Couponing for Beginners-Volume Seven (Organizing your coupons)

People have different ways to organize their coupons. Some prefer coupon binders, some prefer to use envelopes, and some prefer to use accordion style organizers.

I began with an accordion organizer. I labeled the tabs with different food categories, and personal care categories (Refrigerated, Toilet Paper, Pets, Etc.) and sorted my coupons into the appropriate folders. After awhile though, I found that I had too many coupons for it to be efficient to sort through them in the grocery store. So then I tried the binder idea. I decided to try a small binder (if you want your binder to be efficient, be sure to invest in a big one). I found this didn't help as much as I thought it would. So I decided that I would put all my coupons in the binder and plan my shopping trips. Then, when I have a trip planned, I pull out all the coupons I will need and I put them in my little organizer based on the store I am going to.

Now, this is most efficient when I am going somewhere like Target, where I can look at the ad and see pretty much everything that is on sale. When I go grocery shopping, I have to take my binder and my smaller organizer along, because I can't see everything that is on sale in the ad. Then when we get there, if I see something that I could pair with a coupon for a great deal that I didn't plan on buying, I can filter through my coupons in the binder and pull out the coupon I have for that product. It's just what I have found works for me. Some people keep their coupons in a box and pull out the ones they need and separate them into envelopes and take them to the store with them.

You will find as you go, that you will create your own organization for your coupons. Eventually you will probably be able to keep a bit of a mental inventory of your coupons. Again, it's all about what works for you, and what you can do to help yourself figure everything out. :)