During tough economic times, cutting coupons can add up to lots of extra dollars in the family budget. Whether you’re just starting out cutting coupons, or if you’ve been doing it for years, creating your own coupon organizer can make your coupons even more valuable.
Why create your own coupon organizer
Coupon organizers can be purchased at any discount or dollar store, so why go through the trouble of making your own? Store bought coupon organizers are often wallet sized with multiple dividers pre-labeled with general shopping categories. There are multiple problems with storing your coupons in this method.
First of all, wallet sized coupon organizers are often to small for larger sized coupons, especially those printed from the internet. Secondly, generically marked categories often don’t make it easy to find the coupons you want, or make it easy to forget which coupons you have when you go shopping. And finally, store bought coupon organizers are often easily misplaced or will fall apart after being used for awhile.
How to make your own coupon organizer
Making your own coupon organizer may cost a little more money than one you can buy in the store, but will provide you with far more versatility. Start with purchasing a small sized personal organizer, or use one that you may have already in your home. The ones that work best either have a zip closure or some sort of fastener to keep things from getting loose. Next, visit your local discount or office store and pick up several plastic zip close pouches that fit the size of your personal organizer. Normally these are used for storing paperclips or other small items, but they work great for storing your coupons as well. Plus, the over sized plastic zip pouches give a lot more room for larger coupons and the clear plastic pouch makes it easier to see what’s inside.
While you’re at the discount or office store, take a look at refill pages for your organizer and pick up some lined pages and even a calculator to fit in your organizer. These pages make a great addition to your coupon organizer because you can keep your grocery list in the same place as your coupons, and the calculator is handy for doing some quick math in the grocery isle.
Organize the plastic zip close pouches however is most convenient for you. Using pouches for frequently bought items separated from those less frequently purchased may be helpful. Another method may be to organize your coupon pouches in the same way that you do your shopping. Some other ways to organize your coupon pouches may be according to expiration date, special store coupons, or coupons for products you may try if you find them on sale. The plastic zip pouches literally give you dozens of ways to organize your coupons in a way that suits your shopping needs without being locked into to pre-labeled sections.
