then a tablet.  It's just not the same.

I started my Etsy shop back in 2011.  I had just had my second son and was realizing how much money we did NOT have!  To save money I began to coupon.  I was not an "extreme" couponer by any means, but I did coupon a little crazier than the average person.

Quickly I became frustrated with my DIY coupon binder.  I had downloaded the free printouts from the most popular website and placed them in the clear protective sheets.  The frustrating part about this was the coupons, which were placed into baseball card sheets, would cover the tabs causing them to be hidden.  So I decided to make my own binder with tabs.  Back in college I used to put together my projects with hand made divider tabs and bind them with coil binder, so I knew I could make my own tabs.

After making my own binder and doing a few in home training seminars for couponing, I decided to turn it into a business.  I opened my Etsy shop near the end of 2011, my youngest was six months old.  Back then my shop was called Sweet Savings.

These are a couple of the binders I used to sell in my shop.  The custom tabs matched the vinyl binders I designed through a third party company.

After only a couple of months I got burnt out.  The amount of time I put into each binder was taking away from time with my boys.  When we moved in August of 2012, I put my shop on vacation and didn't open it up again.

My supplies still take up half of our master closet.  I have more empty coupon binders then I know what to do with.....maybe a future give away!  I ended up designing and making myself a home management binder with some of my leftover supplies.  While my shop was up and running, I offered some digital printables for coupon shopping.  These items did pretty well, and they spawned the idea for my next Etsy venture: home management printables.

I love designing and keeping things looking pretty.  This new adventure has been so much fun.  I have evolved from just home management printables to wedding planners, pregnancy journals and have even done party printables for custom orders.

Here are some of the fun stuff I currently have available on my shop:

My Etsy shop has given me an outlet for my creativity and my family a little bit more financial freedom.  I thoroughly enjoy designing these prinatables and love organizing my own life with them.  I have met some wonderful women through my shop and been able to share my knowledge with fellow entrepreneurs.

What a blessing to be able to do what I love and share it with all of you!