How to Create and Effectively Maintain a Coupon Binder

The number one reason that I feel that people fail at couponing is that they fail to plan. Couponing can very easily become overwhelming and overly time consuming, and without a game plan, many people quickly believe that it is not worth the added stress and commitment to coupon; and they would be right. Couponing should not be stressful. Couponing should help to alleviate the financial stress that everyone experiences. It should reduce the amount of time for last minute shopping trips, or the days that you have to do without (today I won't wear deodorant, or how do I make this toilet paper last until morning so that I don't have to go to the store). Couponing will reduce the amount of things that you have to throw away due to food spoilage, and will increase the amount of things that you can donate to those in need. However, a poorly organized coupon binder can become overwhelming, unkempt, and inconvenient to use in as little as a week or two. I discussed how to to organize coupons in a previous post, (see How to Organize Your Coupons) and I still maintain that whatever organization method works for you is the best one. I have found that a couponing binder is definitely the best way to keep me organized, but there are a lot of components to this, so I wanted to do a special post on how to set up your binder, and keep it set up.

Choosing a Binder:

I started a binder with a regular 3 ring binder that my mom was going to throw away from work. It had a 5" capacity, 7" under strain, and a front pocket where I could put a shopping list. Contrary to popular belief from other couponers comments while I shopped, I never had coupons flying around while I went through the pages. I carried the binder in a reusable shopping bag, which came in handy when I needed an extra bag (especially at places like Target that give you cash off of your bill for having a bag). I waited for a good after school sale, and got my current binder for $4.50 from Target clearance. It is a zippered binder with a handle, and it has a small exterior pocket. I like the exterior pocket for putting coupons that I find while I am in the store, so that they don't end up smushed and forgotten at the bottom of my purse. As far as coupon storage and ability to use, both binders are the same. You will probably end up with too many coupons for the size of your binder, but that is usually because couponers like to accumulate as many coupons as possible. Whatever binder you have, make sure that it has a 3" minimum size, and you will be good to go!

Table of Contents in a full page sheet protector...Create your own, or find one on a couponing site that you like.

Get Sheet Protectors:

Coupon Sheet Protectors

Baseball Card Holders

You will need three kinds of sheet protectors for your binder. The first type are the full page sheet protectors that you will need for the individual categories, table of contents, as well as for store policies. I also like to put any mail in rebates that I find here, so that I have them all in one place to reference while I am in the stores. I have my binder separated into 36 categories, ranging from Produce to Pet Food to Makeup. After that, you will want the "coupon sheet protectors". These sheet protectors are divided up into 3 sections, that will fit up to 3 front and 3 back coupons, that are very useful for printed coupons, or the large coupons that come directly from manufacturers. These are not a necessity, but it definitely helps to clean your binder up.

The third, and most important of all of your sheet protectors will be your baseball card holders. These hold up to 18 coupons each, and will fit most coupons, although some coupons will need to be folded. I got all of these for free at Staples during the holidays with a B1G1 free coupon, and a special that was running on Staples ink rewards. Staples frequently has deals like these, and you can also find the full sheet protectors and the baseball card holders at Dollar Tree as well. I also found that it is easier for me to see my coupons with an index card inserted into each baseball card slot. If you put the coupons directly into the sleeves, you can see through to the next several sets of coupons. I took index cards, cut them in half, and they fit perfectly into the slots, allowing me to very easily see exactly what I have available.

***I would also recommend a baseball card sleeve to be the first page in your binder to place expiring coupons that you intend to use, or FREE coupons that you might miss if they are in the regular section of the binder. My rule of thumb is that if I were to find out that this coupon had expired, would I be upset? Then it goes in the front section (I refused to do this until I lost a $8 Glade coupon...never again!).***

My first page...IMPORTANT COUPONS

Set Aside a Coupon Clipping Time Slot:
Pick a time when you get your coupons that you can spend to cut and organize. I use Sunday afternoons while watching a movie, but whenever you have time is fine; just make sure that you cut your coupons when you get them so that they do not pile up. A trick that I learned to clip multiple copies of the same insert is to collate them, meaning place each copy of page 1 on top of each other, each copy of page 2 on top of each other, etc. This will, again, take practice, but severely cuts down on clipping time. After cutting your coupons, organize them by category. After about a month, I memorized the categories, so it gets faster every time that you do this. I like to use a tupperware container with some of the half index cards marked with the category titles to help me do this quickly, but it is an unnecessary step.

When you are finished cutting coupons, it is time to go through your binder. Go through each page, and quickly remove your expired coupons. I send my expired coupons overseas to the military, as they are able to use expired coupons for up to 6 months after their expiration date, and they only ask that you separate the food and nonfood items. After removing old coupons, you will now have space to insert your new coupons, using one slot for all copies of each coupon that you have. This entire step from removing the inserts from the paper to inserting the new coupons takes 1-2 hours, and will set you up for the entire week!

How your binder will look after removing old, and inserting new :)

Once your binder is set up, it is very easy to maintain. In the past, I would not remove the old coupons, or not insert the new coupons, and I will find myself not taking the binder places, missing out on sales, building up an overwhelming pile of coupons. By spending the small amount of time on Sunday organizing my coupons, I am set up for success the entire week, and I am able to stay on top of all deals, all week long. Maintaining your binder will allow you to save thousands of dollars a year on your families household expenses, and will ensure that you are always ready for the next great deal!