Once you start collecting your coupons from the sources that I previously posted about, you will want to find a way to organize them. Believe me, it’s much easier to start organizing as soon as you start collecting coupons…I had a stack of coupon inserts/printed coupons about 4 inches thick before I figured out what worked best for me, and it took many hours to get everything like I wanted it.
There are many, many ways to organize your coupons. I am only going to touch on three, and they are the ones that most people online seem to use.
1) Coupon Binder – This one will be in the most detail, because this is the one that I use. If you have ever seen the shoppers with a big notebook in the “kid seat” in a cart, this is what it was!
***Purchase some form of binder. I highly recommend a zipper closure so that nothing falls out, but get whatever your finances allow. To start with, if you want to use a binder that one of the kids used in school last year, that works just fine. I also have a zipper pencil pouch in the front of my binder where I keep a pair of scissors, store coupon booklets, rain checks, extra pens and store coupons (like ECB’s from CVS or UP’s from Rite Aid).
***Purchase a pack or two of plastic sleeves. You can get various sizes of plastic sleeves…my binder is full of baseball card pockets (plastic sleeves with 9 pockets on each), but you can also use plastic photo sleeves, and these can have from one pocket to twelve pockets I believe. The coupons are “clipped” and folded into the slots of the sleeves so that you can just flip through your coupons page by page. If you cut along the edges of the printable coupons, they tend to fit perfectly in the 9 pocket pages. You can purchase these in bulk on eBay, but I usually get them at Wal-mart on the baseball card aisle up with the check-outs.
***Decide how many categories you want to use in your binder, then purchase that many dividers. (Just like what we used in school.) I have seen people saying that they think the fewer categories you have the better, but I completely disagree. I have my binder divided into 35 sections (which I will list at the bottom of this page) and I must say that I think the more categories you have the better. If you run into an unadvertised sale on toothpaste at Kroger, it’s much easier to flip to your “Dental” or “Teeth Stuff” category and scan 2 pages than it is to flip to your “Toiletries” category and flip through 30 pages!
Now, what do you do with your binder once it is set up? (Keep in mind that this is strictly what works for me…you may find something completely different is best for you!)
When I print my list of what I plan to buy (usually from Southern Savers) I pull the coupons I plan to use. I keep a dozen or so empty pages at the front of my book, and I start filling them with the ones I will need. This way I don’t have to flip all over the book, what I need is right there in front of me. When I put the product into the cart, I will either pull that coupon out and put it in an envelope or pull it out and clip it to the page. This way I don’t get to the register and wonder if I have all of the coupons I need, and whether I forgot to get something. At the end of my shopping trip, if there is still a coupon in a sleeve, I know that either I forgot to pick something up or else the store was out of it.
2) Coupon Box – With this form of organization, you would clip your coupons and separate them into different labeled envelopes. The envelopes are then stored in a small plastic box, which sits in the child seat of the cart. I would highly recommend a box with a secure lid! This is a plastic box (preferably with a secure lid!) This probably works best if you are only clipping coupons for the products that you know you will use. If you are like me and clip everything, this would probably get out of control very quickly! (I clip everything because you never know what you can get free ~ and even if I can’t use it, someone can!
3) Coupon Insert Method – This is where you pull the inserts from the Sunday newspapers out and don’t cut them right away. You would write the date on the front of the insert and file it , usually in an expandable file folder. You could label files for the types of inserts they are (RP ~ Red Plum, SS ~ Smart Source, P&G ~ Proctor & Gamble, etc…)
What do you do after you file your inserts away? Well, typically blogs/coupon information sites will tell you where to find a coupon that you need to complete a deal. It may say “Use the .50/1 Crest Coupon ~ 1/2 SS”…so you know to go to your Smart Source file and pull the one out that you got on 1/2 and clip your coupon. You can then put it in an envelope, a coupon box or one of those small coupon billfolds some people carry. A lot of people swear by this method. My only problem with this method is this…if you are only taking the coupons that you plan to use to the store, you can miss out on a whole bunch of great, unadvertised deals! When you see Crest at Kroger for .99 and your 1.00 coupons are at home, it doesn’t do you any good! That said, if you don’t have time to clip all of the coupons when you get them, this is a really good way to stay organized and still get really great deals
Again, these are just a few of the different ways that people organize their coupons…maybe one of these will work for you, or maybe a combination of these three will work for you! It’s all trial and error, but hopefully this will give you a little insight into the best way to get organized so you can start saving big $$!
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These are the categories I use in my coupon binder:
1) Razors
2) Teeth Stuff
3) Deodorant
4) Makeup
5) Lotion
6) Bodywash & Soap
7) Cleansers, Moisturizers, Skin Care
8) Fem. Hygeine
9) Hair Stuff
10) Baby Stuff
11) Vitamins
12) Medicines
13) 1st Aid
14) Air Fresheners
15) Candy
16) Dish Soap
17) Kitchen Cleaners
18) Bathroom Cleaners
19) Etc. Cleaners
20) Clothes Washing
21) Etc. Drug Store Items
22) Paper Products
23) Pet
24) Salty Snacks
25) Sweet snacks
26) Drinks
27) Cereal
28) Pasta/Cans/Etc
29) Condiments
30) Refrigerated Section
31) Baking
32) Ice Cream
33) Frozen Pizza
34) Frozen Foods
35) Dairy
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