How to Organize Coupons

by Grant Lewis
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If you are new to “couponing” and are trying to increase your knowledge of the topic, this article is for you. While there are many ways to go about organizing your coupon collections, we’re going to focus on the following 2 systems as they have proven to be effective and easy to maintain.

Coupon Binder System (Requires Clipping of Coupons)

The first method we want to discuss is using coupon binders or some sort of coupon collector. Now this is simple, doesn’t require much effort and you probably have most of the necessary items at your home. If not, they’re inexpensive and can be obtained at your nearest CVS, Walgreens, Wal-mart, or similar retail establishments. The materials we suggest are a 2 in. plastic binder, plastic pocket dividers, plastic trading card sleeves to hold your newspaper coupons, page protectors for housing online coupons, and a sharpie of any color. Once you have these things in order the rest is all down hill. Then you will want to label your dividers with main categories like Chicken, Fish, Breakfast, healthy, protein, low fat, etc. Next, label plastic sleeves with sub categories. Then simply clip the coupons you want to keep and insert them into the appropriate category or sleeve within your binder or collector.

By building and maintaining a binder system you will basically provide yourself with unlimited savings all while being organized. If you are currently couponing on a mass level or plan on it, this will help alleviate most of your frustrations and uncertainties.

Clipless Collecting Method (No Clipping or Cutting)

The next option would be the clipless insertion method, which ultimately means you are not actually clipping any coupons at all. This is at times the preferred method as it requires the least amount of effort in collecting and tracking your coupons. For this method the materials you need include a file folder storage box, folders of your choice, and a sharpie of your choice. It would be to your benefit to get a large storage box and large folders because again, you will not be cutting these particular coupons out, rather you will be placing them whole into your folders or files so the larger they are the better.

Every weekend when you get a new paper, label a new folder and keep the weekend’s coupons in it. This way you know which coupons are in which folder and when they expire. It helps to label your coupons by date too. If you do this correctly, when you need a specific coupon you will know exactly where to look within your file and will already have the expiration date marked by your sharpie. Hopefully this helps you on your quest for collecting, storing, organizing, and utilizing coupons.