When I thought about couponing, I was really lost at first, which was probably why I kind of fell off of it. In my opinion, spending time cutting coupons that you possibly may not use is not very efficient, which made me think about other ways of organization. After attending a local coupon class, I decided I was going to use the box method.
The box method is basically organizing each insert by type and date. For example, in this past Sunday's paper there were 2 coupon inserts - one called SmartSource and one called RedPlum. These are the usual inserts included in the Sunday paper. To organize each insert in a box, or what I use a crate that supports hanging folders and includes tabs, I would label each tab/hanging folder by name of the insert and date.
As you can see in the slideshow photo, I organize each hanging folder by name of insert. It's important to know the abbreviations because many blogs use these abbreviations if they are referring to a coupon within these two types of inserts.
RP = RedPlum
SS = SmartSource
As far as keeping track of what coupons are in each, I created a coupon database within Google Drive. If you're not familiar with Google Drive, it's what used to be called Google Docs and I like it because I can access my drive from my iPhone and from anywhere I can log into my account. In the slideshow, you can see what my database looks like. I type everything up for each insert.
It's easier for me to identify what coupons I have if I don't happen to find a coupon match up on a blog post.
As far as coupons I print, I keep them uncut in one of the hanging files, and if I do get to it, I cut them up and put them in a smaller organizer, which is organized by category.
It definitely takes a lot of time and work, but having an organizational method for your coupons is definitely beneficial. Everyone has their own preferences, so it's best to find the method you find the most effective.
I'd love to know how you all organize your coupons!
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