HOW TO ORGANIZE COUPONS – MY DIY COUPON ORGANIZER SYSTEM

WOW, I can’t believe I waited so long to implement my new Coupon Organizing System! So many have you have shared your struggles with finding a Coupon Binder that works amidst all the various ways to keep your coupons in one spot and so did I ! Naturally, the most frequently asked question about Couponing that we get is How To Organize Coupons.

Yes, it’s my very own DIY Coupon Organizer and if you take my tips and use what works for you, I’m sure you too can come up with something for yourself that can be very inexpensively created and work wonders to help you organize your coupons with less time invested!

You’ve been asking me this for quite a while, and I’ve finally gotten my own DIY Coupon organizer system finished enough to share with you! (Although I’ve implemented it for awhile now and it’s gone so smoothly!)

The number one complaint is about printing your coupons and then having a stack of printed pages to pile up that you will need to cut and then put into your binder or whatever system you are using.

Here is a shot at my OLD “coupon binder”, which I made from CD holder. The pages held CD’s so they were larger than the 9 pocket baseball card style pages. That was a definate improvement, but it still didn’t fix my problems with keeping the Q’s cut and filed, and readily available without a major hunt.

THE OLD COUPON BINDER MADE WITH A 4 POCKET CD HOLDER

I have made this constant task so much easier! In my new system, I can quickly file any printed page without having to cut or clip, and wait until I’m preparing my shopping list and matching up my coupons before I cut them out! This has saved me a lot of time! And better than that….I’ve had NO huge pile of coupons at my printer that I needed to sort and file or clip and cut ! Whew, that helps me out in the “procrastination” department, as I always looked at that pile and told myself I’d do it “later”! Apparently, from your emails and FB posts, so have you!

I have to thank my years of working in offices for this one. It really was a no-brainer. We are on the constant hunt for this perfect coupon filing system, when a “filing system” has existed forever for most everything! As I’ve mentioned before, if you’re serious about saving your family money, you have to view your couponing efforts as a business! And so, naturally, a business “Files” all things that are necessary to do business. If you’ve ever worked in an office (before major technology and transferring customer files,etc. into a computer database) then you recall the constant locating and grabbing a file for the task at hand.

So let’s just get back to basics! Why make it so complicated? And that’s what I’ve done and it is already paying off for me! ( You saw my .47cent and .68cent CVS and RITEAID trips this week! ) I account the ease of organizing this weeks coupon matchups and sales to my new “Frugal Fabulous Filing System” 🙂

At the moment, it is bare bones! Aside from my color choice of pink files and a black folder for them, there has been no “glamour” added. It is exactly what it needs to be. Sitting right on top of your desk or by your printer, it is always open and only takes a quick glance to see what folder to place the printed paper in. It’s a way to quickly file your coupons when you print them, so they don’t pile up, and then quickly grab them when you get ready to head to the stores. Only cut them as you need, while you are already organizing your trip & savings! It really is that simple!

One more quick tip and explanation! More will follow in a later post:

I’ve posted before that I have a distinct way of organizing my trips based on the store coupons & matchups I do at home. I’m going to do another full post on that ( I did it once about CVS and RITEAID) But basically, I have all the Q’s filed by categories in files. I also have folders for specific stores. I pull the store I’m going to go to, print my list from that stores site/weekly circular, match my coupons to sales and then it all remains in that stores folder. I take that one folder into the store with me that already has my shopping list printed, with my actual pricing info (so no surprises at the register!) and all my coupons! It has been working very well for me! I used to do take my whole binder and before that my “organizer” and I just got too aggrivated hunting through them while in the store. This simplifiles it for me- list, coupons…get what you came for snag your savings and get out, with no extras to hunt through!

Stay tuned and check back soon, as I will be posting in detail all of the “How-to” Suggestions and tips to start your own!

UPDATE: I made my filing system even greater by making it portable! The file folder size is a perfect fit for most canvas messenger type tote bags – as you can see above! I now REALLY LOVE my new system and have been using it for over a year!

You can see Me & My New Coupon Organizer IN ACTION here in my RiteAid Freebie Trip below: