Monday - Coupon Organization

     One of the quickest ways to get frustrated couponing is to have a mess of  coupons everywhere!  I primarily use the coupons that come in the Sunday paper, so today we are going to get them organized!  I DO NOT cut out all my coupons and put them in binders.  I absolutely do not have time for that.  I keep my coupon inserts intact and file them in a bin labelled for each week, as you can see below.

  
     I bought the bin and the folders at Walmart for about $8 total.  On Sunday evening or Monday, I pull all the coupons from my Sunday Papers.  There can be anywhere from 1-6 inserts in the paper, so make sure to pull them all out.  There are a few different inserts you will see throughout the month.  There are Redplum (RP) inserts, Smartsource (SS) inserts, P&G (PG) inserts and occasionally, a General Mills (GM) insert or additional Redplum or Smartsource inserts.  At the top of each set you will see the name of the insert and on the spine, you will see the dates.

     I choose a folder and write (in pencil) this week's date and then I collate my coupons.  Collating is a huge time saver for later, so don't skip it.  I simply open up all three of my Redplum inserts and collate the pages inside, leaving the covers intact.  By doing this, when it is time to cut out the coupons I want, I do not have to rummage through three sets, all three coupons will be right together!

      Once I have all of my inserts collated, I close up the set, write the date from the spine on the front cover of each collated set and drop them in the proper folder.  By taking this little bit of time each week, I am preparing myself for a successful and pleasant week of couponing!

     Right now, go get those papers and even if you do not have a file box or an accordian file to use today, get those inserts collated and labelled!  Tomorrow we talk about how to make your first list!  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment, you are probably not the only one with that question!

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