How to Organize Your Coupons

The Extreme Couponing Phenomonia almost a decade ago really brought Coupons back to life. The number of coupons now available for print and the number of clipping coupons for saving money at the grocery store has increased on the average shopping trip.

  • How to organize coupons?
  • How to Save Money
  • How to start a coupon organizer

When I first started collecting coupons, I kept them in my wallet. That only lasted a couple of weeks, and I soon upgraded to a postage envelope. Again, this coupon organizer system was very short-lived.

Since I caught the couponing bug and jumped right in with both feet, I soon found I had coupons everywhere in my house. They were sitting on my office desk, and they were on the kitchen counter; some were still sitting with the mail and then other lucky ones that made it into the “coupon envelope.”

I was losing the ability to save money by not being organized.

I had to create a system and fast. I was disorganized, and because of this, I needed to organize my coupons. I would see something on sale on my shopping trip and have no idea where I had left that particular coupon. Or finding out the coupon was expired. I loved couponing, but my method of a coupon system was failing.

Accordion Wallet – Organizing Coupons for the Beginner

Accordian Wallet for organizing grocery store coupons with built in categoriesHow to Organize Your Coupons |

Since my daughter had also caught the clipping coupon craze with me, she discovered we could buy an accordion-style wallet at our local dollar store.

This is an excellent idea for just starting and trying to get into the whole couponing thing and is a great start for starting to organize your coupons.

This is also an excellent way to organize Printable coupons if this is all you have for coupons.

Exapandable walet with coloured tabs for organizing printed coupons

My original accordion-style folder had little tabs at the top, and I created categories to sort the—food, Beauty, Household, Pets, Medical, etc. Just take your little-sorted piles of coupons and plunk them into your folder. The folder goes in your purse, and then you have them no matter where you go. It is simple, easy and takes very little time to organize. And then your set for your file and the next batch of clipping coupons.

 Coupon Binder for the advanced Organizing Coupons

Coupon Binder for clipping coupons and stay organized during a shopping trip

If you are already to the point of using an accordion-style folder and it is no longer working for you, it is time to take it to the next level. A  little more than a year ago, I found that my accordion-style booklet was breaking at the seams and hated the fact that while in the grocery store, I had to pull out a wad of beauty coupons and stand there in the aisle going through them like a large deck of cards looking for the one particular coupon I knew I had. The coupons were multiplying day by day, and I just had no more room – there had to be a better way to organize coupons.

binders logo

When I was cleaning up my home office, I picked up a photo album that was left out. The light bulb went off. Could I use a photo album? I went online and started looking around for ideas. I discovered that lots of people were using binders to organize their coupons. I was so excited!

Photo inserts for coupon binder method

My daughter jumped right in and started pulling pictures out of the photo album. The photo sleeves were the 4×6 size and were perfect for some of my coupons. She then ran to her bedroom and retrieved some full-sized clear plastic sleeves. I took them and decided these would be wonderful for holding full-page coupons and printed coupons that I had printed out online.

baseball card sleeves for coupon binder

She again went to the dollar store and purchased for me a large three-ring binder. She also found clear plastic baseball card sleeves that fit perfectly into the binder. These card size photo sheets are perfect for save.ca and websaver.ca sized coupons for the organization. I continued to use the 4 x6 photo sleeve inserts and the full page sheets. We also found sheets that were divided in half horizontally. These, too, were great for larger manufacturers and store coupons.

She also presented me with a set of standard school binder subject dividers. I labelled them with food, household, beauty, pets and medical. This time, I added a section for FPC (Free Product Coupons) and kept those right in the binder’s front.

At the back, I created a new section for rebates. I was finally starting to feel organized.

With time and lots of practical use, we refined and altered the book to suit us. I added a grocery list (just a small paper pad where I could jot down items I needed or little reminders of sales for that week). I added a calculator to the inside pocket so I could easily make calculations while in the store. This is very useful when trying to figure out unit pricing.

This system was better than my old method, but I was still having one big problem. Every once and a while, I would sit down to re-load my book with new coupons from the “coupon basket,” and I would discover a whole slew of coupons that had expired. Every time I did a book cleanout, it broke my heart, and I ended up throwing out tons of valuable coupons. It almost made me want to cry.

It was time to re-assess and find a better way to organize coupons. Again, I went online and surfed around for new coupon organizing ideas. I found one lady that organized all her coupons into categories and then re-sorted them by the expiry date. The fast-expiring coupons to the front. This is great in a perfect world, and if you have nothing else in your life to do, sort coupons. I, on the other hand, work a full-time job, post and blog on here and well, have a “life.” I finally discovered a technique that would work correctly for me and take very little time.

Highlight Expiry Date of Coupons – Tip on Organizing Coupons 

sharpies logo

All you have to do is buy a cheap set of highlighters and decide what colour will represent each month. Make up a little table on a Post-it note and stick it to the inside of your coupon binder. Then the next time you sit down to cut out and sort your coupons, highlight the expiry date with the coordinating colour for that month.

For any coupons

  • that expire in January, highlight it with green,
  • February expiry dates get a splash of yellow colour
  • and so on.

With this method, you can easily colour code all your coupons and can pick out at a glance which ones expire this month. January is a green month, so look for “green” coupons. It is super easy and only one simple step that you have to add to your weekly sorting.

The bonus to using this method or coupon organizing is that the expiry date is still obvious. Some cashiers have even commented that it is easier for them to find the expiry date when checking my coupons.

I don’t believe that this process will harm or make the coupons invalid in any way. I have done it for quite some time now without any problems.

As time goes on, the Coupon Binder has become even more advanced. I now have a nice plaid material binder that has a full zipper. This keeps everything contained and nice and neat. This latest binder is equipped with a pull-out accordion file on the inside cover. This is great for quickly picking up coupons while in the store and sorting them as I go. Once I do my weekly sit-down, I highlight and transfer the coupons to the appropriate pages. The outside front cover has a nice Velcro pocket where I keep all my weekly flyers. This is crucial if you want to take advantage of price matching (you have to present the cashier with the flyer before they price match).

How to Organize Your Coupons |

I also now carry a small pair of scissors. Believe it or not, I have cut coupons off boxes of items I am buying right at the check out (of course, after I scan them.) I know what you are thinking -” crazy coupon, lady!”. I also have incorporated a price book. This is simply a ruled notebook cut in half and placed in the front of the three-ring binder. This way, I can quickly check my pricing and see if I am getting a good deal or not.

I also keep a pen in the front of my binder; that way, if I see any special offers, contests or rebates listed on products, I can write them down until I get home and check them out on the net. You can also update your price book if needed.

I will admit that not many people at my local grocery store use coupons, and when they see me going up, and down the isles, I do get some odd looks with my coupon binder. It used to bother me at first, but not anymore.

How to Organize Your Coupons |

Now that I am super organized, I am saving even more, so who cares. It has become a vehicle for people to strike up a conversation with me. You hear a comment like, “omg, now she is serious about her coupons” and “wow, look at the coupons she has.” I have even handed out some coupons to young moms buying baby products, and I have extra coupons for them. It is like being a coupon fairy. Lol

I hope this will help inspire some of you to get your coupons organized.

Do you want a sneak peek at my coupon book?