How to Organize Coupons for Effectiveness

You’re standing in the grocery line checkout waiting for your turn.  You watch, amazed, as the woman in front of you hands several coupons to the cashier.  Almost as soon as the transaction begun, it’s over, the woman saying goodbye and walking away. Smiling and saying goodbye, the woman is quickly gone. As she walks away, you notice a large binder in her arms.  How did you miss her opening it to get at the coupons, you wonder.

You didn’t miss her opening it, you realize.  The binder she was using for her coupons was so well organized; she was in and out so quickly that it looked like it was never opened. When you get home, you look at your own coupons, strew across your dining room table.  Shifting through the pile, it seems like there is no way to organize them.  Even worse, if you can even organize them, how can you organize them so they’ll be effective to your next shopping trip?  Don’t give up; there are ways to organize your coupon stockpile.  Even better, organizing your coupons properly will cost you little to no money.  The following are two ways that you can use to organize your coupon stockpiles.

Envelopes: Envelopes? I can use envelopes to organize my coupons?  Yes, simple letter envelopes are the simplest coupon-organizing tool.  All you need to organize coupons in the envelope are the envelope itself, a pen or a pencil and coupons.  To make the envelope effective to your next shopping trip, you should record information on the envelope.  The best information to record on the envelope is the type of coupons inside and the expiration date.  So if you have grocery coupons that expire on January 1st, write that down on the envelope.  After January 1st, any coupons that are left can just be tossed out.

Binders: The binder is probably the most common item used to organize and hold coupons.  The extensive use of the binder to hold coupons is due to its size and holding capacity.  If you organize just right, a binder can be used to hold several hundred coupons from a variety of stores.  Here’s the thing, how do you organize the binder so it doesn’t just become a mish-mash of coupons?  Before putting the coupons in it, you should invest in some dividers.  Investing in dividers is the difference between a mish-mash of coupons and an organized, efficient coupon collection.  After you put the dividers in, there are several ways you can organize the coupons.  First, you can organize your coupons by stores.  So for example, if you shop at Wal-mart, Kohl’s and Target, you would have a section dedicated to coupons you use at each store. Another way is organizing the coupons by expiration date.  By organizing the coupons by expiration date, it is easier to keep track of what coupons have to be used first.  If you miss using them, then you can just pull them out and toss them.

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