Saturday, March 5, 2011

How I organize my coupons!!! (with pics)




I've been asked over and over and over again about how I organize my coupons.  I know that alot of couponers love the binder method.  I tried that method and just couldn't get it to work for me.  I've found however, a great system that really seems to work for me.  

The picture above is all of my coupon holders.  Extreme, yes I guess, but the black bag, which if you were wondering is a "Thirty-one large utility tote" and that bag is what I pack around with me in the stores.  The big black box is where I store all my 'bulk' coupons that I clip and then the other tote is where I keep whole inserts.  I always have all 3 of them which me (typically) when I head out the door, but I only pack the black bag in with me to the store.  If I should need other coupons, I can just park my buggy at the service desk, tell them I'll be right back and go out to my truck to get the coupons I need.


Below is a close-up of my big black box.  I purchased this off of ebay from this seller best-bargainz.  AWESOME box!!  These are actually handmade and come in a variety of colors.  I store all my 'bulk' clipped coupons in here for "just in case" situations.  There was a guide already on the inside flap of the box but it seemed a little over-the-top so I devised my own way of storing my coupons based from an old paper accordian holder I had bought at the dollar store some 10+ yrs ago.




And just in case you were wondering here's a closer view of my coupon (thirty-one) large utility tote bag!!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bag!!!!  Not too big, not too small.  And I've had this bag for about 9 mos or so and it still looks new, no fraying, tears, etc.  VERY durable!!  

I have an accordian style holder that a girlfriend of mine gave me (bought at Kmart).  I use it to put all the coupons I pull for specific stores like Target, Kroger's, DG, WM, Wags, etc to make shopping with 3 kids that much smoother.   And then I have manilla folders where I put my lists of printable coupons for cellfire, shortcuts, pgesaver and Krogers in there.  I have another manilla folder for printables that I haven't had a chance to cut out yet and then a third folder for "just in case I need it".  LOL  

Behind the folders I keep all my ads, bigger store specific coupons, monthly ads, etc.  In the pockets I have hand sanitizer, hand lotion, ink pens, notepads, 2 prs of scissors, pencil bag to put my coupons that I'm using during a shopping trip, calculator, little toys for my kids to play with, small snacks like granola bars, etc for them as well, and my ring of keyring store cards.








8 comments:

  1. OMG Jealous! I remember when I had that many coupons, I'm slowly but surely getting back to that lol

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  2. LOL Thx!! I try my best to be ultra-organized because it gets kinda hairy shopping with 3 kids! ;)

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  3. How did you get so many coupons?!
    I live in an apartment building and on a good day I can get 10-12 of the midweek SmartSource circulars, and on Saturdays I can get about the same amount of P&G or Red Plum.
    But so many of them I just never use the product.
    Did you begin to experiment with new products, which increased your coupon numbers?
    I'm so jealous!!

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  4. jdro218 - We dumpster dive, best way we've found of getting more inserts. We also coupon trade as well and then there's always ebay.

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  5. I love this idea, the binder method does not work for me either. Got to try this. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Thanks Karen! Glad we could help out!

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