These last... oh 4 weeks, has been really busy. That happens sometime and things get backed up. In between church events and obligations and birthday parties i was buying my newspapers, getting them half clipped and thrown in a box because i didn't have the time or energy to finish and get the organized.
This seems to be a routine. I do great and am really on top of getting my coupons clipped and in my binder and then things get to busy and things get piled up and it takes forever to get things under control again. Ever been there? LOL i'm sure you have.
Well once again i am attempting to get organized and make things easier for me when the next hectic phase comes.
So this is what i did:
This is a section of my desk in my craft room just for my coupons.
This filing container i cleaned out and now it will store my unclipped coupon inserts. I have arranged them by week.
Helpful Hint: I have seen and heard that people write the date on the insert cover for quick reference (i do this as well). I have even seen a lady who takes pictures of the insert covers and posts them online with the dates for people to reference in case they forgot to write the date on them. Well i figured out something today where you will never again have to 'wonder' what week the insert came from if you forgot to write it on the cover when you bought it. Did you know that the insert covers print on them the date of when that insert was in the newspaper? It's small and printed on what would be the 'binder' section of the insert if it was a book. I had several inserts that were given to me and i didn't know which week they were from and i search and search the insert to see if it stated the date. I was so tickled to find it because i had never seen it before when i had looked. I then looked on all my inserts and on all of my inserts (except the playskool one) it had it listed there.
I bought these little drawers at Wal-Mart and labeled them with the same labels i have in my coupon binder. This works for me because a lot of times i have enough time to quickly clip some of my coupon inserts (that are usually piled up) and separate them into stacks of alike type of coupons but i have a hard time going back and separating the coupons into individual coupons and get them in my binder.
So when i do this i usually have stacks of unorganized coupons sitting all over my desk and/or work table.... or i end up throwing them in a box because i need my desk and well... it just becomes a mess!
So now i have an area to quickly throw them after i clip them, half organized. Then when i want to come back and get them in my binder it is much easier. Also if i have to make a trip to the store quickly i can look through the half organized stacks and find a coupon much easier.
This might seem silly... i know it seems like a lot of steps but for me it makes it easier and anything to make saving easier is worth it.
I personally like all my coupons clipped and in my binder at all times... i'm not a huge fan of leaving in the whole inserts and only clipping the ones i need so this is kind of... well three ways of organizing them. I guess i like to mix things lol
And of course every person has there own method so play around with it!
