coupon (album) binder

Remember my last post full of long forgotten coupon inserts and me crying over all the money I could have saved?

Well, I have finally finally found a system that works for me.

I am so excited.

Yes, that's a photo album you see there. It has 25 pages, each page having 4 photo slots-2 on the front, 2 on the back. (bonus: the slots open along the binding and it has an elastic band to keep it closed so my coupons never fall out!) Here is how I organized it:

Each week I collate the inserts, then clip out any coupons I would use. This is a good time to forget brand loyalty ;)

Once I have my massive stack of coupons I sort them into 4 categories:

1. Non-perishable food (canned goods, baking supplies, cereal)
2. Perishable foods (anything found in the refrigerated or freezer section)
3. Health & Beauty (medicine, toothpaste, makeup)
4. Household items (laundry soap, toilet paper, cleansers)

{Here is where it gets tricky. Not because it's difficult, but because I'm not very good at explaining things.}

I skipped the first page in the album (I'll tell you why in a little bit) and then file the coupons by the first letter of the brand name, so it's a-w then x,y,z are combined on the last page since there are so few of them.

So, each page is assigned a letter, which then has the 4 sub-categories.

I'm more of a visual person:

Those little sub-categories make searching for coupons so much easier. I don't want to be flipping through my Glade air freshener coupons when I'm looking for General Mills.

The first page I save for store coupons (bottom slot) and

coupons I plan to use for my shopping trip (top slot).

(Scribbles courtesy of my two year old. I love him dearly, but it's so much easier to leave him at home with daddy while I shop! )

So I make my list in this little note book then bring it with a pen and my album coupon binder to the store. As I go through my list I pull out the coupons that I can use for the item and place them in the little slot next to my list. It makes it much easier at check out time, I have all the coupons that I can use in one place rather than a handful that I'm frantically matching up to the items in my basket while in the check out line. Trust me, I've been there. It's not fun.

I hope that doesn't seem too complicated, or too much work. I promise it's not. It's actually quite easy and I love having the coupons with me (clearance+coupons=super good deals). I'm saving more than I have in a long time.

What do you think? Have you found a system that works for you?

Please don't hesitate to leave a question or hello in the comments!