Coupon Organization

Half the battle of saving money with coupons is organization. Sure you clipped and printed all those deals, but now what? Some people choose to use a 3 ring binder with photo sleeve inserts, an expandable envelope or a professionally produced option like the couponizer .

Mary uses the traditional expandable envelope. Inside, coupons are categorized by baby, food, home, beauty, toys and misc. I also have separate spaces for store specific Qs (i.e.- CVS ECB, Walgreens RR and Target store coupons that can be stacked). Before leaving for the store, I check my price match-ups and pull the coupons I want to use. Then I use the pulled coupons as my "list" by putting them in the front pocket to cross reference while shopping. With 3 kids in tow I need to not be distracted by my coupons, so this works best for me now. Eventually when my mind is not being pulled in 3 different directions, I might try another format.

Kristy uses 2 three ring notebooks. One is dedicated to drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens. The other notebook is for groceries. In part I do this because there are certain coupons that I want to double and only grocery stores do that. Also, it's nice to only bring one smaller binder into the store instead of a larger one. The sleeves I use are intended for baseball cards. Collectors use them to keep their cards organized. I've found this to be the best way for me to keep coupons organized and useful. I had a smaller coupon folder for a while and I had a hard time seeing all of my coupons without pulling them out. This way they are all in full view. I also pull my intended coupons before I hit the stores but I also bring my binder just in case I find a sale in the store and have a coupon to match.

One added tip (and not all of us have this luxury): go to the grocery at a time when you are alone, not hungry and ready to concentrate. Hmm...is this possible in parenthood? A calm state of mind allows you to think through your purchases and not succumb to a tiny person's whining. I find that I spend less when I don't bring my kids or my husband for that matter!


How about you? Leave a comment. We would love to hear how you organize your Qs!

Don't forget to Check out the Coupons 101 page to learn more about the language of the couponista!