Learning to Use Coupons Day 3- The Binder

One of the most time consuming things about couponing is organizing them.  Some people use a card file with dividers others use an accordion file but I have decided to use a 3 ring binder method.  This is definitely  more time consuming but once you get in the store it's the easiest to use because it is so organized.  I have all the coupons in baseball card sleeves and I have them divided into sections. I have a lot of dividers so that its more organized. For example I have all the food in the front separated into Meat, Dairy, Produce, Cereal, Snacks, Canned, Frozen, etc. then I have the non food items in the back separated in sections labeled soap, shampoo, medicine, razors, lotions, etc...  you get the picture.  If I have 10 of one coupon they are all together in one slot. That way when I'm in the store I can see at a glance what I have and I don't have to thumb through a bunch of coupons. It also helps when I look on Southern Savers for the deals at each store because she list the deal and the coupon or coupons needed for each deal, with the binder method I can find the coupons very quickly. So if you got your papers today I would suggest cutting your coupons by taking each insert apart and stacking like pages to cut, so that you only have to cut each page once. Then organize them whichever way you think will work for you. You can also read Southern Savers article on Organization.

So get cutting and organizing. You will have a much easier time in the store if you do.