I Love Organization!

 Here’s a little project that I forgot to share a couple of weeks ago when I completed it. I’m super excited about my new coupon binder :). By the way, just as a little added bonus I purchased all the supplies on sale with an additional 20% off coupon. That made me super-happy. :)

I remembered having seen a couple of my coupon-queen friends post about their own coupon binders several months ago, but I didn’t pay very close attention then because we were in the middle of dissertation craziness and there was NO WAY I was going to start couponing in the middle of that madness. It’s a good thing I remembered those posts because one thing I found out very quickly when I started couponing was what a pain it was (to me—I’m not trying to offend anyone by insulting her system!) to sift through piles and stacks of coupons in those little accordion dividers. Bleh! It drove me crazy to have to get out each pile and sort through all that mess every time I was looking for a particular brand. I decided I needed to set up a binder system I had heard so many rave about, so I went searching for the details.

After reading and adapting I purchased the following materials:
-1” binder with a clear sleeve on the front
-2 packages of baseball card holders (10 sheets each package), I should have gotten at least 1 more package.
-4 sets of 8-tab dividers

I set up a divider for each category of items. The 24 dividers I decided to include are:

Baby
Bags, Foil & Storage
Baking
Batteries & Lightbulbs
Beverages
Boxed Mixes
Breads
Breakfast
Canned & Jars
Cleaning Products
Condiments, Sauces & Seasonings
Dairy
Frozen
Laundry
Meat & Fish
Medicine & Vitamins
Office
Paper
Pasta & Rice
Produce & Salad
Refrigerated
Restaurants
Snacks
Toilettries & Cosmetics

I’m considering adding a category for clothing (or personal items, including clothing?) and also possibly sub-dividing the toiletries & cosmetics since I have so many of these types of coupons. I’m also thinking maybe a “expiring in the next 2 weeks” category might be helpful, along with a separate tab for store coupons. I haven’t decided what will be most helpful to me yet. (Feel free to comment & share what works for you!)

After my dividers were all set up I went to work filling a baseball card holder sheet with coupons from a single category. I couldn’t find any specific advice on how other couponers divide their coupons among the pockets, but I have tried to do one brand name per pocket. Once I buy some more sheets I will be able to do this more thoroughly.

Lastly, I went to work designing a fun cover for my binder. It makes me smile.

As I have collected more and more coupons over the past few weeks it has been so helpful to be able to flip through my book and find the coupons I need (or wonder if I have) quickly. The only thing that is slightly annoying about the system is that I usually have to make sure I clip all the edges off the coupons so they will fit in the pocket. It takes a little more time on the front end, but I figure I’m saving time considering what I would have spent sifting through piles later on.

What works for you? What coupon filing system do you use?