Coupon Purging

I found a great posting that Bargains to Bounty did about knowing when you can purge coupon inserts- check it out here. One of the challenges I have with keeping whole coupon inserts is finding the time to go through old inserts and knowing when I can get rid of the whole insert. Bargains to Bounty solves that problem using a regional coupon database on The Coupon Mom's site. This is much easier than going through each individual insert and removing expired coupons! Let me know what you think!

How do you know where to find a coupon?

If you're ever looking for a coupon for a particular item, you can check out the database at Hot Coupon World. It lists coupons and where they can be found- if they were in a newspaper insert, it lists the date of the insert and which particular one (Red Plum, Smart Source or P&G). I've used several different databases and this one works the best for me.



I keep all the newspaper inserts I get in a file so that when a deal pops up I can easily find the coupon. It's also nice because I usually have extras and am able to share coupons with some of my friends and coworkers. I file my inserts in individual plastic sleeves by type of insert and then in a folder by date.

Time for an upgrade

I've been really bad about using my coupon binder lately because every time I opened it one of the rings would open up and things would start to fall out. So I figured I'd use my Target gift cards left over from the freezer deals a couple weeks ago and buy myself a new binder. Now that I've had a coupon binder for awhile, I knew I wanted one with a handle and I found one that had a handle and was a dual-ring binder.





I'm still working on filling this now- hopefully I'll get all my clipped coupons filed this week and can start bringing a binder with me again. This one has lots of pockets and places to put things, but it doesn't have a nice file on the front like my first one did for my un-cut printable coupons.

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!

Making Progress!

I stuck with my plan and spent quite a bit of time this evening working on my coupon binder. I'm almost done-- I have 2 more sections that are sorted- I just need to put them into the baseball inserts.

Here's what I started with over the weekend...

a BIG stack of printed coupons that needed to be cut and sorted!


and then a BIG stack of printed coupons that needed to be sorted and put in the binder!

So tonight I started out with an almost empty binder and a big stack of coupons...





Now they're all organized and most of them are put in the inserts in the binder. I have 2 more sections to finish... I could have stayed up longer and put the rest in, but I have a bunch of diaper and wipes coupons expiring this week that I don't feel like filing just to take them back out.

Sorry the pictures are sideways... for some reason when I uploaded them they uploaded weird and I'm too tired to mess with them!




It's always fun to go through stacks of coupons and see what I've clipped. Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow night to do a little more clipping of some more inserts I got and finally be caught up! I'll also get my Rite Aid shopping trips posted tomorrow...

I need your help!

I have been trying for weeks to get my coupons all clipped and organized again. I am slowly making progress, but need to finish the project. I have most of my printables cut in stacks but I have not yet gotten around to getting them into the binder.

Please help me by posting comments of disappointment tomorrow if I haven't posted pictures of my well-organized binder! I have to get this thing back in order!

How do you organize your coupons? Have you started using a binder yet? My only complaint with the binder is if you get a couple weeks behind (or months!) it takes some time to get it reorganized.

There are suppose to be several coupon inserts this weekend so I need to be ready for more coupons!

Coupon Organization

Many people wonder how to keep organized with so many coupons. When I first started couponing, I had a small accordian file. My coupon supply quickly outgrew that file and I switched to a binder system.

Here's how I organize my coupons:

Coupon Binder
The coupons that I clip, print or get from direct mail I put in my coupon binder. I bought this binder at Target for around $15. If you're thinking about switching to a binder system, now is probably the time with all the back to school deals. They have some great binders right now with straps which would be great for a coupon binder. I bought a package of ball card inserts (around $5 at Target) to use and I had colored plastic dividers already from college. What I like about this binder is that I have space for everything.

In the front of the binder, there is a full sheet size accordian file which I use to put printable coupons before they get filed, copies of store policies and current newspaper ads. I keep a small pair of scissors in the pocket of the binder and also some paperclips, a pen and envelopes. I also have a tab for rebate forms, and submitted rebates. I always keep copies of all that information in case of missing info, and once I receive the rebate I know I can get rid of it.

I have several pages of sheets in the front of my binder with coupons I plan to use for a particular store, and then divider sections with different categories. You can categorize anyway you want, but I ended up separating into these categories:

Cereal/Snacks/Bars
Packaged Items/Soup/Drinks
Refrigerated/Produce/Meat
Baby/Personal Care
Household/Cleaning/Pets

Within each of those categories, I have several pages of sheets so I keep each sheet somewhat of the same type of product (diapers/wipes, razors/shaving creams, paper products, etc.). So far, this has worked really well for me.




When I get ready to go to the store, I look up my matchups for that store and find the coupons I plan to use. I put them at the front of my binder on a page or couple pages and then when I'm at the store I can easily find those I had planned on using. I always bring my binder into the store, so if there are other items I see that I have coupons for, I can just flip back to that section and grab coupons for those other unplanned items. I like using the ballcard inserts because I can see the coupons- when I was using an accordian file I would constantly lose coupons or forget about them because I couldn't see them all without getting them out.

Every couple weeks, I'll just quickly flip through the pages and pull any expired coupons. It doesn't take more than a couple minutes usually. I'm not as good about going through the expired coupons in the inserts since there are so many, but will occasionally try to purge some of those as well. I usually keep my coupon binder and my insert binders with me, but only bring the coupon binder into the store.

Newspaper Inserts

To clip or not to clip: Time permitting, I like to go through the newspaper inserts when I get them and cut out any high value or other good coupons I plan to use. I then file the rest of the inserts in a 3-ring binder.

I get multiple copies of most newspaper inserts through my own newspaper subscription, copies from family and sometimes buying extras of my own. On the top front of each insert, I write the date of the insert. I have several 3-ring binders I use to store my inserts. I put the inserts in a sheet protector, file the newest in the front of the binder and have it ready for a sale. If I have a bunch of inserts from that particular week, I separate the insert by type (Red Plum, Smart Source or P&G).

When I first started couponing, I was not as organized with my inserts and would go through and toss any coupons I didn't plan to use, but I've learned to save the inserts because there are often deals that come up with products that I normally don't buy that either make me money or I could get for free.

Getting it together...

So, just to fill you in on the past couple months- it's been a little crazier than normal and my blog (and many other things) have been a bit behind. Since June I've taken two classes to finish my Master's degree- one online and one a two week class and now I'm done! I haven't taken classes since I've had my kids so it was a little more challenging- but I did great in both classes and am relieved to be done. We also took a great week long vacation a couple weeks ago on a lake up north- the trip was long overdue and we enjoyed every bit of it! After that I had family in town from out of state and spent as much time as I could with them, and now things are finally calming down and I'm starting to get things back on track.

After all that, my coupons are a mess! I've still been doing pretty well with couponing during all this- great at Rite Aid, not as good at Meijer... so tonight I decided I'd start to get my coupons back in order so I can get my grocery shopping spending down.

My project is not done, but I figured I'd show my progress as I start to show you how I organize my coupons. Lately, I haven't been doing much coupon clipping when I get the inserts, I just grab what I need from matchups I find and figured I'd deal with the rest later. Well, it's later now and it was time to do a coupon cleanout and organize.

I use a binder to organize my coupons and I use 2- 3-ring binders to store my newspaper inserts. They were a mess! Here are before pictures.









I had inserts going back to April, and I usually on a pretty regular basis take out any expired coupons and get the binder cleaned out. I went through the really old ones and cut out any coupons not yet expired that I might possibly use. I did this for most of May and June's inserts. I didn't have too many coupons to clip since most had expired... those were in my white binder. Here's how that ended up looking and what was left...



a small pile of coupons to put in my coupon binder, a bag of expired and cut inserts and a bunch of empty inserts!

Then I started working on the newer inserts and got through most of them!




I still have to go through and cut coupons from the past 2 weeks inserts, but I made it through the rest. I put all the to be recycled inserts in a bag (on the left on the picture) to be recycled--that's a lot of extra inserts I've been hanging onto! Tonight I hope to finish getting through my August inserts and then put them in my clipped binder. I'll post pictures of that and show you how that's organized in a later posting. It's nice to see two thin, organized binders again!