Coupons ARE money to ME!
There are a lot of expensive coupon organizers out there. I searched the net to see what I could find and they looked like they would be cumbersome for me while I shopped. I decided to make my own. Total cost is about $2.50. (Not including the label maker.)
Supplies needed:
Index cards - about $1.00
Index card box - about $1.50
Clear tape
Label maker or marker
Here is a tutorial of a coupon organizer that I made for a friend recently. Please let me know if you decide to make one for yourself!
Here is a tutorial of a coupon organizer that I made for a friend recently. Please let me know if you decide to make one for yourself!
Start off by making your first label or tab. I think about the stores that I shop and make the cards in the order that the products are in. Fruits / veggies and dairy are usually first for me so I start there.
This is a list of the tabs that I make: (I don't include the stuff in the parenthesis.)
Personal (Deodorant, shampoo)
Fruits / Veg
Dairy
Paper (TP, paper towels, napkins)
Cleaning
Cereal
Baking
Sides
Snacks
Condiments
Frozen
Bread
Drinks
Meat
Miscellaneous
I also make labels for store coupons:
Meijer
Walgreens
CVS
Other (JC Penny, Kohls)
Next, I put the label on the corner of my first card, as high on the card as I can. Sometimes, I fold over the edge on the top to get the words all the way to the top of the card. I want them to stick up high in the box.
Then, I cut the rest of the card off. This makes a tab.
As I go through the process, I continue to line up the cards so that the tabs don't overlap one another.
After I've reached the end of the card for my first set of tabs, I just start over on the left side for my next set of tabs.
After all of the tabs are made, I make a final tab for the very back of the box that says "purchase". I make this tab stick up higher so that I can put the coupons that I will be using at the check out behind it as I shop. That way, when I'm at the check out, I can easily pull out my coupons and hand them to the cashier instead of searching through my box and holding up the line.
I make this tab by taking a strip of index card (that I cut off from one of the others) and tape it to the top of another index card. I then put my label that says "purchase" on that little strip.
This is an index card box.
Once I finish my cards, they are ready to go in the box to be filled with money. I mean coupons!
The coupons that I print from the internet are long so I have to fold the end over so that they fit in my box. I make sure that I can still easily see the date after it is folded. (This does NOT cause a problem when the coupon is scanned. I just unfold them before giving them to the cashier.)
I need to go through the organizer once in a while to refresh my memory on which coupons I have and to take out expired coupons. It is very frustrating getting to the cashier with an expired coupon!
