Spurred on by another blogger, I decided today's tip should be about coupon organization. After typing this up I realized that this is only one of a few aspects that should be covered, so I'll do the next part tomorrow.

I've always been a bit of a perfectionisty, and my coupon organizing is no place to slouch. A few months ago I realized MY strategy was costing me deals, I wouldn't be able to find a certain coupon I knew I had until I got home, and thus didn't get that item free or for pennies.

I have never been of the "category" organizer school, my brain doesn't generally work that way. I've always been an alphabetical organizer, whichever actual method of transportation my coupons had (from envelopes, to a box, and now to a binder). Well, when I realized how many deals I was missing, I started a complete overhaul of my binders. I now have them organized into rough categories, and by store aisle (all stores are roughly the same), and then alphabetized within those categories.

I guess first off I should give some background..no matter what, if an item is free, I will pick it up. It will either go into my own personal stockpile, get passed on to either my parents, my sister or my neighbor, donated to a worthy cause on my next run, or sold in my yard sale for 1/4 to 1/2 of retail price. So I always cut and file ALL coupons, I rarely trade due to time constraints mostly, but am still hoping to get a train going!!!!!

Now, on to my own favorite method of coupon organization, THE BINDER. I have 2 binders actually because I have so many coupons. The first is a 3" ring binder by Case It, it zips shut (a MUST!!!) and has an accordion style organizer on one side in which I put my store rain checks, store specific coupons, etc. I would really like to get a bit more organized on this one and put my lists in each of these with the coupons I KNOW I will need. This binder contains all my non food coupons (amazingly enough larger than the actual food coupons..huh). Within the binder I use baseball card protector sheets, and file one coupon type to each slot. Each page has 9 slots. Some don't like these pages, because you do have to cut your coupons close, and sometimes fold them. There are LOTS of different varieties of "item holder" pages at any office supply store, everything from floppy disks to CD's and more, use what is comfortable for YOU, and makes it easy for you to keep your coupons organized and handy.

My second binder is a plain jane zippered binder, with 1 1/2 inch rings. I use this one for food coupons with the same pages inside.

This is just a start to organizing things, and I certainly hope I've explained the binder method to you clear enough. As usual, any questions, give me a hollar!