In last night’s LIVE webcast I mentioned I’d create a post today for bloggers to link any posts they have related to the topic of coupon organization! I think it would be great to swap ideas. In honor of the occasion, I set up a Mr. Linky!
The other point I mentioned during the webcast was that you can donate your expired coupons to overseas military. They are allowed to use the coupons for 6 months past the expiration date. In order to maximize the effectiveness of this program, do send the coupons over as quickly as possible. To learn more or sign up for the program, visit Overseas Coupon Program. Remember, ONLY overseas military can use the coupons past expiration! Do not try this at home!
And in case you missed it, you can view my 30-minute recorded webcast on Organizing your Coupons! Bloggers…link away! And if you don’t have a blog, feel free to share in the comment section what you’re doing that’s working for you.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Great Idea! I love new ideas of how people keep there coupons organized!
Great idea! I always love seeing what works for other people!
I can’t wait to visit everyone that links up and see what they do!
Great linkup! Always fun to see what everyone’s doing – though most people are as sold out on their method as I am! Can’t imagine doing it another way.
When I first stared couponing in April I tried to go the cheapie route and just use plastic 8×10 sleeves but coupons were sliding everywhere. Then I sliced the plastic sleeves and taped them so that I had 2 pockets to slide coupons in but I found I needed way too many to sort all my coupons into them since I get 5 Sunday papers a week. So I started buying a few packs of the plastic baseball card holders and had to keep going back to the store for them. I also tried doing the sorting by category, then brand and now I do a mixture.
So here’s what works for me now:
1. 2 heavy-duty binders with A-Z labels and LOTS of baseball card holders since I clip about 90% of the coupons in the Sunday paper plus computer printables.
2. 1 smaller binder to plan shopping trips. Tabs for each store and blank baseball card holders for each store. I print my shopping plan and pull appropriate coupons and put in the section for that particular store.
3. In the large binders I sort coupons like so:
A – Allergy medicine, Air freshners (includes candles and such)
B – Bags (ziploc and garbage included), Batteries, Bread, Butter, Baking
products, Bug sprays/repellants
C- Canning items, Cleaning products (each page sorted by type: Multi
surface, Bathroom, Dusters, Floors, etc), Chips, Cereals, Crackers,
Cheese, Coffee, Candy, Catfood/litter
D – Diapers/Wipes, Dishwashing items, Deoderant (sorted one page for
Women and one for Men)
L – Laundry items sorted by Brand but easy to find since they are all in
one spot
Not a 100% system for everyone but it works for me!
I’ve only been doing this since last October. I didn’t want huge binders so I bought 2 5×7 day planners and 5×7 protective sheets. I ended up sewing down the middle of the sheets to create 2 compartments. One planner is for grocery with the other for non-edible. Betty Crocker and Pillsbury each get their own 5×7 sheet to themselves since they have the most coupons. I usually clip what I know I will use and then I file the rest. I also keep my own database on what I’ve cut out, printed or received in the mail. This way I can go through the ads and my file at the same time. Once a month I’ll go through the binders while watching tv and discard the expired coupons and delete up until that date my database. It’s a little time consuming putting the coupons in a data base but once I do one I can just copy over and over again. I loved your idea of color coding the folders for the inserts. Mine are in a binder with overflow in a bag and it’s a mess. What I’d like to do is do your method but also write down what the latest expiration date is so I’m not going through every single page looking. I’m from Michigan so your grocery posts don’t help me but I love all the extra things that you put on your blog. I’ve been keeping track of my spending with your savings tracker and I love it. Great Blog!
Thanks for the link up. Great idea!
I think it’s hilarious that the woman who wrote 8 reasons you shouldn’t use coupons knows how to organize hers
http://www.torontosun.com/money/savings/2010/02/26/13047501.html#/money/savings/2010/02/26/pf-13047501.html
I use a zip binder with a combination of whole inserts in protector sleeves, and printed coupons in baseball card pages.
Read more about how I organize coupons! http://www.savedbythesale.com/howtocoupon/