Step 2: Organize Coupons

Ok, now that you have the coupons, what do you do with them? There are two main methods to organize coupons. It's basically ALL or NOTHING.

Let's start with NOTHING: Super simple, you take the coupon inserts out of the papers, write a date on the top and put them into an accordian file. That's it. I am going to start making a list of the coupons that come in the paper for this area each week, so just print it and keep it with the inserts for that week. I also suggest getting a small coupon file for loose coupons, either ones you print, find, or cut out. This is the least time intensive method, each week, but would be much more time consuming when getting ready for a shopping trip. When weekly ads are posted, they are posted with coupons, where they are found, and the date.

The other way is ALL: It is VERY time intensive, it takes me about 2 hours a week to cut every single coupon. I have a 2" binder, with baseball card sleeves, and dividers. (I really need a bigger binder.) The pros to this is it is very easy to find specific coupons, and when I am at the store, I have all my coupons with me, so if I find an unexpected deal I would have the coupons with me.

It is totally up to you, but if you are first starting I would suggest the first method. There is little cost, and not much labor.