One of the most confusing parts of couponing is what to do with you coupons. There are lots of ways to organize your coupons. You can use a coupon envelope (they usuallly have them in the dollar bin at Target!), a recipe box, or whtever works for you. Here's how I organize mine:
1. I go through the Sunday ads and clip the coupons I know or am pretty sure I will use. I put these, along with my printed coupons, peelies, etc in my coupon binder (I use the Coupon Clutch, but any binder will do).
In the front I have a pencil pouch with scissors to cut out those last minute coupons, a pen, and a calculator
I have tabs to separate my coupons into categories, such as canned items, beverages, dairy, etc. I use baseball card album pages to display the coupons so I can see them. I try to make the item and expiration date visible. If I have two coupons for the same item, I will stack them in the same pocket, the better deal on top. If they are for the same amount, I stack them by expiration date.
In the back I have some page protectors to hold things such as copies of my rebates, or maybe a coupon booklet I haven't been able to cut up and put in the appropriate categories.
As I go through the store and find coupons I want to use with items, I pull them out and put them in the pencil pouch, or in my small coupon envelope.
2. I keep the rest of the insert for future deals that may arise. I write the date of the insert in Sharpie on the front, and flip thru and find the last expiration date of the coupon I would probably use, and write that on the front as well. This makes it easy to go through and clear out the inserts that are no longer valid. I then put them in an expandable folder, each month has it's own pocket, inserts are then filed in order by date.
Then when I see a good deal I look on the Coupon Database to see if there are any matching coupons, then I pull out the inserts and clip the appropriate coupons!
This saves my coupon binder from becoming to big and bulky.
3. I do have a small coupon envelope that I use for pre-planned quick trips. I'll go through the Target, Walmart, etc deals and pull the coupons I need and put them in the appropriate store slot. Then I don't have to carry a big bulky binder if I don't want to! I usually take my binder with me, but it's nice to be able to leave it in the car, or not have to dig through it in the middle of the store!
And that's how I organize my coupons! How do you organize yours?
0 comments:
Post a Comment