Thirfty Thursdays ~ Keeping Coupons

Since most of the questions directed my way have concerned couponing, I'm starting Thrifty Thursdays with a simple series on couponing. This is not going to be a comprehensive evaluation of every method out there. This is going to be "The Jenny Version" of couponing. :o) It's what works for me. And you're probably going to need to tweak it if it's going to work for you--because you're not me. :o)

So here we go. If you're going to coupon, you're going to need a means of keeping those valuable pieces of paper organized and accessible. (The day coupons go digital will be a blessed day!) You can start small, but if you get serious about couponing, you're probably going to graduate to something larger.

I originally tried the photo album/baseball sleeve method. It did not work for me. It took too long to put the coupons in the slots, I had blank spaces when I pulled expired coupons, and it was expensive to buy more holders as I grew my coupon stash. Enough said. Based on articles I've read, some people love it, so it might work for you. (In fact, I think that's the method Jenny at SouthernSavers.com uses.)

What does work for me is my black box.
I can put all the categories I want for my coupons in it, it's SUPER easy to file my coupons, and all I have to do to find a coupon is pull the folder and flip through a small pile of clipped coupons. And when I pull expired coupons, my pile to flip through simply gets smaller. A good thing.

And for what it's worth, even though I usually put the tabs for hanging files on the back of the folder, for my coupon box, I put the tabs on the front. It makes it easier for my fingers to quickly file the small pieces of paper. I rarely take my black box to the store or even in the van. My black box sits under my desk. When I'm preparing my grocery list, I pull the coupons I need and put them in my smaller pink holder. Since it has a limited number of sections, I simply consolidated my categories.

Have I ever missed a random deal because I didn't have all of my coupons with me at the store? Yes. And I'm okay with that. :o) Since I'm often shopping with three children, and rarely without at least one, I simply have not a spare hand nor room in my cart for my black box.

And now, for those who are interested, here are the categories in my black box:

• Food (the first folder for each section is the misc. folder)



• Beverages/Tea



• Breads/Cereals



• Canned/Boxed Goods



• Condiments/Seasonings



• Desserts/Baking Goods



• Frozen Food



• Frozen Veggies



• Meat



• Refrigerated



• Refrigerated Bread/Dough



• Snacks/Nuts



• Yogurt



• Health & Beauty



• Body Care



• Facial/Cosmetics



• Hair Care



• Medicine/First-Aid



• Tooth Care



• Household



• Air Fresheners



• Cleaning Supplies



• Kitchen Products



• Laundry Supplies



• Paper Products



• Miscellaneous



• Baby/Childcare



• CVS Coupons



• Dining



• Retail



• Coupon Fliers

Next week I plan to cover Clipping Coupons ... which coupons do I clip, where do I find them, when do I clip them, and how do I sort them?

What method of keeping coupons has worked (or not worked) for you?