Now What?

Like a mad-woman (or man), you have swiped every coupon within your sight!  You've grabbed coupons from Sunday papers, your doctor's office, your co-worker, your Aunt Lucille, you've used a whole cartridge of printer ink, and you've loaded the postman (or woman) down with envelopes of coupons from companies.  Now What?

There are several options and systems available for coupon organization and storage.  My best advice is that you have to find the system that works for you.  Sometimes, it is a combination of systems that works best.  Here are some ideas:

1.  Accordion file:  These are the types of files that you stick in your purse or carry in the console of your car.  The advantage to these is that you always have them with you unless your teenager takes your car or mistakes your coupon file for your wallet!
 
2.  Envelopes:  Having individual envelopes for grocery categories can work as well.  Again, the advantage is that envelopes slip well into a purse or bag.
 
3.  Be a non-clipper:  (At least initially)  Save your whole inserts and file in a file drawer or box.  The advantage here is that a lot of coupon bloggers reference coupons by the date that they came in your Sunday paper.  With this, though, you still have to have a system for organizing other coupons that you acquire outside of the newspaper.
 
4.  Binder:  Use a binder with dividers and baseball card pages.  The dividers are labeled by grocery category.  Coupons are held in baseball card pages which can be purchased inexpensively at places like Walmart or Target.   This works well for someone who is a 'visual' person. 

I will tell you that I have used all of these systems and I am a VERY visual person.  My system is a combination of a binder and several envelopes.

 I do suggest that you use a zippered binder.  You certainly don't want to drop a binder full of coupons!  The envelopes that I use were purchased last year for $1.00 or less at one of the office supply stores.  They are the perfect size for your coupons, store loyalty card, and shopping list.  My envelopes are labeled by store (ie CVS, Harris Teeter, Walgreens, etc) 

I recently found that it was easier for me to pull the coupons from my binder and only use an envelop when going into the store.  I sometimes found myself overwhelmed by all of the coupons in my binder or straying from my intended purchase.  By doing this, I believe that I have saved money.  Sometimes, I will take my binder in the grocery store, but rarely.  Do I miss a deal?  Yep, sometimes, but deals come around all the time!

My binder includes a couple of pockets for other things like store coupons books, etc.  I also keep a couple of paperclips in my binder to help secure coupons while I am shopping.  PLEASE:  DO NOT FAIL TO PUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS AND/OR PHONE NUMBER SOMEWHERE IN YOUR BINDER!  Coupons are money and should be treated as such!  I've never misplaced my binder, but, if I did, I would be sick!

 

 

I purchased a set of inserts pre-made by a local coupon celebrity.  I have continued to use them for quite sometime, but intend to change them soon to tailor them more to my shopping habits and thought processes

 

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Finally, this is the corner of my desk nook at home.  I purchased inexpensive cork squares at Walmart.  I put things here like gift cards, store coupons, and special reminders that need my attention sooner than later.  Again, I'm a visual person and need to see something for it to click!

 

Good luck in finding your system!