This week I’m going to focus on showing you what I’ve learned in the past year or so on my couponing journey… If you have any questions… please ask… it’s the easiest way to learn.
Lesson #1 How to organize your coupons…
When I started couponing about a year ago… I would clip every coupon available… and my dining room table looked like this:
Yikes!
It took me a while to realize if I actually wanted to use a coupon…
I’d have to know ahead of time I needed it so I could bring it into the store with me..
Plus… My house was a mess…
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After reading various online couponing sites I soon figured out I needed 2 things.
#1 A way to store all my coupon inserts.
#2 A Coupon Binder/Purse
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Here is what I do…
I store all my coupon inserts in page protectors…
I mark, date, and organize them with the most recent inserts at the front of the basket.
This way when I need a particular coupon… I know just where to look.
If you don’t have room to line up a bunch of baskets on your desk…
I would suggest you place them in stacking containers like this.
Simply date each file folder either by date or month.
Forget Prada, Channel and Louis Vuitton…
If you’re going to spend money on a purse… spend it on one of these.
I take my coupon binder/purse everywhere…
At first glance it looks like any other purse/tote…
But open it up…
and the magic begins…
This is what the inside of my coupon binder looks like…
In the front I have a notebook
And a pencil pouch where I store a calculator, scissors and pens.
The a few pages of plastic baseball card protector sleeves where I store my FREE coupons that are not related to any specific store.
Then a few pages with random gift cards and discount cards…
Then a few pages full of Restaurant.com certificates, Tippr, Living Social, and Groupon discount certificates/codes that I have bought online. (Make sure to circle the expiration dates).
(I will go into these particular websites in another post this week)
A few pages of local restaurants, and fast food (for the stinky boys) coupons…
Okay… then…
I have plastic page dividers set up for each store I shop regularly at…
Rite Aid…
Fred Meyer…
Albertsons…
Yada Yada Yada….
Behind each store marked page protector… is yet another set of baseball card sleeves…
These particular sleeves are filled with coupons I know I will be or will soon be using at a specific store.
Like for instance…
I happen to know there will be a free & money making deal on Afrin & Coricidin HBP products coming up at Rite Aid… so I simply printed the desired coupons, cut them out… and placed them a page protector behind the Rite Aid section in my binder.
I do this for EVERY STORE I shop at!
Then…
After my “Store Section” in my binder… I break it down again into grocery categories…
Cereal, Snacks, Dairy/Meat, Fruit/Veggies, Frozen, Toiletries ect…
And I fill the baseball sleeves with the corresponding coupons…
And… that… in a nutshell is how I organize my coupons.
Do you have any questions?
Leave me a comment and I’ll try to answer them.
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If you want to BUY a Coupon Binder like the one you see above…
Made by yours truly… MAVIS…
Then go HERE and pick out a bag matching your personality. {Sorry, I don’t make these anymore}
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