So now you’ve got your coupons cut out, but what the heck do you do with them all? You have to organize them! Somehow, you don’t save as much money when the coupons are sitting in the bottom of your purse, gathering lint, lollipop sticks, and baby socks! (oh, is that just me?? oops!)
There are a myriad of ways to organize your coupons, and you need to find a way that works for you, not use someone else’s method just because that’s what you saw them do. If your coupons are not easily accessible to you, and easy for you to use, you’re not going to keep up with them, and you’ll quit couponing before you’ve even had a chance to really begin.
You can get a small, accordion-style organizer at your local dollar store, and that may work for you in the beginning. I didn’t like this method all that much, mostly because I grew out of it quite quickly, and I HATED thumbing through all the coupons in the store.
Others use a recipe box-type holder, with dividers for each category. Again, more thumbing through, not for me. Besides, I have four children! I can imagine how many times that box would be dumped all over the place!
Some people simply save the coupon inserts, maybe filed by date, and clip coupons as they need them for their shopping. I don’t like this method, because I don’t want to have to flip through them all the time, and I won’t have my coupons with me at the ready, should I see an awesome deal at a store.
I use a binder to file my coupons. Her name is Large Marge. We are in a relationship. Seriously, though, I have the coupons arranged alphabetically by manufacturer name. Each coupon resides in a trading card holder, 9 to a sheet. These can be found pretty inexpensively at your local Target. I just flip to the letter, pull out the coupon, and cha-ching! I’m saving money, baby!
The moral of the story is this; find a way that works for YOU! After all, you’re the person who will be using the coupons! Trust me, I went through several systems before I settled upon one that worked for me. You can take a look at Large Marge here!
Tags: 7, binder method, coupon organization, Couponing 101, lesson 2
May 13th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Keep them coming. I love it. Nice binder by the way.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
[...] as much as I usually do, I guess I was in a little bit of a shopping slump. But I have my binder, Large Marge, all cleaned out, the coupons expiring in May ready to get sent overseas, and plenty of open slots [...]