Everyone has their own system for organizing coupons. The best one is the one that will work for you.
CouponMom actually says not to clip coupons, but to use her virtual coupon database and then just clip out the ones you need. I tried this, but found that I would be in town and see a good deal, but not have the coupon with me.
So I have a coupon organizer that I got at Target. It has lots of pockets. I always bring it with me when I go to town. It has my name, address and phone number on it, in case I forget it/lose it somewhere.
Here’s how I organize each pocket:
Front pocket: This is where I put my shopping list and coupons I will use during my trip. It also has room for a tiny calculator so I can figure out unit prices on the fly.
From there, my categories are as follows:
Baby stuff (diapers, formula, wipes, baby medicine, toddler toothpaste, etc.)
Baking and Breads (also includes spices and oils)
Cereal
Cleaning and Laundry
Dairy
Drinks (coffee, pop, juice)
Main Meals (this includes everything from box meals to vegetables to pancake mix)
Meat
Paper and Plastic (all paper products – toilet paper, paper towel and plastics – garbage bags, ziplocs, etc).
Snacks (chips, candy, ice cream)
Soups
Toiletries (includes shampoo, body wash, and all over-the-counter meds)
Last pocket is for everything else. This is where coupons for things like batteries, light bulbs, restaurants, dog food, etc., goes.
I usually go through my organizer at least once a month, usually twice, and purge the coupons that have expired.
This method of coupon organization works pretty well for me… as long as I remember to bring my organizer with me.
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