How to Make Your Own Coupon Binder

(I know, this had nothing to do with Free Clip Art or Images, but anything that saves me money so that we can have more disposable income for our craft ispertinent! :) Not to mention, it's not just food that I save on, a lot of times I get free tape, pens, markers, glue, misc. office supplies, paper, and great deals on ink, etc!) Still not interested.. don't read. There will be free images up tomorrow for you! :) I am not selling you anything! Promise! :) These are just my personal lessons learned and shared!

Hi, my name is Abbie and I am a closet coupon queen!! Seriously, last year I saved thousands? with couponing! There are so many great resource sites out there, I'm not going to recreate the wheel, but what works for me is different than anything I have found elsewhere so I thought it worthy to share.

There are so many options out there for organizing your coupons, envelopes, pockets, boxes, binders, etc.. If you are serious about truly saving money and stockpiling when prices are rock bottom then you'll need a serious system to keep yourself organized.

My personal recommendation is a coupon binder. You can assemble your own a lot cheaper, and we are here to save money aren't we? Having spent months tweeking mine, (I started by making my own pockets.. not the greatest idea when I have dozens and dozens of pages!) I have finally developed a system that is working. For me. Yours will grow and change as you figure out what works and what doesn't for you. What categories you need and which don't apply. No pets? Leave that section out.

A few recommendations:

1. Get a three ring binder and have it zip! Having dropped mine on numerous occasions trying to juggle it, a purse and two wee ones, a zipper is a lifesaver!
2. Make sure it has extra outside pockets! I use these to store my calculator and small scissors. I also tuck my coupons in them as I travel through the store, then when I am done shopping, all my coupons are in one place, waiting for me to hand them to the cashier.
3. Use baseball card protector sleeves to sort your coupons. They are perfectly sized for most coupons and are easy to find. I tried making my own and I needed too many. Just buy them, they will pay you back. Promise. You can find them at Walmart or online.

4. Use the Avery 31 day page dividers. That gives you 31 categories for your coupons.
I purchased mine at Staples. They weren't cheap, but they are sturdy and should last a long time. And the rainbow colors are pretty! :) They make me happy to sort my coupons.

Coupon Binder Categories

Here is a list of the categories that I use for my binder. Feel free to adjust them as needed! I have set these up for the Avery 31 Page Dividers.

1. Salty Snacks
2. Sweet Snacks
3. Bread/ PB & J
4. Fruit/Vegetables
5. Pasta/Sauce
6. Soup/Canned Goods
7. Baking/Spices
8. Breakfast
9. Rice/Prepared Sides
10. Condiments/Salad Dressing
11. Drinks
12. Refrigerator
13. Freezer
14. Candy/Gum
15. Food Packaging (ie. plastic bags, foil)
16. Paper Products
17. Laundry
18. Household Cleaners
19. Dish Washing
20. Candles/Air Fresheners
21. Medicine/Allergy/Colds
22. Vitamins
23. Oral Care
24. First Aid/Eye care
25. Beauty/Make-Up
26. Soap/Body Wash
27. Hair
28. Lotion
29. Shaving/Deodorant
30. Feminine Products
31. Pets

Other Items to personalize your own list:

• Baby
• Home
• Office
• Clothing
• Restaurants

Do you have any coupon organizing ideas that really work of you? We'd love to hear!

Feel free to 'PIN' this post. I am trying to figure out the code to add a PIN button to my posts but it's not working very well. lol! there is always something!

(Note: this is my post with my images, if you have seen them before but can't recall where, I started a coupon blog a while back and this is as far as I got!)

Enjoy!

xoxo~

Abbie