There are several ways to organize your coupons. The goal is to file them in a way that gives you the easiest access with the least work. I have tried several different ways of doing this, and the method that I have settled on is not a way that I have ever seen or heard of anyone else doing before. I will review all of the techniques I've tried, and you can try whichever one(s) you think might work for you. The key focus, though, is to do something that fits YOU. People are different, minds work differently, and my way may be an epic fail for you. If it does, try something else!
METHOD ONE:
The first method I tried is to just clip EVERY coupon out of EVERY insert and magazine I had. Then I had an accordion file with category labels. Labels included titles such as, "Frozen Foods, Bread, Meat, Toiletries, First Aid/Medicines, Cosmetics, Baby, etc. When a new insert would come out, I would sit down, cut out my coupons, and file them. Each main category would be narrowed down into sub-categories and paper clipped together accordingly. For example: In the "Toiletries" category, you might find a paper clip full of shampoo/conditioner items, a paper clip full of deodorant coupons, a clip with toothpaste coupons, etc.
Pros: I had all of my coupons cateorized by what type of items they were. This made it fairly easy to locate a coupon on the fly, but I did have to sift through all the coupons in the clip to locate a coupon for a specific brand.
Cons: I had to watch very carefully that I pulled the coupon that was closest to expiring, and reserve coupons with a longer expiration window. I also added more time because I would have to periodically go through ALL of my coupon stock and pull out the coupons that had expired. I also didn't know what coupons I had, and the only way of seeing if I had a coupon for any given item was to physically dig through the file and try to find it.
METHOD TWO:
The next method I tried (and one that several of my friends use) is the "Binder Method." This still involves clipping all of the coupons that you get, but you organize them using baseball card display sheets in a massive 3-ring binder. Duplicate coupons go in the same baseball card slot. You can organize the binder one of two ways: Similar to Method One, you can organize them by category, and put labels on the edges of the sheets to show that this page/section is dedicated to that category. The other method of organizing that I have had a friend tell me about (I have not personally tried this one) is to organize them by store layout. Pick a store that you are VERY familiar with (for her, it was Wal-Mart), and organize the sheets in the same order as the aisles of the store. Regardless of what store you're shopping in, when you need a coupon, you just have to think of where that item would be found in Wal-Mart in order to locate your coupon.
Pros: I could easily lay open the binder and see what I had. I could also easily see how many of any given coupon I had. To add more coupons, I just added in more sheets to the binder. Once I really got familiar with the layout of the binder, I could access a coupon on the fly fairly quickly.
Cons: Again, I had to watch very carefully that I pulled the coupon that was closest to expiring, and reserve coupons with a longer expiration window. Again, I would have to periodically go through ALL of my coupon stock and pull out the coupons that had expired. I also didn't know what coupons I had, and the only way of seeing if I had a coupon for any given item was to physically open up the binder and try to locate it. Looking at mass layouts of coupons in a binder and trying to spot the one you need is kind of like playing "Where's Waldo." Sometimes I would pass right over the needed coupon several times before finally spotting it.
**So here came the point in my adventure where I was feeling extremely frustrated, because I was spending a lot of time pulling out old coupons that were expired, and I would hear myself say, "Man, I wish I had known I had THAT coupon! I could have used it!" Or, I would be planning a shopping trip and hear myself say, "I KNOW I had a coupon for that! Where the heck is it?!" I felt unorganized, despite the HOURS I had poured into clipping and organizing, and my biggest frustration was that I was missing out on some great deals. I won't go into how I figured out this next method. It just kind of all fell into place. But for me, it was the light at the end of the tunnel.
METHOD THREE: (a.k.a the best method in the whole wide world)
In Lesson One, I had you register a membership at http://www.dealseekingmom.com/. Their website is an extravaganza of savings to which I could log on and spend HOURS looking at all the great deals and reading the articles. But, I'm interested in SAVING time, so I don't. I use their site for two things: Locating available coupons, and databasing mine. I don't clip ANY coupons until I need them (major time saver #1), and it takes me literally 30 seconds to a minute to get rid of my expired coupons (major time saver #2). The coupons are physically organized in an accordion file by month and publication (June Smart Source, June Red Plum, etc.). They are electronically filed in the web-based database at the Deal Seeking Mom website. When I'm ready to shop, I can login and look through my personal coupon database and find needed coupons in a split second using a search engine. I can look for a coupon for a specific brand/item, or I can do a general search by category. I can also sort the items by date to see what coupons I have in stock that might be expiring soon. When I'm on the go, I have the website bookmarked in my Smartphone to and I just jump on there to do a search if I need to find a coupon on the fly.
Pros: I don't spend any time clipping coupons I'm going to throw out later. I have easy access to a listing of every coupon I own and where to find it. I know how many coupons I have for a certain item and which ones to pull first. I don't spend a lot of time sifting through my stock to locate expired coupons.
Cons: The only con I have found happened one time when I couldn't get service on my Smartphone and I wanted to see if I had a certain coupon. Otherwise, I LOVE this method!
So, there's the review on methods for organizing. My next lesson will give more details on how to set up your online database and how to use their online database to your advantage regardless of your organization method.
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