If you are an avid couponer and simply inundated with them, you need some handy tips and ways to organize coupons. When your coupons are messy and disorganized, you might miss really good offers, or spend ages looking for the one you want. It takes a bit of effort to begin with, but once a system is in place, it’s easy to maintain and you’ll be able to maximize the savings of the coupons by never missing another offer. Check out these ways to organize coupons.
There are a number of physical ways to organize coupons, but for all of them there is one decision to be made first – that is, what order will you store them in or how will you sort them? You need to be able to find the ones you want quickly and easily and before they run out. One of the most sensible ways to sort coupons is by expiry date. You can then sub sort either by store or by product type. Some people will even sub sort their coupons to replicate the layout of their regular grocery store. Once you’ve got your sorting strategy you can move on to how to store coupons.
Recipe boxes are ideal and one of the most popular ways to organize coupons – in fact any box with ready-made dividers will do the job equally well. A recipe box is ideal because of its compact size and if you wish, it is portable. If you choose to sort by a method other than alphabetical, you will need to replace the headers on the dividers.
There are various types of plastic inserts that can be used in ring binders that provide excellent coupon organization. Inserts designed for business cards or baseball cards do very well. The folders are easily portable and if you’ve done your sorting correctly, it will be an easy job at checkout to pull out the ones you want.
An old shoe box or any reasonably sized box with a lid can be transformed into coupon storage. As it’s something you’ll use regularly, don’t just leave it plain. Cover the box, paint it, decoupage it – whatever your crafting skills inspire. Don’t forget to make dividers so all your hard work in sorting your coupons doesn’t go to waste.
This is one of the best and most popular ways to organize coupons. Accordion files come in all shapes, sizes and colors, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding one that’s small or large enough to cope with your quantity of coupons and to your taste.
With the addition of some store-bought or home-made dividers, a baby wipe box makes an ideal storage container for coupons. Remember to wash the box and thoroughly dry it before you start to use it, otherwise your coupons will soak up the residue of oil and moisture from the wipes.
This is probably considered the most old-fashioned methods of coupon organization, but it is a well tried and tested method that is effective, providing you don’t have a huge number of coupons to organize. This system can be operated with a few categories written on the envelopes, for example; general products used frequently or the names of the stores where you shop.
You might have your own ideas for ways to organize coupons, but if yours languish in piles in drawers or scattered on cork pin boards, you might want to give one of these a try. We’d love to hear more suggestions.