Laura's Guide to Couponing: Organizing Your Coupons

Now that you (hopefully) have a stack of coupons, what should you do with them? There are many, many different ways to organize coupons, including using a shoebox, buying a coupon organizer, and using a binder. The trick is to find the organization method that works for you. I used to have a coupon organizer that I bought from OfficeMax for around $5, but it became way too disorganized for me, so last week I bought some baseball card holders and dividers and stuck them in a 1" binder I had left over from my bio lab class last year.

This is the front of my binder. Nothing too fancy, obviously... 

This is the inside of my binder. The dividers are labeled "Produce/Meat/Dairy", "Grocery", "Frozen", "HBA" (Health & Beauty Aids), "Household", "Restaurants/Services/Retail", and "Store-Specific" (this one is for those coupons that say things like "$5 off your next order", which I call OYNOs). 

There are tons of different ways to organize your coupons, but it really is all about finding the way that works for you. Obviously, a binder for a family of six is going to look really different from a shoebox for a college student living alone, so don't feel like you have to aspire to any lofty goals when storing and organizing coupons. Let me know if you need any advice about organization ideas!