Coupon Binder question

[3lilmen]

I have just started with a coupon binder. Just bought the baseball card holders and the binder. How do you guys organize it? Do you put the coupons in alphabetical order or do you sort by the aisles or stores? I haven't put any in yet as I am not sure where to put them. TIA! Tonia

[Lynds]

[size=medium]I get dividers and write "frozen", "snacks", "beverages" on the tabs and organize them accordingly.[/size]

[Flocky]

Make your binder work for you.
Organize it anyway you want to. As you use it, you'll find ways to "tweak" it, and improve it, so you'll move it around, color code it, or whatever.

There used to be a link about binders and it was neat to see pics of what others did. Maybe somebody can find it and post it for you.

[luckyme]

That's right..you have to go with your thinking pattern.

If you visit diff stores with diff layouts its awakward to arrange it by asile.

My first binder was by my "thinking pattern".. worked alright.. but you know we are never satisfied. I switched to a caddy and I alphabetised it. That worked great when I had massive amounts of coupons. But when not haveing a massive amount they would wiggle around and get out of place.. so back to my binder I went. This time however I kept the alphabetization. As a result hair products/shampoo and soap are not located together in my binder.. I probably should have stuck to my "thinking pattern" with it instead of the alphabet. But I'm keeping it this way since it's easily switchable when alphabetized and by fall I'll probably be back useing the caddy again since that's when I have the most coupons.

I have about 80 ctagories. For me more catagories makes it easier. maybe next january when i'm snow bound I'll mess around changeing the catagories titles a bit so the alphabetization works a bit more to my "thinking patterns".

[hrhtamara]

Originally posted by Flocky
There used to be a link about binders and it was neat to see pics of what others did. Maybe somebody can find it and post it for you.

OMG that would be fabulous to "see" what others have done to get ideas!

[cherylyn]

Go to google.com and do a search for "coupon binder" - you'll find oodles of variations. One of many:

http://pages.ivillage.com/lwmsavon/id2.html

[hrhtamara]

Great! Thank you Cherylyn!

[Tomcat5251]

I looke dat the link Cherylyn provided (thanks!), but I still have a ? Do you only put 1 coupon in a pouch or shove, if alphabetized, into 1 pouch? The site Deb provided to Penny Pinchers in another thread, they have a coupon caddy for sale. I'd rather save the $25 and make my own.

[cherylyn]

I can fit about 20-25 of one identical coupon in a baseball card insert...not sure if that answers your question?

As for me, I have three huuuuuuuge binders - one for non-food, one for food and the other for rebate forms. Bought the big ones that have the zipper going around them so nothing falls out (and bought them when school items went on clearance ). I then have the baseball card inserts along with some 4x6 inserts for larger coupons or ones I have massive multiples of (like wine tags), along with the clear pen/pencil zippered pouches for holding other things. Organized my system into 4 months and cut construction paper to place inside each pocket. April expirations are green, May is yellow, June is orange, July and beyond is blue. Oops, also have one section for NED (no expiration date) coupons. I then have each month section divided into sub-categories - like in my food one, I've got dairy, frozen, canned goods, snacks, drinkables, etc. Non-food binder I have paper goods, makeup, household cleaners, etc. I have over 100 pages in each binder, btw.

Had this system for over a year now and I'm in such a groove with it I'd never update it.

Have fun!

[Tomcat5251]

I tried looking for previous coupon binder pic threads and they have been removed. Probably went missing when YDF crashed a while ago Anyone want to share their binder pics???

[cherylyn]

I'll try to do some for ya tomorrow. Would love to see others as well!! :D