Coupons are a great way to save money on everyday items like groceries, toiletries, pet food, medicine and more. Saving 60 cents on a box of cereal may not seem like much at the time, but if you’re using multiple coupons frequently when you go shopping, that money is going to add up. But the problem is, it’s hard to use those coupons if they’re all shoved in the bottom of your purse or sitting in a pile in the bottom of a drawer in your apartment. Here’s how to organize coupons so they’re easy to find when you need them:
Make it a Habit
Choose a day of the week to sit down with newspapers and magazines and get all of your coupons organized. If you make a habit out of it and integrate it into your weekly routine, your coupons will likely stay organized. Sit down every Saturday or Sunday and go through them, taking out the coupons that have already expired to make room for new ones. It’s also a good idea to remove coupons that you no longer need or have a use for.
Coupon Binder
Use one of your old binders from school and fill it with plastic nine-pocket sheets. Coupons can be trimmed and placed in these sheets to give you a great filing system. It’s super easy to see through the pockets and simple to access when you need to grab coupons on the go. Use tabbed dividers to separate your coupons into sections. Some common categories to include are:
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Health and beauty
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Paper goods
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Retail
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Pets
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Household
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Meat and produce
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Refrigerated and frozen
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Snacks
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Medicine
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Condiments
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Canned/boxed items
Index Card Box
This is a common organizational tool for cooking and baking recipes, but is also perfect for storing all of your coupons. Pick up an index card box from any office supply store and you can either purchase or make dividers that will help keep everything in order. After you’ve organized your coupons into the correct categories, go through them every week to keep all of your clippings updated.
Plastic Sandwich Bag
If you don’t want to take time to organize your coupons in a binder or index card box, this is a quick and simple option. Grab a resealable plastic bag from your apartment and use paper clips to group the coupons into categories.
