Organization

Do NOT let Coupon Chaos to get the best of you!  One of the most important things you need to know in order to become a Coupon Fanatic is how to get and STAY organized!!!

STEP ONE:  I take and sort all of my “like” inserts into piles so that I can work on one insert at a time.  Sometime I go as far as combining “like” pages from a specific post together.

STEP TWO:  Once I have clipped the coupons that I anticipate that my family will use or one that I can get a Fanatic Deal on, I paper clip the inserts together and write the date on the front.

STEP THREE:  I keep all of my inserts even after I have clipped out what I think I will use.  I keep them filed by insert name and date.  This is super handy once you have really stepped it up and become a Coupon Fanatic.  There might be a coupon for a type of hairspray that you do not typically use.  You would have normally thrown it away, but we may post how you can score it for FREE!!!  Hey… FREE is always good!  I go through this box every other month and scan the inserts to see if they are expired or not.  This way I am not keeping years worth of inserts!

STEP FOUR:  All of the coupons that I clip from the paper along with my internet printables, blinkies, tearpads, peelies, mailers, etc go into my binder.  I use the baseball card inserts to store each of my coupons and have them separated into categories.  I only put one like coupon per pocket to make sure that I can see each coupon with a quick scan.  Remember I do not clip every coupon.  The ones that you will find in my binder are ones that I would use for everyday items that my family uses or items I stockup on regularly.  I go through my binder monthly and pull out any that have expired.

STEP FIVE:  I do not typically take my binder into the stores with me.  I like to do all of my planning before hand and go to the store completely organized.  Most of the time I do not know when I will be going to the store.  For this reason I keep the small polka dot holder with me at all times.  This is where I keep all of my shopping lists, coupons to use that week, CATs, rainchecks, coupons for stores, restaurants, etc.  This way I always have my coupons on me.  There is nothing worse than being out to eat somewhere and thinking; “oh shoot… I had a coupon for that!”