Couponing 101: Organization and Storage

One of my readers emailed me some questions regarding couponing:

• How do you store them?
• Do you clip all coupons every week in the paper or just some?

First of all, great questions! I love getting y'all's emails and am happy to answer any questions that I can. I have been working on a "Couponing 101" series for a while now, so this question was the perfect opportunity to kick it off! I will tackle the storage question first, and post about clipping coupons next week.

There are many ways to organize coupons, and discovering what works for you is key to your success with couponing! Here are a few ideas:

• Accordian-style Coupon Organizer (see below)
• Box (plastic or even a shoe-box) with envelopes for each type of product, (see an example and explanation here)
• Binder with baseball card inserts (see below)
• Binder with clear page covers and entire coupon inserts or portable hanging file folder containing entire coupon inserts (see an example and explanation here)

When I began couponing, I used a small, accordian style organizer that can be purchased at Walmart (in fun colors!) for around $3. It has 13 dividers, so you can divide by month or category. If you only have a few coupons to keep track of, this might work for you. However, my stack of coupons quickly outgrew this method. I quickly tired of pulling out a huge pile of papers searching for a certain one. Plus, the coupons couldn't easily be seen/found, I would miss out on deals that I had coupons for! Here is what my first coupon organizer looked like:

The system that is working for me now is a zip-up binder with baseball card holder inserts. At my Walmart, the binders have been on sale for $7, and the inserts are $1 for a pack of 10. Since each insert has 9 slots, 1 pack of inserts will hold 90 coupons.

Once I had my binder and inserts, I could organize my coupons. Each of the 9 slots on each page contains 1 coupon. The inserts themselves are divided into into categories, such as: "Baby", "Cereal", "Dairy", or "Frozen". So on the "Baby" insert page, there are coupons for baby items such as baby food, diapers, wipes, etc. Here is what my coupon binder looks like now:

I like this method because:

• My binder is pink :)
• The zipper binder insures that coupons do not fall out
• It isn't too cumbersome to carry into stores
• Wherever I am, I can quickly locate the coupon I am looking for
• Finding and purging expired coupons is a breeze

It's easy to become overwhelmed by a growing stack of coupons (trust me, I know from experience!). Once you establish a system for your coupons, it will be much simpler to add new ones, find the ones you need, and get rid of those that have expired. The time you initially spend organizing will be compensated for by the time, money, and sanity you will save later on. Just find out what works best for you and then do it!

I'd love to hear how y'all deal with your coupons. Check back next week for my post "Couponing 101: Coupon Clipping" (or not clipping...)!