How to Organize Coupons (3 Best Ways)

Organization is key to successful couponing.

Back-to-school season is the best time to buy supplies. However, you can still find great deals any time of the year. You can purchase baseball card holders at Michael’s or Joann’s and use their weekly in-ad coupons which are up to 50% off. Their coupons are also available on their respective websites to print or on their apps. Don’t forget to check out Dollar Tree, Target and Walmart for inexpensive supplies.

There are many ways to organize all those coupons. These are the 3 most common ways.

You can use one or more methods to best suit your needs. And if you’re curious, here’s How I Organize My Coupons in 5 Minutes.

Coupon Binder

This method may be the best way to organize coupons if you have a lot of time…and patience.

You will need:

• durable binder – preferably with binder rings mounted on the back cover
• baseball card holders
• dividers
• binder pouch – optional
• hole-punched poly folders – optional

How to organize:

• Create categories of your choice (ie. baby, hair care, etc).
• Cut coupons – I recommend cutting coupons you know you will or might use instead of cutting every single coupon.
  •  Tip: Save time by clipping coupons at once if you have several inserts. Stack like insert pages together, staple coupons avoiding barcodes and clip all at once.
• Place coupons in their respective categories using baseball card holders.
• Optional: Keep scissors, calculator, and pen in the binder pouch.
• Optional: Keep printed coupons in poly folders.

I used the durable 3″ binder and it worked great for me but some people prefer the zippered binder.

Mini Accordion Files

Perfect for any level of couponer, especially for beginners. The most inexpensive mini accordion files I’ve found are from the Target dollar spot and Dollar Tree.

How to organize:

• by categories  – for example: baby, cosmetics, body care, hair care, cleaning, laundry, breakfast, beverages, etc
• in alphabetical order – example: by coupon name or brand

Filing Method

Fastest and easiest method ever!

You will need:

• file holder  –  filing tote box, filing crate, filing box or a filing cabinet
• hanging file folders
• pen or marker
• post-it notes or labels

How to organize:

• Write the date of the insert on the front (for example, Red Plum insert that came out on June 7th, write 6/7 on the front of all your Red Plum inserts. Insert dates are located on the spine – they’re super tiny! Writing the date right on the front makes it easy to locate a certain insert.
• Place all inserts that came out on the same date in 1 folder and label folder with the date of the insert using folder tabs or post-it notes.
• Optional: Locate a coupon with the longest expiration date in each type of insert (Red Plum, P&G, SmartSource). Write that expiration date down on the front page. Toss inserts after that date. Easy cleanup. ^.^

I’ve tried all of the methods mentioned above and I found combining 2 methods work best for me. Here’s How I Organize My Coupons in 5 Minutes – the lazy edition. 😆

And check out my Ultimate Couponing Guide + Resources if you want to learn how to coupon.

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