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I have had several people ask me what I do to organize my coupons. I am going to share with you what I do, and I have also asked my friend Nicole to share what she does. So, between the two of us, I hope you can collect some ideas that will work for you.
I am the type of person that likes to have my coupons with me at all times. I am afraid I will find a great clearance deal at Target, and I will need my coupons. My coupons even went with me on vacation to Disneyland. I knew I would have to buy groceries while I was there, I didn’t want to have to pay full price. I don’t have a list of all the coupons I have, I just go by memory. If I see an item on sale, I can usually remember if I have a coupon for that item or not.
Here is what I keep my coupons in. I used to only have one, but once I got too many coupons, it was hard to find the coupons I was looking for. So, I have two, one for food items and another one for health & beauty aids & cleaning supplies. I keep both of these in my purse, so they are always with me. One was purchased at Fred Meyer and the other at Walmart, they run around $4. I love that they have the elastic closure.
This is the food one, I have each section labeled so it is easy to find exactly what I am looking for.
When I am planning a trip to the store, I make out my list at home, find the coupons that coordinate with what is on sale and I put them in the very front of the organizer. This way, when I get to the store everything I need is all in one place.
Here is a closer look at the HBA & cleaning organizer. I have things broken up into: Hair, Dental, Deodorant, Soap, 1st Aid/Meds, Make-up/Shaving, Misc. HBA, Dishes, Laundry, Cleaning, Paper Product, & Store Coupons. It is much easier to find things since I separated them into categories. I used to have all my HBA under one tab.
In the very front of this organizer I put all the really good coupons I want to make sure I don’t forget to use. These are FREE coupons, or coupons that I know the product will be nearly FREE after the coupon.
When I cut my coupons, if I don’t have time to organize them right away, I put them in the very back of one of the organizers. I spend a lot of my time in school parking lots waiting for my kids to get out of their school activities. I use this time to organize my coupons instead of just sitting there waiting.
https://mrsascouponorganizer.com/
She recommends a binder with a zipper, so if you accidentally drop it, all of your coupons don’t go flying out. She has done that before, and it sounds like something I would do! I love this part – she keeps all of her shopping cards in the pockets in the front of the binder. She also puts any coupons that don’t fit into the baseball card holders into that big pocket. OOH! Look! Target coupons – my favorite.
Here is what the binder looks like on the inside.
This is a picture of all the coupons in the baseball card holders. She has colored tab dividers on the side, so she can easily find what section she wants. Nicole said she does the majority of her shopping at Walmart, so she organizes her coupons in the order of the layout of the Walmart store. Um, did I mention Nicole is organized? I never would have thought of that, but I love the idea.
Here is a close-up of the tabs and some coupons. Look, she has a baby section. Sniff, Sniff! I don’t have a need for that section anymore. Thanks so much for sharing Nicole. I love your system.
Thank you for this post! I love it! I hate clipping coupons and I tend to forget them or lose them so I quit using coupons all together. Your ideas helped me get organized again.
I don’t use the baseball card dividers. They take up way too much time. Instead I went to my local office supply store and bought plastic zippered pouches for 3 ring binders. They were 59 cents each. I have dividers for each category. Example: My Hygene divider has 4 pouches behind it. Feminine, Skincare, Haircare, and Oral care. I can clip my coupons and then separate them into each pouch. Such a time saver for me. And cheaper too. The baseball card dividers here are $5 per 3 pack. Happy couponing!
I started with one lil coupon pouch from the dollar store…one good trip in march to our local recycle bins told me I needed to go bigger…and get more organized…I tried the insert dating/separating thing…uhmmm..no..lol…trying to track down which insert to which date when the bins are hopping was impossible, and left me with cutting individual coupons…time consuming!! I went bigger…a once inch binder….hahahahah….yeah, uhmmm…no…that didn’t get it either..the more recycle bins I see around town, the worse it got…I received two nice BIG binders for mothers day…I have a food, and a dry-good….I have alphabet tabs in each, and use the baseball card layout…in the back of my food binder, I have a place for dog/cat foods (trying to help PAWS in our area this summer)…I still have the one inch binder, and I keep my extra dividers in it…I also keep my store coupons in it (yes, target is a good reason to do this)…I even have a section for all the stuff you see for fastfoods in your mailbox…many a free mcd’s breakfast my 3 kids and I have had..lol…I gather inserts for a week, since I know I will wind up with multiple everything, then have a seat, sort, and staple…cut and conquer…if I know there is a high dollar coupon that cant wait a week, well, you know….but I love to coupon…we wont be buying so many of our drygoods for quite some time..so much free stuff out there waiting for me and mine…and we have been able to donate to a local shelter hygiene kits for m/f…my daughter was real proud of that…this site has been helpful…good to see others doing what I do, and doing it well…time to clean out a binder! good luck all!