Coupon Organization Methods

Me and my big mouth… er fingers.

I was soooooo darned proud of myself for clipping, sorting and filing my coupons. And I foolishly bragged about it! “Why was that foolish?” you might ask. Well, I received an email requesting that I post pictures of my organizational system!

Oy!

It seems my post last year was not good enough. Yeah, yeah, so those are stockpile pictures in a “Coupon Organization” post. Details, details.

I’ve had many organizational systems over the years. I still have remnants of them in the house. These are pictures of my coupon organization systems, past and present. I have no idea what the future holds.

Binder Method

I actually use two binders when using this method in full swing. The red binder is my non-food binder. I have a black binder (not shown) for food products. Both these binders zipper. This is an absolute must to prevent spills when dropped. There are tabs separating the different categories. The sheets are all 8″ x11″ with varying slot sizes. While the baseball card holders are the cheapest, I find them the most useless for organizing coupons. So few coupons are the size of those teeny-tiny slots. I like the old floppy disc sheets the best, the three slot picture holders are second best. I do utilize both sides of the sheet slots. In the bottom right hand corner of the top picture you will notice the blue clip that attaches it to the cart so no one can easily walk away with the binder in-store.

Whole Insert Method

This was my latest lazy coupon organization system. It was GREAT for filing. No clipping and sorting, you just plop whole inserts into the hanging folders and you are done. And the folders are reusable. Just cross out the date of the expired inserts, and write a new date on the folder.

This is by far the worst system to prepare for Sunday Morning Shopping. Saturday evening is a lot of clipping and sorting to prepare.

Time wise, I definitely spend less on coupon clipping and sorting with this method. However, the binder method means never having to miss a clearance deal because the coupons are right there with you in the store! And if super doubles or triples happen, the binder method is the way to go. Just load the binder in your cart and you are set.

Zip Lock Bag Method

Ok so this really isn’t tried and true a method. it is more like an “Ann Method”. I have done this on occasion when I am too lazy to load the binder, but I clipped and sorted that week’s inserts. As a matter of fact, I did this last week when I clipped all those coupons for the RAOK. For my purposes these are a great way to keep coupons I do not want to carry with me at all times, but that I might use, together in one spot.

All I do is put the sorted and clipped coupons in an envelope and write the insert date on the front. I will use my coupon insert list to locate the coupon week necessary if I ever find a deal that corresponds to these clipped coupons.

Coupon Envelope

When I used one binder I would take it into the store with me all the time. It elicited a lot of comments, almost 100% of which were from men. (This always surprised me.) Store management also used to look at me until they saw me with the binder a few times. If you are one that does not like undue attention, you may want to do what I did after I obtained a second binder and could not manage two binders in the cart.

I got a coupon envelope.

I would write up a list of sales, match the coupons and pull them from the binder. They all went into the envelope. The negative, of course, is that I do not have the coupons to match to any unadvertised sale or clearance merchandise when I am in the store. I’d have to run back to the car for my binder, or make a second trip into the store.

I really rely on the envelope now because it not only contains coupons to match to sales, but the coupons for the items I “think” might result in a good deals or that I would want to utilize if I can across an unadvertised sale or clearance merchandise. You would be surprised how well this has worked for me over the years. Now granted I have been at this a long time so I have an idea what might match together as good deals. I’m not certain how well this would work for someone just starting out.

And those are pretty much the main coupon organization methods I have used over the years.

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