Organizing Your Coupons
Your Coupons are Piling Up! Now What?
There are many ways to compile and organize your coupons. I recommend trying a few methods to see what's best for you and your shopping habits! When I first started couponing, I went all out. I bought 2 large packs of baseball card holders, a huge binder, page separators, and page protectors. Looking back, I wish that I would have only bought half of that!
Baseball Card/Binder Method
Pros: It is easier to find a specific coupon while on the go
Cons: Requires more time clipping coupons weekly
What you'll need:
3-ring Binder- Personally, I have a 5 inch binder that zips all around. I can be a bit clumsy and if I drop my book, my coupons stay in place! When I first started, I used a cheap, small binder. I waited until school supplies went on clearance at Wal-mart and picked up the binder that I'm using now.
Baseball Card Holders- I found these a bit hard to find but I was finally able to find these at Target tucked away near a register. DO NOT buy business card protectors. I made this mistake and coupons do not fit properly and they have to go in sideways.
Money Protectors- I not really sure exactly what you call these. They are used to protect a collector's paper money. A friend of my husband is a collector and gave me a pack a few years back. These particular ones have 3 pouches per page and fit in a 3-ring binder. These are perfect for printable coupons or coupons longer than normal. (Note: There are some protectors sold that do not fit in a 3-ring binder and are for individual pieces of paper. These are not the ones you want.)
Page Dividers: These, as well as the money protectors, are completely optional. Dividers help you stay organized by dividing your baseball card holder into sections.
Putting it all together:
First, label your page dividers. These is completely up to you but some of the basic categories are frozen foods, canned goods, baking, cleaning supplies, paper products, medicine and personal supplies. Experiment over your first few months with what sort of labeling works for you. You may even find that organizing by a certain store's isle set-up works best for you!
Second, get to clipping! You'll want to at least clip the coupons you know that you will use and high value coupons. If you are going with this method, I recommend clipping all of the Sunday insert coupons. You never know when you'll run into a deal or clearance sale.
Now that you have your binder labeled and your coupons clipped, start putting sets of coupons in each section of your baseball card holders. Be sure you are putting the coupons that are closest to the expiration date in the front of each section.
Upkeep:
Each week, you will need to clip your Sunday inserts and organize them in your binder. Although this can be time consuming, it can save time when preparing for a shopping trip or when you find a unadvertised sale. At the end of the month, be sure to do a quickly look through and remove any coupons that have expired.
Tips When Using This Method:
Don't throw away left over inserts! If you clip only the coupons you think you will use, be sure to save the inserts with any left over coupons. You never know when you will come across an unpassable deal!
Paper Protector/Binder Method
Pros: Less time clipping coupons that will never be used, cheaper start-up
Cons: More time spent preparing for shopping & awkward isle clipping
What You'll Need:
3-ring Binder: Just like above, you'll need a binder big enough to accommodate your coupon stockpile! However, if you choose this method, you will need a very large (4-5+ inch) binder as inserts take up more space.
Page Protectors: These are easily found in many stores like Target, Wal-mart or Staples. You may even find them on sale during back-to-school sales.
Baseball card holders/Money Protectors: These are completely optional with this method but you may want a few to hold any loose coupons.
Putting It All Together:
Start by sorting the Sunday inserts that you may have by date. Don't worry if you only have a week or two! Your binder will fill before you know it! Insert dates can be found in small print on the outside fold. You will want to take a pen and write the date on the outside of your inserts. This will make it extremely easy to flip through and find the correct date. The organization after this point is completely up to you! If you don't have that many inserts for each week, you can put each week in a protector. If you're collecting more than 4 inserts each week, you may want to have the Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G sorted by type
and date. You will use 2-3 protectors per week but this will lessen the weight on each protector which in turn, will preserve their lifetime.
Upkeep:
Each week, date and organize your inserts. Before each shopping trip, search an online coupon database or look for coupon match-ups for your particular store. Then, simply, go to the date and clip your coupons! I also recommend keeping your inserts for at least 2-3 months. You never know when you'll need a coupon from October in January!
Tips When Using This Method:
If you plan on carrying your binder with you to the store, keep a pair of scissors with you just in case you find an unadvertised deal or clearance sale. You may also want to have a phone with internet connection with you in order to search an online coupon database for coupons to match these items.
Combining The Above Methods
This is my prefered method of organizing my coupons. Although I do not clip each Sunday insert, I do come across a lot of coupons that are not in an insert. These can be from peelies, blinkies, coupons by mail, or catalinas. I organize each week's inserts by date and type. These go in paper protectors in the back of my binder. When I come across any loose coupons, I put them in either baseball card holders or paper currency holders which are organized with dividers at the front of my binder.
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