Tuesday, June 3, 2014

New and Improved Coupon Binder


I've been planning to revise my old coupon binder into something more Me-friendly. I made the old one before I ever started seriously couponing and I soon found out that some things just didn't work for me. It was very well thought out, but since I was unfamiliar with the amount/extent of coupons out there, some sections (tabs) ended up not being used, while others tripled the initial amount of coupon-holder sheets in them. For reference, here are my old tabs/sections.
  1. Paper and Plastic
  2. Health and Hygiene (this section almost quadrupled)
  3. Cleaners and Aromatics
  4. Fresh Foods (there's like... no coupons for fresh food... ever) (ok maybe there is, but I never see any)
  5. Pantry Items
  6. Fridge and Freezer
  7. Office and Crafts
  8. Home and Misc.
  9. Eating Out
  10. Clothing (I don't think this was ever used, all the sheets in there look crisp and wrinkle-free)
  11. Just for Fun
  12. Shopping Lists
Now that I've made couponing my favorite hobby/lifestyle, I know what sections really need some extra space and which ones I can either condense or omit entirely. I also added a section to hold store-specific coupons. My 2 favorite stores allow "coupon stacks" (you can use one store coupon with a manufacturer coupon on the same item) and so I like to stick both into one pocket so they don't get separated. Having a section for each of these stores will make it much easier for me to find the coupons that I plan to use at that store and not use them at another one accidentally. Here's my Revised Coupon Binder Tabs
Cover Page with Contact Info (in case I loose it)
  1. Store-Specific (Target, CVS, Walgreens, Other)
  2. Paper and Plastic
  3. Health and Hygiene (Women)
  4. Health and Hygiene (Men)
  5. Beauty
  6. Razors 
  7. Cleaners & Aromatics
  8. Pantry Items
  9. Fridge & Freezer
  10. Pets (with a dog like mine, I need coupons)
  11. Baby (don't need this one quite yet... but I will sometime)
  12. Going Out
  13. Office/Crafts/Misc.
This is now organized from most to least used sections, and they should all more or less have an equal amount of coupons in them. The biggest help with definitely be making sections for certain stores. Feel free to take my idea and make it your own!
BTW, I took the time to Clip-Art the title pages into very nice, colorful ones... but then I decided to "go green" (or be colored-ink-stingy, whatever you want to call it) and print them in B&W instead. Does anybody else think the Target dog looks adorable? 



















 I used binder clips to hold the shopping lists I'd printed out a long time ago, but never used. It seemed like a big waste to throw them away, so I'll keep them just in case I get tired of using scratch paper to plan my coupon trips. The binder clips are also very helpful with holding inserts and full pages of printout coupons that I haven't gotten around to clipping yet.

Also, in case you really want to jump into couponing right away, click on the banner below to go to the coupons.com website and set your printer to work! 



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