Thursday, April 19, 2012

My Coupon Binder

I really thought I'd never be one of those crazy girls with a coupon binder. But the coupon system I had wasn't working for me. I would cut out some random coupons for stuff I normally bought, shove it in a plastic envelope I kept in my purse, and then desperately try to remember what coupons I had without pulling them all out in the grocery store. Not much of a system, and I was throwing away more coupons than I used. I knew it wasn't working, and I tried a few things to keep track of what I had--even going so far as creating an excel file on my computer with all the coupons I'd cut, which I updated a total of once.

When my sweet friend Becky showed me her coupon binder, I was hooked. Even though I'm not a fanatical couponer, I thought her binder was great and I thought it was a great solution to my organizational problems.

So the very next day, I headed to Office Depot and stocked up on coupon binder necessities.

Here it is in all it's glory! It's a little embarrassing how proud I am of this binder.

I started with a basic 1 1/2 inch binder. I could've gone a little bigger, but since it's just Josh & I, I don't have that many coupons, and I wanted something I could manage easily.

I bought tabs prenumbered from 1-31. These were about $8.

Then I added trading card protector sheets in between each tab. These were on sale for $3 for a pack of 10, I started with 30 of these (one between each tab) and that's working out well for now.

My only complaint is that not every coupon fits nicely in these slots--some are way too big and needed to be folded. I know there are other options out there for inserts, and I may look into those, but for now these work alright.

I used The Krazy Coupon Lady's binder Table of Contents as a jumping off point. Some of her categories weren't relevant to me, and there were a few I added (breads, meats, etc.) I printed a pretty list and used a plain sheet protector to place it at the front of the binder.



At the very front of the binder, I placed a plastic pocket to store a notepad, pen, and scissors.


I'm already feeling so much more inspired to cut and use coupons! I can't wait to get the Sunday paper and add to my stash.



5 comments:

  1. I started doing this last summer, but then my son had some medical issues and some surgeries, and I was 8 months pregnant so I gave it up.

    Reading this makes me want to get back into it. It's a lot of work!

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    Replies
    1. I am a little worried about the upkeep! Right now my plan is to only cut out coupons for products we actually use (I know you can make extra money on Depends and stuff, but honestly, I'd rather just save the time!)

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  2. I cut coupons but have totally struggled with how to organize them. Really love this idea. Totally going to try it!!

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  3. oh wow...way to go lady! i am so impressed right now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. it was a wonderful chance to visit this kind of site and I am happy to know.
    vouchers

    ReplyDelete

Comments are my love language! Thanks for sharing :)