To begin couponing, you need coupons. Pretty easy concept right?? Robin will explain all of this in her entry about collecting coupons (it's easier and more fun than you think!!)
Let's say you now have coupons... what do you do with them?? You'll need to organize them. Organization is key to having a successful and less stressful couponing experience. There is nothing worse than standing at the checkout at Walgreens, fumbling through your purse or an envelope trying to find the coupon you want (trust me, I've been there).
There are two mainstream ways to organize coupons, but the key is, to find a way that works for you.
One way to organize coupons is the binder method. It requires a little bit more of time investment up front but it is wonderful when you are planning your shopping and while in the store. With the binder method, you clip every coupon from every insert and store them in a binder. I keep mine stored in baseball card holders I got at a baseball trading shop, but you can also find them at Wal-Mart or Target with the cartoon trading cards in the toys section. The binder method will also require you to organize your coupons into sections depending on what they are for. The more sections you have in your binder, the easier it it to locate your coupons. I personally have 13 sections in my binder. That's everything from baby items to cereal to health and beauty items. Some people like to organize on a higher level, with anywhere from 20-36 sections in their binders!! One thing I like about the binder method is that it encourages spontaneity during shopping. If I find an unadvertised deal or a clearance item that I have a coupon for, I have my binder with my clipped coupons with me at the store and I can get that great deal right then and there.
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| My coupon binder :) |
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| One of the pages in my binder |
The second method is box method. It's extremely easy up front, but is more time consuming when it's times to go to the store and shop. With the box method, you store unclipped inserts in a box, organized by date. All inserts have a date on the spine of the insert and when we refer to the date of the coupon, it will be by that date. For instance, if we listed a coupon that read:
$2/1 Any Huggies SS 3/27
That would mean that the coupon would be found in the Smart Source that was listed under the date 3/27. With the box method, you would find the date we listed and the insert, find the coupon in the insert and clip it. A perk to the box method is that you spend absolutely 0 time clipping coupons you might never use. This method I would recommend for those who don't have very much time to commit to clipping inserts every week.
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| The 3 major coupon inserts Red Plum, P&G, and Smart Source |
One important thing to remember is that inserts don't always come out on the dates that they are listed under. Typically, the date is a Sunday, but I don't get my Smart Source in a Sunday newspaper, I get mine in the mail on Tuesday. The same goes for the Red Plum and Proctor and Gamble inserts. Every region is different though so learn the the schedule in your region and also how inserts can come to you (newspaper, with ad circulars, etc).
Now that you're organized... it's time to shop!!!
