Organizing Your Coupons

BINDERS:



There are different methods of organizing coupons. Many manufacturers now are making coupon holders and sorters. These tend to be on the small side and are fine for those who want to use the occasional coupons. You can also pick up any size of three ring binders at walmart or just about anywhere else. These work too but you have to be careful not to accidentally grab it upside down or papers will fall out. What I use is a 3 ring binder that zips shut. It has an outside pocket to store my stores rewards program cards in (will explain more about these later) and a pocket inside for my pens my shopping list and my scissors.



SORTERS:



I personally use baseball card holders to keep my coupons sorted out. You can put the matching ones facing out and another set in the back facing the other way so that your binder literally becomes a book that you can flip through. There are 9 slots to a page and so each page can hold 18 sets of coupons. They come with 3 holes in the edge already which makes it easy to slip into the Binder. Here is a link to the ones that I use, but I bought mine at a baseball store. These are a little bit more expensive than the others but they are built sturdier and will last longer than the cheaper ones do.

PAGE DIVIDERS:

Simple packs of page dividers that you can write on and catagorize your coupons in your binder under work great. I have tried the ones where you insert the paper with the heading into it and the paper falls out too fast and then you have to remember what that catagory was....not fun in the store with kids lol. Depending on how many sections you break your coupons down into will determine how many packs you have to purchase. They come in packs up to 8 normally. I will say that the more catagories you break your coupons up into the harder it can get to put one in the "right catagory". Do not try to alphabetize your coupons....this will lead to misery and a lot more work than can be imagined. I do have my main catagories in the binder alphabetized to make finding that section of coupons easier, if I have mine open to fridge and need something from freezer i flip up one but if i need something from "baby" i know to flip towards the front.

STORE COUPONS :

Stores like Food Lion, CVS, Kmart and Kroger are really good about giving you coupons back with your receipts. I tried to keep them with my normal coupons until I found myself trying to use them at the wrong store because I wasn't paying attention. Now they sit in a baseball sleeve in the very front of my binder before my sections even begin. This way at the beginning of the trip I can see if I have any good store coupons that need to be used or that I can pare up with a manufacturers coupon.

That is all for now, this post took longer than I thought it would and was to have been up while it was still yesterday :) I am off for now, and Lord willing will post more today. It all depends on what my husband has planned for our anniversary. Happy 5 year anniversary baby.