Coupon Organization Methods: Part 1 of 4

There are 4 types of Coupon Organization methods in which I am going to outline for you over the days ahead. There are probably a hundred ways to organize them, but these are the one's I've tried and can speak from experience about.

The Coupon Binder - This is basically a 3 ring binder (the zipper one's work best, in case they tip over) with baseball card holders inside. The initial cost for the supplies could be rather expensive, but if you look around or wait for the school year to begin, this shouldn't cost very much at all.

You will need to determine how many categories you will need, and buy the corresponding number of baseball card holders. If you would like to separate the different types of coupons you have, then you will need a set of dividers.

Once you have your binder, card holders and dividers, it's time to set it up. Begin by deciding how your want the flow of your binder to be. Do you want it laid out as your most frequented grocery store? Or do you want it alphabetical? Once you decide, it’s time to start loading your coupons into the card holders.

Some people use 1 slot for each coupon, or a different product on front and back and some people use the slots to hold similar items. The point of using this method is to be able to easily see what coupons you have and be able to quickly locate them.

A lot of times, the zippered binders have some really great compartments on the inside front panel. This area is great for storing the current grocery circulars, a pair of scissors, a pen, your shopping lists and any stores coupon policy you feel would be good to have on hand.

I have used this method, and I have used the binder method on a smaller scale as well (think day planner size).

*They worked great while I was using them, but if I slacked off any bit, my binder seemed out of control and full of expired coupons.

*This method worked quite well for someone like me who clips almost every coupon, but also became very bulky and heavy.

*I did not like was how massive it was to manipulate in the front seat of the grocery cart, I couldn't imagine trying to do that with a child up there too!

*My other problem with this method was that many of the coupons I get won't fit into those slots without having to be folded up so many times I couldn't tell what the coupon was for anymore.

*For other people this method works like a charm.

*They can see exactly what they have and all of the multiples of the same coupon are right there in the same pocket.

*If you can continually keep your binder organized, everything will stay right in its place and be easy to clean out any expired ones.

Overall, this method worked pretty well for me during the time that I used it often, kept it organized and actually put everything in the pockets!!

Stay tuned for the next installment of this series: The File System