Never to be seen again. I realized a while ago that my method for organizing the coupons was lacking. I originally wanted something that would be small and compact that I could fit in my purse all the time, I have since realized that this system has failed me. The problem was that my coupons were not separated into enough categories so I would be too lazy when planning my shopping trips to go through so many coupons. The original categories I had in this organizer were:
- grocery
- beauty
- health
- home
- restaurants
- entertainment
- misc.
Organizers with tabs just like the one I originally bought there but bigger. Each have thirteen compartments, and the great thing was they were longer so I also wouldn't have to worry about folding coupons that were very long (something else that bothered me about my old system).
So I got to work cutting today's coupons and putting them into categories. I quickly realized I should get two more organizers and make 4 seperate coupon categories: grocery, health/beauty, household and dining/entertainment.
By the time I was done sorting to take the changes into account this was what I ended up with. Before going to the grocery store (which I usually do most every Sunday) I made a pit stop at target for the other 2 organizers (lucky for me they come in 4 different colors).Then came the part I was dreading...
These are all the coupons that were expired that I recycled :( soooo awful! All those savings gone! Here's hoping my new system will help me avoid this in the future! :)
So this is the end result, 4 different coupon organizers. I am currently looking into buying a new label maker (I would love to have a silhouette but am still working on convinving my hubby) so I just grabbed some Martha Stweart labels I had on hand and the sharpie I used for the categories. So all together this project only cost me $4 (plus tax)!!
(sorry for that glare!)
I have decided that since I mainly go shopping 1-2 times a week I will just leave them at home and take out the coupons I need as I go. This may change, who knows, I may start leaving them in my car or something. So for now they live in this little china cabinet in my dining room.
It works for me beacuse I usually cut my coupons out on the dining room table so it seems to make sense to just leave them in the cabinet. (And in case you are wondering that picutre frame does not have my own pictures in it, we bought the cabinet at an estate sale and the previous owners cut a hole in the back so I grabbed the frame in an effort to cover it as much as possible and still haven't put pictures in it)
Here are all the categories I used for the organizers:
Grocery:
- dairy
- drinks
- breads
- cereal/chips
- snacks
- produce
- cooking
- frozen foods
- cans/jars
- condiments
- baking
- meats
- misc.
- teeth
- hair
- body
- shaving
- medicine
- first aid
- "lady stuff" ;)
- deoderant
- face
- makeup
- misc.
- pet
- laundry
- kitchen
- bath
- cleaners
- candles
- air fresheners
- batteries
- paper goods
- misc.
- restauraunts
- ice cream
- bowling
- movies
- shopping
- misc.