Couponing Tip: Using a binder to keep yourself organized!!

One of the most important tips I have for someone that's interested in getting hard core into couponing is to keep your coupons organized and don't get rid of ANY of your coupons until they've expired!

I prefer clipping all my coupons and keeping them in a binder, although during the holiday season, I found it VERY hard to keep up with.

I have my zipper binder divided into 4 sections: health  & beauty  household, refrigerated  frozen foods, and shelf stable foods. Then within those sections I have pages with just the certain items: deodorant  soap, toothpaste, hair products, ect...

I use baseball card sleeves for the smaller coupons and currency sleeves for the long coupons. You can buy the sleeve pages online on Amazon, eBay and in stores like Walmart and Target where the baseball cards are located in the store.

I also keep a pencil case (that I use for loose coupons), pens, pencils, post-it notes, highlighters, a pair of scissors. and a calculator in my binder as well. I also bought a binder that has a filing area in it so I can keep m favorite stores' weekly ads in it!

I typically buy 4-8 papers a week depending on how many inserts are in that week's paper. If there is a certain coupon I want more of, then I order extras either from a coupon clipping service or from eBay.

When I go to clip my coupons, since I have multiple inserts from all the papers I buy, I stack all the same pages together, so the same coupons are on top of each other in piles. Then I staple the pages together, but just make sure the coupons line up exactly together or you may cut into the bar codes or the expiration date! Also, make sure you don't staple through the bar code, this may make the cash register not able to scan the bar code!

If you cut off the expiration date on any of your coupons, the stores will not be able to accept your coupon with the missing expiration date on it!!

Also a huge help if you find yourself overwhelmed with cutting all the coupons with scissors, you can always order a paper trimmer.

Then file your coupons into their proper page in your binder!!

Enjoy and welcome to the world of couponing!!!

*check back soon for even more couponing tips & tricks!!!