MrsDrPoe: A Beginners Guide to Couponing Part 3

For the third installment of my beginners guide to couponing, I'd like to investigate coupon storage. As I mentioned in part 1, there are many different ways of storing coupons; we'll look at three specific ones today:

Method 1
This method is the most labor intensive, but it allows you to be most familiar with the coupons you have.

Materials:
large 3 ring binder, dividers, baseball card sleeves ($$)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label the dividers (dry food, cold food, household, baby, pet, misc, etc.) according to your needs, and place the dividers and the sleeves in the binder.

Each week: Set aside a specific time each week to go through that weeks' inserts. Clip each coupon*, and place them in individual sleeve pockets behind the appropriate divider. If you have minions...I mean children...they can be a huge help in this endeavor! Periodically go through your coupons to remove those which have expired.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out the coupons you plan to use during your trip (you can place them in an envelope if you'd like). With this method, it is also very quick and easy to look for a specific coupon while in the process of shopping (if you bring your entire binder into the store with you).

Method 2
This method is slightly less labor intensive at the expense of loosing some amount of familiarity with the coupons in your possession.

Materials:
large 3 ring binder, dividers, page protectors ($)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label the dividers according to your the types of inserts (RP, PG, SS, Misc), and place the dividers and the page protectors in the binder.

Each week: Set aside a specific time each week to go through that weeks' inserts. Place each page of each insert in its own page protector behind the appropriate divider. You may wish to label at least the first page from each insert with the date on which you obtained it. Periodically go through each sheet to get rid of any expired coupons.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out and clipping the coupons you plan to use during your trip (again placing in an envelope). This method can aid you in determining whether or not a specific coupon was in your area's inserts. You can also search for coupons "on the go" with this method, just not as simply as with the previous method.

Method 3
This method is the least labor intensive, but you may not realize you have some coupons that you do.

Materials:
13 slot accordion folder, index card holder/canceled check file ($)

Procedure:

Initial Setup: Label dividers in the index card holder/canceled check file (dry food, cold food, etc.).

Each week: As soon as you get the inserts on Sunday, write the date on the front of each one and place it in the next available slot. Once you've filled your folder (in approximately 3 months), you'll need to add the additional step of removing the old coupons from the "next" slot. When you remove the old coupons, quickly flip through and clip any* that have not yet expired (most will have). Place these loose coupons along with any other coupons (those printed or received in the mail, etc.) in the appropriate section of the index card holder/canceled check file.

Shopping: While you are making your shopping list, use a coupon database to aid you in picking out and clipping the coupons you plan to use during your trip (I place these in the front of my index card holder). It's almost impossible to find a coupon "on the go" with this method, so it requires a bit more pre-trip planning.

*You want to make sure that you keep all the coupons that you get in the inserts even if they're for items that you don't purchase or use. Often times store sales will allow you to get these items for free (or even to make money by purchasing them). You may discover a new favorite product, find the perfect gift, or bless someone less fortunate than yourself this way!

Of course there are many variations of these methods (and many others) that folks use. The key is to find something that works for you.

To all my fellow couponers out there: what method do you use?