The Binder

If you don't already have a coupon binder, GET ONE! It's not as difficult a task as it may seem. It will keep all your coupons organized and make compiling your shopping lists a breeze with each needed coupon at your fingertips. Here's my binder -

I borrowed the following instructions from The Krazy Coupon Lady. You can find a link to the PDF file for the dividers/table of contents here.

How to Organize Your Coupons: Binder Method

Buy a Quality Binder

• Invest up-front in trusted name brand binder
• Use an office supply store coupon to lower out of pocket expense
• Best time to buy: August and September at Back-to-School sales

Two Methods: By Date or By Category

• By Category (my binder)
• More time up front, less time shopping
• Smaller binder needed (2-3 inch)
• By Date
• Less time up front, more time getting ready to shop
• Larger binder needed (5 inch)
• Look for a binder with a crease to be able to expand if needed

Supplies

• By Date
• Tab dividers to separate by week
• Sheet protectors, 100+ pages
• By Category
• 9 pocket baseball sleeves. 60-75 sleeves should be plenty. (I purchased a box of 100 sleeves at a sports card store for $15.)
  
• Pencil pouch
• Small pair of scissors
• Calculator to estimate total cost or figuring price per unit/ weight
• Writing utensils

How to Start

• Tear apart inserts at seams and stack like pages
• Staple pages together

How to Organize

• By Date
• Write dates that insert came out on each page
• Insert each page into its own sheet protector
• Put junk ads back to back to save on space

• By Category
• Cut out each coupon from stapled pages
• File coupons within categories
• Print off binder categories from the free PDF link
  
• You can use tab dividers for each category for easier sorting
• Sometimes coupons will need to be cropped or folded to fit