Organizing Your Coupons

Some Great Information from A Full Cup!

Are you buried in coupons? Do coupons expire before you can use them simply because you’re unable to locate them? Do you get frustrated when you’re shopping and remember that you have a coupon for an item that’s on sale and you can’t find it?

Well if you’ve experienced any of these, here are some helpful organization ideas to help you take charge of your coupon madness.

Where can I keep all of my coupons?

• Recipe Box
• Three Ring Binder with baseball card holder inserts
• Accordian style File Folder with dividers
• Shoe Boxes
• Envelopes
• 4x6 photo albums
• Baby Wipe Box

Okay so how do I organize my coupons in these devices?

• Recipe Box - You’ll need divider cards for your recipe box. You can purchase index cards or simply make them yourself out of cardboard. These cards will represent different categories to sort your coupons. Everybody sorts their coupons differently so there is no universal rule. Here are some different ways to label your dividers:
  • Alphabetical by product name (GM, Kelloggs)
  • Alphabetical by item type (Cereal, Milk, Paper Towels
  • Alphabetical by General Category (Dairy, Meat, Paper)
  • Store Name (CVS, Target, Walgreens)
  • Expiration Date (this might work better if you only have a small amount of coupons)
  
  
• Three Ring binder with baseball card holder inserts - this device allows a lot of storage space for your coupons. Many people choose this method because its so easy to see your coupons. Again, categorize them however you seem fit. Many people will carry around a dry erase marker to write notes on the baseball card inserts while they’re shopping. Just a little bonus!
  
  
• Accordian style File Folder with dividers - this is probably the most popular way to organize your coupons. They come in all different sizes and colors. Again, you’ll need to choose categories that will make your shopping trips easy. In addition to simply choosing your categories some people go the extra step and have a folder for each store that they shop. It really depends on the number of coupons that you need to organize. Another option is to have an accordian file for “grocery items” and another for “health and beauty items”.
  
  
• Shoe Boxes - you can use this method as you would the recipe box method.
  
  
• Envelopes - this method works well if you don’t have a lot of coupons to organize. Some people choose general categories (dairy, meat, paper) and some people choose to label their envelopes by stores (CVS, Target, Grocery Store).
  
  
• 4x6 photo albums - this method is similar to the baseball card insert method. You have clear holders to see your coupons easier. Again, sorting the coupons is based on your preference.
  
  
• Baby Wipe Box - you can use this method as you would the recipe box method.

Thanks to A Full Cup for this information!