Sunday, May 15, 2011

Making a coupon binder

Hey gals! You asked and you shall receive :) This is how i have my coupon binder assembled. Everyone is different but I've tried many different ways and this works best for me.


Things you will need:
At least a 2 inch binder
Baseball sheets-some Wal-marts have these up by the registers where the baseball cards are!
Index dividers
3 pencil cases(the ones that are pictured, that fit into a 3 ring binder)
Coupon policies and you'll want sheet protectors for these
Coupons, of course :)
Pen, scissors and a calculator


I suggest NOT starting off with a one inch binder. I started off with about 40 baseball card slots and it was to much for the binder to handle...


First things first, stick your pencil cases in first! I have one for my scissors, pen, calculator and I stuff all of the extra coupons in their that I find while shopping so they can be sorted later! The second one I use for the coupons that I have a ton of-you can staple or paper clip them and it doesn't cause your binder to become bulk, etc. The third pencil case is what I put my coupons in as I shop so when I get to the register I can just pull it out and hand the cashier all the coupons! 


Next in line, you will want your coupon policies. You'll want to get a copy of every local grocery/dollar/big box store in your area for the just in cases :) Sometimes, couponers know more about a stores policy then the cashiers do and for those instances, you may need to pull a policy out! 


Behind the coupon policies, I have a baseball card holder with all of my rewards cards(CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, etc) Behind that sheet, I keep another baseball card holder with all of my register rewards and ECB's in it so it's a the very front and I wont forget them in the bottom of my purse or bag and let them expire. 


Then we start with the good stuff :) I have my binder broken down by the aisles in the store. I would not suggest doing this in alphabetical order as it is easier to walk down an aisle and search for things on that aisle and not have to switch page to page looking for certain brands...


I have the following tabs:
1. Produce/Refrigerated Meats
2. Medicines
3. Personal/Hygiene
4. Kids
5. Paper Products
6. Household-Cleaners, detergents, batteries, etc
7. Pets
8. Beverages
9. Snacks
10. Cereal/Breakfast items
11. Boxed
12. Canned
13. Condiments
14. Frozen
15. Dairy Aisle
16. Store Coupons
17. Restaurant Coupons


Once you have your index tabs ready to go, stick 1-3 baseball card slots in each section to begin with. You'll notice their are some section that requires more tabs then others. 


Stick your coupon in and your binder is complete!


Expect about 2 hours from start to finish to do this. I clean my binder out twice a month to rid it of expired coupons...It's not fun getting to a store and realizing that a deal, is no longer a deal because the coupon is expired! 


Also, If I have more than one of the same coupon with different expiration dates, they each go in their own slot. 

No comments:

Post a Comment