22 Sep 2012 The big couponing tip – get organized!
by Katelin Whiddon
Sorry I’ve been MIA from coupon articles for a bit. We have welcomed a new baby girl to our family.
Tending to two small children has taken priority lately! Don’t worry, thanks to my coupons, I’ve got enough diapers, wipes and other baby necessities to last her for years!
With a new school year beginning, people are always up for making changes and doing things better. What a great time to get started with couponing! I have people tell me they want to coupon, but are so overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Let me break it down and help you get started saving money.
One of the biggest tips I can give you for being successful at couponing is to be organized. Everyone has their own preferred system. No system is better than any other, necessarily, but sticking to it will make your couponing become routine and flow better.
First, figure out where to get coupons – online, newspapers, clipping services, eBay, friends, etc. You may want to start out with one set a week at first, and as you get in the swing of things, you can expand and start getting more sets each week. Make sure you go through coupons weekly to clip and sort. Otherwise, you can get very overwhelmed and then couponing loses its luster.
Second, you’ll want to get supplies in which to keep coupons. My preferred way is a binder, baseball card sleeves and envelopes. I clip my coupons and then put them in baseball card holder sleeves. These come in three-ring sheets to go in a binder.
I sort mine into categories and use divider sheets to help me find things easier (i.e. toiletries, baby products, paper products, refrigerated foods, frozen foods, etc.). These categories may change based on your needs, and you can use as many or as few as you want.
I have a three-ring zippered binder so my coupons and sleeves don’t fall out. The more you can keep up with clipping coupons and organizing them, the easier your trips to the store will be. Otherwise, you’re flipping through whole inserts in store and can get very frustrated.
As for envelopes, I usually keep my coupons for each week in envelopes divided by store. This way, my list and associated coupons are all together, and it saves me search time in the store. I also keep my store coupons in these envelopes at all times so they’re accessible in the store.
Another tip that will help you stay organized is to regularly clear out your expired coupons. This will keep your binder from becoming overloaded and save you from flipping through unusable coupons.
If you don’t have the time to clip coupons weekly, another way that you can organize is to keep the inserts intact and label them by date. Sites that list weekly deals for stores will tell you which insert it comes from and which date. When you see the date, you can quickly refer to the insert, get the coupon it calls for and then use it in store. The only downfall to this is if you find items on sale in store you weren’t expecting – then you have to dig for coupons again.
I hope this article helps you get started and get organized to help you enjoy couponing! Feel free to follow me on Facebook – “Couponing with Katelin” – or email me at [email protected] with questions or suggestions for new articles.
