Step right up students and listen closely in to learn about what to do next to become a Coupon Wizard.
Now that you have printed, clipped, and stacked your coupons up in a big pile, you need to take it to the next step! If you simply allow them to remain stacked in the corner of your kitchen, they do you no good (and perhaps clutter up your kitchen, too!). Now, it’s time to get organized.
If you saw me on WTHR yesterday AM, you may have noticed my coupon binder. It’s really not that complex of a system. I simply used a binder that I literally found in my garage and filled it with baseball card holder pages that my husband already had. I love that the binder has a clear cover on it that I can slip things in and out of because I like to slip my grocery list in there so that I can see it. I like to organize my coupons according to aisle at the grocery store. Since I do the majority of my shopping at Meijer, I organize it according to their layout. For example, on the first page of my binder, you will find coupons for produce, deli meats, and bread items. In the second page there will be frozen food items and so on, aisle by aisle all the way back to the dairy. After the dairy page, I keep coupons that are specifically for Target, both ones printed off of the internet and those sent through the mail. In the remaining pages, I slip in things like reward cards and coupons for restaurants, i.e. my Qdoba Q-card, my Paradise Bakery and Cafe Reward Card, my Family Christian Store coupons and Frequent Member card. And in the back pocket of the binder I keep bigger coupons that don’t fit in the little holder. Right now, there’s a Bowling Alley Coupon, a Children’s Place set of coupons, and a couple of oil change coupons.
I literally carry my binder with me everywhere I go. I have a larger bag (with Wonder Woman on it, just so you can return it to me in case you every find it) big enough for my binder, my wallet, and a few other things common to my existence. I think there’s a diaper, my sunglasses, and a digital camera in there right now, too. I find it easy to slip it over my shoulder and go.
Now, my organization system might not work for you. You may find it best to organize your coupons in a coupon organizer, a box, or some other system. The point is to find something that you can get used to, customize, and make work for you. It needs to be something compact enough for you to carry but large enough for you to be able to actually see what you have.
I like to take about 30 minutes every week to organize and sort my coupons. After I clip all of the ones that I think I might use, I place them in a gallon Ziploc styled bag. If a coupon comes in the mail or with a product, I slip those into the bag, too. Think of the bag as my coupon bull pen. I keep it in with my binder even though the coupons aren’t fully sorted yet, just in case I stumble on to a great deal. Then I take them out of the bag and place them into the binder. I pull out expired coupons or ones that I really don’t think I’ll use and put in the new ones. If I have multiple coupons for the same item, I like to stack them in the binder, putting the ones with the most recent expiration dates in the front. I usually do all of this while I’m watching TV so the time passes quickly and I enjoy it a little more. 🙂
Congrats, you’re on your way to saving even more! Next week we’ll begin to talk about how to best match your coupons up to the best sales to maximize their impact. Thanks for taking this course in the Queen’s Royal Savings Academy.
