Couponing 102 Part 1: How Do I Organize My Coupon Database?

Couponing 102 Part 1 

            To be successful at couponing you need to build a coupon database and a stockpile. 

How do I organize my coupon database?  (Inserts from Newspapers, Smart Source, Red Plum, General Mills, Proctor and Gamble)

The following are two popular ways to do this:

1.     Take your inserts from your papers and put like pages together.  The idea is to make a booklet by correlating your # of paper inserts together.  Then either staple or clip them into a booklet.  At the top of the booklet you have created, write the date of the Sunday paper.  Do this for each different insert (Smart Source, Red Plum, General Mills, or Proctor and Gamble) and then file them in an accordion file or box.

2.  Another option is to take your inserts from your papers and put like pages together then cut them out to put in a coupon binder.  I prefer this way.  As I am cutting them out I only save the coupons that I will use and I put the others in a bag to be mail to the military families.  

Coupon Binder

Categories for your coupons (the following is an example, you will find that you will need to tweak your categories to represent your family).  I also have sub-categories.  I use small labels for this that I can easily put on each pocket of my 9 pocket coupon page.

1. Business Card Page, for store cards
2. Refund/rebate forms (this page has 3 large pockets)
3. Baking Items
4. Beverages
5. Body Care
6. Breads
7. Canned Foods
8. Cereals
9. Cleaning
10. Condiments
11. Dairy
12. Frozen Food
13. Meats (packaged)
14. Medicine
15. Misc.
16. Oral Care
17. Paper/Plastic
18. Pasta/Rice
19. Pets
20. Salad Stuff
21. Snacks

· Use a small phone/address book as a price book and keep it in the binder.

· Put dark paper in the pockets to enable the use of both sides of the pages.

· Use zipper/pencil pouch for scissors, marker, notepad, and calculator

· Plastic color file folders for your stores ex.Wal-Mart, Dollar General etc. these come in handy to hold store coupons, and the store ads

Store Ads (from newspapers or from the store)

          Right the sale date in the right hands corner this is useful in correlating with your coupons, I put mine in the store folders.

Receipts

·         File by store

·         Use to set up buy list or Stock-up buy list
·    Use to see the savings you have made during shops

Couponing 102 Part 1 

            To be successful at couponing you need to build a coupon database and a stockpile. 

How do I organize my coupon database?  (Inserts from Newspapers, Smart Source, Red Plum, General Mills, Proctor and Gamble)

The following are two popular ways to do this:

1.     Take your inserts from your papers and put like pages together.  The idea is to make a booklet by correlating your # of paper inserts together.  Then either staple or clip them into a booklet.  At the top of the booklet you have created, write the date of the Sunday paper.  Do this for each different insert (Smart Source, Red Plum, General Mills, or Proctor and Gamble) and then file them in an accordion file or box.

2.  Another option is to take your inserts from your papers and put like pages together then cut them out to put in a coupon binder.  I prefer this way.  As I am cutting them out I only save the coupons that I will use and I put the others in a bag to be mail to the military families.  

Coupon Binder

Categories for your coupons (the following is an example, you will find that you will need to tweak your categories to represent your family).  I also have sub-categories.  I use small labels for this that I can easily put on each pocket of my 9 pocket coupon page.

1. Business Card Page, for store cards
2. Refund/rebate forms (this page has 3 large pockets)
3. Baking Items
4. Beverages
5. Body Care
6. Breads
7. Canned Foods
8. Cereals
9. Cleaning
10. Condiments
11. Dairy
12. Frozen Food
13. Meats (packaged)
14. Medicine
15. Misc.
16. Oral Care
17. Paper/Plastic
18. Pasta/Rice
19. Pets
20. Salad Stuff
21. Snacks

· Use a small phone/address book as a price book and keep it in the binder.

· Put dark paper in the pockets to enable the use of both sides of the pages.

· Use zipper/pencil pouch for scissors, marker, notepad, and calculator

· Plastic color file folders for your stores ex.Wal-Mart, Dollar General etc. these come in handy to hold store coupons, and the store ads

Store Ads (from newspapers or from the store)

          Right the sale date in the right hands corner this is useful in correlating with your coupons, I put mine in the store folders.

Receipts

·         File by store

·         Use to set up buy list or Stock-up buy list
·    Use to see the savings you have made during shops