Coupon Organizer

Making Your Own Coupon Organizer

Coupon organizers can be found at almost any discount or office supply store. Most are simple accordion-file type devices with tabbed dividers representing a few basic coupon categories. However, these organizers are sometimes expensive and hard to customize to fit your personal shopping needs. Making your own coupon organizer is a budget-friendly alternative that ensures you have a system designed to work with your own organizational preferences.

Choosing an Appropriate Container

The first step in making your own coupon organizer is to choose some sort of container for your system. The type of container you select will depend partially on how many coupons you have. For a new coupon collector, an index card box may provide ample room. However, those who clip coupons for almost every product on their grocery list may find that a shoebox size container is a better fit.

If you find the box system difficult to work with, you may want to try using a binder filled with various color-coded file folders. An old photo album may also work well for organizing coupons, since the clear pockets will make it easy to see what you have at a glance.

Creating Categories for Organizing Coupons

After you’ve selected a container for your organizing system, create categories for sorting coupons. You can use tabbed file folders to make your categories or make dividers by labeling thick pieces of recycled cardboard.

Obviously, the exact category system you use needs to be based on your family’s shopping habits. If you have no pets and never bake, you don’t need categories for diapers and cake mix coupons! Possible categories for organizing your coupons may include:

• Baby items (diapers, wipes, shampoo, and other related items)
• Baking (cake mixes, oil, sugar)
• Beverages (milk, juice, soda, coffee)
• Bread
• Candy
• Canned goods (soup, vegetables, fruit)
• Cereal
• Cleaners (dish detergent, disinfectant, laundry soap, furniture polish, glass cleaner)
• Condiments
• Crackers
• Dairy (cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, snacks, yogurt)
• Frozen (ice cream, meat, vegetables, fruit, potatoes)
• Hygiene (band-aids, deodorant, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrushes)
• Meat
• Office supplies
• Paper products (facial tissue, cups/plates, toilet tissue, towels/napkins)
• Pasta and rice
• Pet items (food, toys, medicines)
• Salad dressing, sauces, spices, and seasonings
• Snacks

Within each general category, sort your coupons by expiration date and/or product manufacturer. Using paperclips to keep related coupons together within a category is one frugal organizing idea.

Shopping with Coupons

Once you’ve organized your coupon stash, it’s time to see how much money you can save! Before you head out on your shopping trip, spend a few minutes going through your coupon organizer to create your shopping list. Many dedicated coupon users like to write their list on the back of an envelope and simply place the coupons they plan to use in the envelope. This saves time in the checkout line and eliminates the hassle of carrying a bulky organizer to the store.

Donate Expired Coupons

As you’re making your shopping list, it’s also a good idea to get in the habit of checking the expiration dates on your coupons. However, you don’t need to toss the outdated coupons into the trash. Sending your expired coupons to our troops is a simple way to show your support for the brave men and women in the armed forces. U.S. military families that are stationed overseas are allowed to use coupons for up to six months after the manufacturer’s expiration date.

For more information about this program, as well as the addresses for military bases that will accept your expired coupons, visit the Grocery Saving Tips Web site.