First, someone slap me! I am so tired and cranky today (well, and slight morning sickness, yay).
Second, there are numerous ways to organize your coupons, although; today I am going to show you the two ways I have tried and the one way that works for me. If you are like me and buy 3 – 4 newspapers every Sunday then I would definitely recommend some sort of organizing method. I start out by pulling all of the coupon inserts out and matching them up. For instance, say you have four Redplum inserts, so you take it apart and match all of the pages together for all four of them. Essentially, you are stacking all identical pages together so that you can cut the four pages together instead of individually. Once you have matched them all up and cut out your coupons, you can then organize by category.
This is what my table looks like after cutting up and organizing by category. When you organize by category it will be easier to find your coupons either before you go to the store or while you are at the store. I organize mine in several groups just because I like to be able to find things easier and faster.
Coupon Bible
Once I have them into the categories that I like them I put them in my "Coupon Bible"! The coupon bible is a three ring binder and baseball card holders.
* Look for Binders at Second Hand Stores. There are normally tons of binders at Thrift Stores- they usually have a weird logo on the front,
but you can’t beat the price!
* Stock up on your binder essentials during Back to School sales or Clearance Markdowns (once school has started)
* Shop Online and buy in bulk.
As you can see, I try to alphabetize mine on the bottom with page dividers and then once you are in a certain letter than I have them broken down into even more categories. If you are a little wary at first at how you might want to organize, then you should check out The Krazy Coupon Lady’s Coupon Binder Category Printable File. It’s FREE and it takes all the guess work out of making your binder. Plus, it’s really pretty!
I love this method, well because it works great for me. I am not a really organized person in other areas of my life, so I really like my coupons to be as organized as possible to make things smoother and faster. Some say this method takes longer than some of the others, but I do not mind because in the long run when I need a coupon then I turn right to the page and there it is. No rummaging through a bunch of envelopes and then paging through those coupons in the envelopes and finally finding the one coupon that I need.
One other thing that I do is pull my coupons from my binder before I go to the store. I do not like carrying the large coupon bible with me everywhere I go, plus the majority of the time I have a little munchkin in that front seat. I make my list of groceries and then pull my coupons for those items.
Coupon Caddy
Another way to organize coupons is through a coupon caddy. I think this method works for the simplicity of it. You cut your coupons, put them in their respective envelopes, bring it with you to the grocery store (because it is decently small), and then place it in the front seat. Your set and ready to go.
Other Suggestions
* 4×6 photo album
* small accordian folders that has 12 slots in it
* If you’re feeling really creative and have way too much time on your hands, you’d be amazed at what you could create with unused FoodSaver bags, an Xacto knife, and a 3-hole punch. Use your Food Saver to press lines across your bag to create the size pockets you want, and use the knife to carefully cut across the top of the pockets to open up slots for inserting coupons. You might want to seal a piece of cardboard or 3×5 card inside each pocket to create a cutting surface in between the bag layers to prevent cutting all the way through. You can make pockets to fit any size of coupons that you want, or make sheets to fit any size binder.
