Coupon Organization Part II
Okay so you have your handy dandy coupon book.
And you have the pages labeled. Well, now you might want to label the individual slots. I did this and it saved me a LOT of headaches. Other then the first page which only has two slots, every other label should have at least 4 slots since I read mine like an open book (you can do it differently obviously)
My primary strategy is to put the imporant things in each category on its own label. Then I try to include a “misc” slot in each section for random things. And trust me, there are ALWAYS random things
My system looks like this:
- NOW (no additional labels there are only two slots. i know to check daily)
- Breakfast (Cereal, Hot, Other, Blank)
- Dairy (cheese, yogurt, milk/butter, misc)
- Meats/Fish (meat, chicken, fish, lunchmeat)- I separated out chicken because I eat a lot of it, same with lunchmeat
- Fresh (fruit, veggies, blank, blank)-
- Canned (canned fruit/fruit cups, canned veg, soups/mixes, other)
- Frozen (fruit/veggies, meals, dessert, misc)
- Carbs (rice, pasta/sauce, bread, misc)
- Snacks/Candy (granola, chips/crackers, candy, misc/gum)
- Drinks (coffee/filters/creamer, soda, juice, other)
- Condiments/Spices (sauces/dressings/oils, spices, condiments, misc)
- Staples (flour/sugar/eggs, misc, misc, misc)
- Ethnic food (Greek, Asian, Mexican, Misc)
- Paper Goods (paper towels, kleenex, toilet paper, misc)
- Cleaners (dishwashing, kitchen, toilet, carpet, laundry, scents/sprays-like febreeze/glade, other cleaners) more then just 4 slots here
- Toiletries (deodorant, shavers/gel, floss/toothpaste/mouthwash, misc)
- Hair/Skin (shampoo/cond, hair color, soap/bodywash, lotion/etc)
- Face/Makeup/Female (makeup, face, female, misc)
- Vitamins/Allergy (cold/flu, vitamins, allergy, misc)
- First Aid (bandaids/neosporin, medicine, sunblock, misc)
- Baby/Pets/Senior (Diapers, baby other, pets, senior stuff)
- Misc Grocery (extra slots for anything you might have missed)
- Misc stores (vons, albertsons, ralphs) Basically slots for each store I visit- I saved an extra couple pages for this
- Misc pharm/other (target, rite aid, cvs, walgreens, costco, sams/walmart, misc, etc)
- Other Stores (office supplies, workout, clothes, shoes) I saved an extra couple pages for this
- Take out/eat in (sit down, fast food, dessert, other)
- Punch cards/gift cards (beauty, coffee/smoothies, dessert, carwashes, books, etc) I saved extra space here too
- Home goods (left empty at the moment)
- Entertainment (amusement parks, museums, other activities) I saved extra pages here
- Rebate/Receipts -if i know a rebate is coming I stick it in here so I have it handy and put the receipt with it
DISCLAIMER- I had everything in my one coupon book and it was VERY full. After lugging this around to several stores I decided I didn’t want to risk losing gift cards, punch cards, etc on the off chance I get distracted and leave my booklet. This is pretty unlikely for me but those of you with kids will surely worry. So I bought a second target album for those other things I don’t need on a day to day basis and I’m afraid to lose. I stuck the whole thing in a two gallon ziplock bag, sealed it and threw it in the trunk of my car.
That’s my strategy. Let me know if you have any tips/questions I’m always curious to learn from other people and share what I know!
