Staying Organized

When I first started couponing, I didn’t realize the importance of organizing your coupons. Pretty soon, I had coupons all over my kitchen table, all over my car, at my computer desk, under the bed, everywhere! Organizing your coupons can make the experience a lot easier, quicker, and overall more enjoyable. The first step is to choose your preferred method: Binder Method or File-By-Date Method?

Binder Method:

Organizing all of your coupons by category into a (very large, heavy) binder tends to be for those who have more time up front and less time to shop. You will need a 5 inch binder (preferably expandable) and various baseball card holder inserts. Each week, you should clip all of your coupons and organize them into your binder by category. The easiest way to do this is to tear out and stack identical pages, staple the pages together, and cut them all at once. This method is preferred because when you are shopping and find an unexpected clearance item, the coupons are already with you. Cons to this method are: it is time consuming and you will have to clean out the expired coupons frequently. Remember, if you cut off the expiration date, barcode, or any other important information, the coupon is no longer valid.

File-By-Date Method:

Organizing your coupons into a filing system tends to be for those who have less time up front and more time to shop. You will need a filing cabinet or box, various hanging folders with tabs, and labels for the tabs. All you need to do each week is stack identical inserts, slip them into the folders, and label the folder with the insert name and date (RP 6/3/12). Also, it would be beneficial to label each insert with the date of the last expiring coupon for easy clean-up later on. When you are ready to shop, just pull out the inserts you need, clip, and go! This method is preferred because it is very fast, simple, and efficient. Cons to this method are: when an item is on clearance, you will have to go home and search for the coupon. When using this method, you will often need to use a coupon database to search for the insert name and date. Here is an exmaple of a great coupon database.