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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Converting to a Binder system for coupons

I give in!  I do very well with my 2 bag system--1 zippered bank bag with Q separated into envelopes according to about 30 categories, and 1 expanding envelope that is split into stores & transactions--but my 12 yr old has seen the "binder-ladies" and has an extra zippered binder that he wrapped up for me for Christmas(at least that's what it looks like!).  I am willing to give it a shot!

I don't like the 9 pocket pages that most couponers use...I use mostly internet printables so I wanted bigger pockets.  I found some 6 pocket pages on ebay..a lot of 100 is about $24 shipped, but I found one seller with 4 sets of 25 listed separately that I got for $16 total shipped(Yes, I am always looking for the best deal!)  I pulled out some tabbed dividers & sheet protectors from the "school supply" stockpile, and made up my dividers to separate into Grocery, kids & pets, Health & Beauty, Household, & Store Qs.  I then made dividers for each category to further specify which Qs were which.  I will insert my Qs in expiration date order in each sub-category.  The sheet protectors, you know the ones you slip a piece of paper into so it doesn't get wrinkled, will be used for me to slip weekly ads into for price matching, and will hold Walgreens monthly coupon booklets...there are 10 sheet protectors in the package so I have plenty of room to keep all the 'extras' organized.  I don't know how everyone else does it, but this made the most sense to me, since that is how I have them already;  I'll simply be transferring to a binder instead of envelopes.  I assume I won't recieve my ebay winnings until next week, so it will be later in the month before I start this, so I'll report back on how it's working!

Oh, I wanted to add a tip on something I just started doing:  if you have glanced at my posts lately you can see I'm a Wag-oholic...those little in-ad coupons are really hard to keep track of!  Also, some of the monthly Qs or seasonal Qs that I use often get shuffled around.  I started using a glue stick to affix the coupons I use alot and the weekly Qs I plan to use onto index cards--much easier to keep track of!  I am always sure to write the dates on the card to I don't keep the weekly in ad Qs longer than their validity!

1 comment:

Mommy Hates Cooking said...

That sounds like a great organization system. I have tried the binder system and went back to my envelopes. I am not very organized at all though when it comes to coupons. I'm usually shuffling through a stack while I go down the aisle!!!