Over the years, I have tried a few different methods of storing and organizing my coupons. At first, I only printed out coupons I needed immediately from the internet, so I never had too many on hand at once and it was easy just to stick them in my wallet.
Eventually, I started buying newspapers to get the weekly inserts, but if I were to stick every coupon from the paper in my wallet, I’m sure it would have made me go crazy. This brings me to my first attempt at organizing my coupons, which was one of the small, 10-pocket accordion files from Target. This worked well for awhile, but as I started accumulating more coupons, it started to become a tedious task to find one deodorant coupon in a section that held ALL personal care items.
Still, I stuck to this method because I knew that toting around a huge coupon binder was something that was not necessary for me to do, and I had no alternative way in mind to store them. One fortunate day, many of the home organization blogs I followed started posting about the new Martha Stewart line at Staples, and with her small 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” binder in hand, my mini coupon binder was born!
A few snapshots…
The first pocket holds envelopes with specific grocery store coupons and catalinas, plus my Target coupons.
The pink card sits on top of everything in the file, and as I add items to my cart that I have coupons for, I will put those coupons on top of the pink card to keep them separated from the rest.
There are three main categories – Food, Household and Personal Care. Each of these categories is arranged in alphabetical order with sub-categories:
FREE
Baking – chips, mixes, oil, sugar, misc.
Breakfast – cereal, oatmeal
Canned – beans, broth/soup, fruit, meat, pickles, salsa/tomatoes, vegetables
Condiments – salad toppings, spreads, sauces
Coffee (including creamer)
Drinks
Frozen – breakfast, dinners, desserts, rolls, pizza, seafood, snacks, vegetables
Meat – breakfast, deli, fresh, sausage
Refrigerated – butter, cheese/dairy, eggs, snacks
Snacks – candy, chips, cookies, crackers, fruity, granola bars, jerky/nuts, popcorn
Starches – bread/tortillas , pasta/rice
Dog – food, treats
Cleaning – air freshener, candles, carpet/floor, dishes, furniture, glass, laundry, shower, sponges, toilet
Paper – bath, kitchen (trash bags and paper towels), kitchen (food storage)
Personal Care – body lotion, deodorant, face, feminine products, hair, oral, shaving, soap-body, soap-hand, makeup, medical
These page protectors are the standard baseball size pockets, and they have flaps at the top of each section to make sure nothing escapes.
Best part of all is that it can easily be carried around in my purse!
No comments:
Post a Comment