One big coupon mess!

Tonight I decided to try to get my coupons under control... we've been so busy getting the house cleaned and organized to get it on the market and ready for pictures and our open house that my coupons were just thrown into my van. I figured I was long overdue for a coupon purge... and boy was that an understatement! I had expired printables from January (and even a few from the end of December), piles and piles of inserts to be filed and inserts to purge. My dog (Maizy) decided to help me with this project since the kids were sleeping.

I organize my coupons in a couple different ways. I do have my coupon binder (which also got a purge tonight) that I sort my clipped coupons into by type of coupon. I also have just a small plastic container for clipped coupons that still need to be put into the binder (that's not in the picture). Then I have my file for inserts. I keep my inserts for quite awhile- you never know when you're going to want to go back to an old insert for a deal. I usually try to go through my file every month or so and get rid of inserts with all expired coupons, but I guess I haven't done that for awhile. I started with all my June inserts and ended up getting rid of all of June-October with only a small pile of coupons that had not expired...

The HUGE pile of inserts with all expired coupons!


The few coupons I clipped...


I still have more work to do, but I think I've accomplished enough to call it a night! I still need to finish going through the December inserts, and I need to go back through the January inserts and do some clipping.



If you're wondering how this file is organized- I put each type of each week's inserts (SS, P&G, RP) into a plastic sleeve and file it by date, so that way when there's a sale with a particular coupon I haven't clipped, I can easily find it. I still do try to clip coupons that I plan to use, but if I don't have time, it's at least easy to locate coupons.



And here's your DUH moment for the night if you're somewhat new to couponing. On the spine of each week's inserts, the date of the insert and the newspaper it was in is listed. I still will write the date on the front of the insert to make it easier, but if you get inserts from multiple sources like I do it makes it pretty easy to figure out which insert is from when if you check the spine.

-Sorry-- my zoom got fuzzy as I got close but you can see where to look for the date.


And that's enough coupon organizing for me for one night!