Now that you know where to find coupons, you probably have a nice stack that’s growing. It’s important that you find an organizational method that works for you, the way you shop, and the number of coupons you generally keep.
When I first began couponing, I just threw all my coupons in a big envelope. I quickly found that wasn’t very practical, and it was taking me too much time to find the coupons I wanted to use while in the grocery store. So I began using multiple envelopes. This worked just fine until I accumulated even more coupons.
At that point, I knew it was time to move onto another system.
I began using an index box system for several months. I just found a recipe box, made tab dividers throughout the box, and labeled the tabs according the different aisles in the grocery store. I also had tabs at the front of the box for specific stores. If I knew I would be using a coupon at CVS, for example, I would move it from its grocery aisle tab to the CVS tab. This system worked like a charm at the time.
The index box system may be great for new couponers with a fairly limited number of coupons. As it’s just a small box, you can’t use this system if you plan to collect and carry a lot of coupons. But I believe it would work wonderfully for the average couponer. As I collected more coupons, however, I found that I outgrew my box, and needed something else with a bit more room.
Thankfully, a few months ago, my husband bought me a Couponizer. While it was initially against my frugal principles to spend money on something that is supposed to be saving me money, I have actually really enjoyed this organizer. Buying it saved me quite a bit of time making one (and time is money, right?) and I have found the Couponizer to be very sturdy.
Whether you chose to buy an organizer like the Couponizer, or make one of your own, there are a few important guidelines I would suggest following for your coupon organization.
First, I would recommend organizing your coupons by the different grocery store sections. So if you’re shopping the cereal aisle, all you have to do is flip to the cereal section to find your coupons.
From the picture, you can see my “household maintenance” and “meat/produce” sections. (I’ve made some of my own changes to the Couponizer just for my ease of use, as you can see.) For example, if I get a coupon for Dole salad kits, the coupon goes right into the produce section.
Then I would recommend somehow organizing the sections in a way that’s easy to remember. If you shop at only one grocery store, perhaps you would want to order your coupon sections by the aisle layout of that particular store. I have personally found alphabetical order to be most helpful, as I shop at numerous stores with many different layouts. If you flip through my Couponizer, you will see a few coupon sections for specific stores I shop, followed by coupon divisions for baby, baking, beverages, bread, breakfast, canned goods, condiments, etc. This system (implemented in my Couponizer) works for me. It would be easy to replicate in any homemade system as well.
Coupon organizing is an ever evolving system, I’ve found. The Couponizer works great for me right now, but might something new be necessary in the future?
Perhaps.
Shellie at Saving With Shellie has some more ideas on how to organize your coupons, such as the Binder Method and the Whole Insert Filing Method.
If you are new to couponing, I encourage you to create a system that works well for you. It may take a couple of attempts to find something that suits you. Be creative! And expect the system you use at first to change as you see the need based on your couponing and shopping habits.
I’ve been couponing for about two years now. I’m using the whole insert method. We use “milk crates” purchased at Staples and plain old manilla and file folders. I put the date on the file folders and then the name of the insert on each manilla folder. My only problem was when to pull out the expired ones. I found a site in a google search called Coupon Cleanout (www.CouponCleanout.com) and its been very helpful in that last respect. I select my state and it shows me what inserts are safe to pull out. Thought I’d pass it along for any other “whole insert” filers.
Thanks for the tip!
I started couponing a few months ago and I decided to combine different methods to better suit my needs. I used the binder method, the file method and the envelope method. On Sundays I take an hour or two to organize my coupons and to prepare my shopping trips. I sort through my inserts, clip the coupons I know I’m going to use and file them in my coupon binder by categories (baby, cleaning, oral care, etc). Then I just file the rest of the whole insert in an expandable folder by date. Finally I use an expandable envelope to organize my shopping trips by stores. It might sound a lot but it’s actually pretty simple.
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