So now you’ve got your coupons all gathered.  What do you do with them?

First of all, there is no right or wrong way to organize your coupoons.  Some people organize them in baseball card holders in a binder.  Some people organize them in a file box.  Others don’t clip them at all until they need a specific coupon.  I’m going to share my system with you, but you’ll need to figure out exactly what works for you!

When I started couponing, I bought a rubbermaid box (shown here) and letter size envelopes to organize them all in.  Every Sunday night, I would clip all the coupons from that day’s paper and every Monday night I would organize them and put them all in the right envelopes.  Needless to say, it was very time consuming!  It was also time consuming to find the coupon I needed, since I had to hunt through a stuffed envelope to even see if I had a coupon for the item I wanted.  And let’s not overlook the fact that the envelopes were stuffed and I’d only been couponing for about a month!  Something had to give!

That’s when I decided to take adapt some of  Shauntell’s ideas for my own system.  Instead of buying the inserts and then clipping all of the coupons, I just go through each type of insert (i.e. Red Plum, P&G or Smart Source) and enter the coupon, coupon value, expiration date and location into an Excel tracking form (from Shauntell).  This is not nearly as time consuming as clipping because I only need to go through each insert once…even if I have 4 Red Plum inserts from one week, I only need to go through one of them because the coupons in the others will be the same!

Then when I’m done putting them into the spreadsheet, I just label each insert with the date and file them into a folder for each month.  It takes literally a quarter of the time that clipping and organizing takes!

It’s also far easier to find the coupons!  When I have a grocery list made, I can just have Excel organize the coupon entries in alphabetical order and I can check and see if I have coupons for any of the items I need to buy.  I’ll have entered the location into the spreadsheet, so I can easily see that a coupon I need is in the Smart Source 1/18 insert (for example), pull out that insert and clip the coupon!

Very easy and far less time consuming!

I haven’t abandoned my coupon filing box, though!  I still use it for coupons I print off the internet, find in magazines, etc.  Plus, I still have coupons left from my “clipping days”, but those are slowly being weeded out as they expire.  Since I don’t have as many of those types of coupons, the box isn’t nearly as full.  I still have those coupons entered in my spreadsheet and for the “location” area, I just type in what envelope I have the coupon in.

I also want to share with you all the envelopes I have in my coupon filing box, in case you decide to use one as well.  I used Money Saving Mom’s method of making envelopes for the system.  All I did is cut off the flap of a letter size envelope and staple an index card standing up (hopefully you can get the idea from the picture).  Anyway, I have:

• Baby – diapers
• Baby – food
• Baby – products
• Baby – wipes
• Bags – containers
• Bags – foil/wrap
• Bags – storage/freezer
• Bags – trash
• Baking – mixes
• Baking – staples
• Batteries
• Beverages
• Bread
• Candles/Air Fresheners
• Candy
• Canned – beans
• Canned – fruit
• Canned – meat
• Canned – soup
• Canned – veggies
• Cereal
• Cleaner – all purpose
• Cleaner – bathroom
• Cleaner – dish
• Cleaner – disinfectant
• Cleaner – floor
• Cleaner – furniture polish
• Cleaner – glass
• Cleaner – laundry
• Condiments
• Crackers
• Dairy – beverage
• Dairy – cheese
• Dairy – sour cream/cream cheese/butter
• Dairy – yogurt
• Frozen – beverage
• Frozen – bread
• Frozen – ice cream
• Frozen – veggies, potatoes
• Hygiene – contact solution
• Hygiene – deodorant
• Hygiene – face/makeup
• Hygiene – feminine
• Hygiene – first aid
• Hygiene – hair
• Hygiene – lotion
• Hygiene – medicines
• Hygiene – soap
• Hygiene – shaving
• Hygiene – vitamins
• Jelly/Peanut Butter
• Meals
• Meat
• Office Supplies
• Paper Products – facial/toilet tissue
• Paper Products – cups/plates/silverware
• Paper Products – towels/napkins
• Pasta
• Potatoes
• Produce
• Rice
• Salad Dressing
• Sauce/Syrup
• Seasonings
• Snacks
• Toothbrushes/Floss
• Toothpaste

Of course, you’ll need to customize your own envelopes, but hopefully this list will get you started.  It really helped me in the beginning to be able to look at someone else’s system and then tweak things to make it my own.

Now it’s your turn!  Decide which system would work best for you (or mix them all up, like I did!) and jump in!  Don’t be afraid to start because you’re not exactly sure what will work for you.  You can easily tweak things later to make it more user-friendly!

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