January 12, 2012

SWH4T$: Coupon Organization

Time again to link up! I'm starting the year off right by trying to save money, let me show you how!



1.) Follow your hostesses at Baby Shmizz and Sweet Stella's via GFC



2.) Link up a specific post that relates to money and time, your job, your business, couponing, anything that shows how you "work hard for your money".



3.) Post our button on your post




Have fun linking and finding new blogs to read!





















This post is a double whammy: I'm going to gush about couponing and organization all at the same time! YIPPEE!!!!!!!

Are you as excited as I am? Probably not, but I'm a dork like that :)



My sister Kellie is big into couponing too, and she has always been an organizational freak. She made herself a coupon binder, and then made me one for Christmas. I used to use an accordion file, which worked, but it was a pain in the arse to sift through all the coupons. Now, with my binder, they are all organized in clear baseball-card holders and I can see them all at first glance. This makes it so easy to see the expiration dates, purge what I don't need, and organize better by category.



Here is a tour of my new BFF, my coupon binder :)






My binder is a 1 inch 3-ring binder, and it has 8 tabs:


Household Items, Hair & Body/Meds, Baby, Grocery Items, Dairy/Refridgerated, Frozen Foods, Pet Supplies and Other (this is where I put my Target coupons, and other store-specific coupons.







Each divider page has a folder on it. I use these folders to hold my store flyers, along with a list of what I need, and the coupons I've pulled according to matchups with deals in the flyers. Then, when I get to the store, I have my list with my coupons, and the flyer if I need to refer to it, all in one place.







The inside front cover folder holds a small pad to write my list on, and coupons that I have yet to file. I also keep a pen clipped to the binder rings, and my CVS Green Bag Tag is hooked around one of the rings.







And, the piece de resistance, the coupon pages! Kellie put in a bunch of those clear baseball card holders, that are the perfect size for most coupons. If the coupon is a little big, I just fold it so I can see a bit of the product so I know what its for, but most importantly so the expiration date shows. I don't have them organized yet from first expiring to last expiring because I haven't figured out a way to do that without moving every coupon around when something expires so I don't have an empty space. However, with them organized like this, its very easy to scan for dates. I keep duplicates grouped together also.





So there you have it! That's my new way of organizing my coupons, and I'm so happy that Kellie made this for me, because its made my life a whole lot easier! A lot of people say they don't have time for couponing, but honestly, I spend maybe an hour a week total clipping, organizing and matching deals. I'll admit, in the beginning it took a lot longer, but once I found a system that worked for me, its gotten so much easier. I've heard many couponers say this before, but I really can't believe I didn't start this sooner. So far, its January 12th, and I've saved a total of $34! And I only coupon for things that we NEED and USE, so that's $34 that I would have spent anyway, but now thats $34 in my pocket :)





So, how do you organize your coupons? Any tips or tricks for us? Link up and share!





























1 comment:

Rebecca Nash said...

Oh My goodness..I love your coupon binger! I know what I'm creating tonight :D I already have an extra binder and dividers...no I just need folders etc. I think I might be able to make due with business card holders hmmm...new project!

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