I keep all my inserts in tact. Meaning, I don’t cut them until I need them.
Today I spent a few hours getting ready for a shopping trip. The first thing I do is take a few sheets of scrap paper and write the insert dates on them. I make sure that I give enough space between each dates to write the coupons I want to cut out of that specific insert.
I then take a sheet of paper and cut it into thirds to make shopping lists. I like this because it’s the perfect size to fit in my check holder that I use for my coupons.
I then go through the deals for each of the stores I plan to shop at and write which coupons need to be cut from which insert and how many. This streamlines things and you don’t have to keep going back to the same insert over and over again to cut coupons.
Your finished product will look something like this:
3.6
SmartSource – Smuckers, Pinesol, Lysol
RedPlum – Swiffer
3.13
If you have any tips on how you make coupon cutting easier, be sure to share them!
If you are new to Couponing, you might want to take a moment to read more in my Getting Started Couponing series.
Great ideas! I have not found a perfect way to organize my things just yet. I have tried a binder, a box, purse organizers. They all have their advantages and disadvantages…I am still perfecting my system (after ten years!).
I do a binder, but I used a free sample of Post It Labels I received to label sections in my binder. I sort by Store Specific, Pet, Baby/Toddler, Health/Beauty, Home, and Food Sections. I also leave the ones I know I will use during that trip at the front of the binder.
Something that I have yet to see on any of the couponing websites, but that I do to make cutting coupons much quicker is to use a small sized rotary cutter. I already had one of the 18X24 inch cutting mats for sewing projects, so I found a rotary cutter with a blade about the size of a nickel and it works great for cutting coupons. I can even cut through 4-5 fliers at a time without much effort. I can easily cut all the coupons off of one page of a flier in no time at all!!!
I do use a binder and cut out all the coupons in the inserts, but rather than filing all of the coupons, I file the ones for products we use or might use and send the rest with my husband to work. He also has people there who cut out the coupons they want and leave their fliers in their lounge, so we are all trading coupons for ones we really want without any hassle!!!
Couponing is such fun!!!
I cut the ones I know I’ll definitely use before they expire and I organize those into my tabbed coupon file. The rest of the inserts I date with a permanent marker on the top outside and I slide all the inserts from that week into a plastic sheet protector that is in the back of my binder. (IE: All 5/22/11 RP and SS inserts are dated as such on the outside, stacked, and put into one sheet protector). This way, I know what I absolutely want to use even if it doesn’t go on sale before the coupon expires and the rest I have just in case I see a great deal on one of the databases or in the store and I want that coupon even though I wasn’t planning on using it. I always have both my organizer and my binder with me at all times
I’m trying to do a hybrid system. Basically, I cut the ones I’m SURE I will use. That way, even if that coupon never shows up on one of my deal sites, I won’t forget it exits. This is mostly for products I’m buying regularly anyway, like cheese.
Everything else, I leave in the insert, which I put the date on (I wish they came with the date already printed!) and put in order in a stack near my computer.) I also have recently started making a note on the first page of the insert if I remove a coupon. That way, if there’s some deal based on a coupon I’ve already used, then I don’t waste my time flipping through the insert looking for it. For example, I used a coupon for Nabisco Wheat Thins Crunch Stix this weekend. After cutting it out, I wrote “WT Crunch Stix” on the front of the insert.
The dates are on the inserts, on the folded edge..in tiny print, but it is there. So if you ever forget to write it, you can easily find it. HOpe that helps. :)
I just saw this response. Thanks! I actually did discover this not too long ago. Thanks again for the response.
In the evening when watching an hour or two of tv with my hubby, I cut and organize my binder. Then I don’t feel I am taking too much time out of my day to organize my coupons. On the 1st and 15th I purge.
I am such a visual person I have to “see” everything I have. So, I use a binder with the baseball card holders and separate by categories. I love taking my binder with me all the time..it even goes to workk with me, that way I can use my coupons on all the unadvertised sales I find when I hit the stores. Although, I have to admit, my binder is really large and very heavy. Thankfully it has a handle and a sholder strap! :)
I really like the binder method, but lately I don’t seem to have the time to cut all the coupons. I have started tearing the inserts, putting like pages together, and then criss cross stacking them. I then write on the top page what insert and date that stack is, and then paper clip it together. When it time to make my shopping lists I search the coupon database and know which pile to cut coupons from. If there is a coupon I know I will use, I go ahead and clip it when I first see it.
I don’t cut mine either until I make my list… I had been using a binder with page protectors for each week’s inserts. Now I have one of those milk crate filing things with hanging folders. Each week has a tab and that way I can create a folder for my All You magazines and other random coupon booklets.
I do still have my little coupon organizer for coupons I have gotten at check out or with samples in the mail.
I like the list of what insert to cut, cause I hate the bouncing around…
I’ve only been doing this for a little over 2 months. I tried keeping my coupons intact, but it took me too long to go through them and clip the ones I needed. What I started doing is putting them in envelopes. I buy 4 newspapers on sunday. I stack all the same pages together. That way I’m only doing one cut per circular, not 4. Then I write the name of the circular on the top left and the date it came out on the top right. Then carry them with me all the time! If I run across an unexpected sale, I don’t have to kick myself because I didn’t have them with me.
I prefer to cut them all out and organize them. That way I can take them with me everywhere. Also, I send the ones I don’t use or expire to military bases overseas so the cutting out doesn’t bother me.
I use a binder, but I like this idea. One question: If you take your binder in the store with you at all times in case you come across a deal how do you know if you have a coupon or not?? I just flip to that section to check what I have when I find stuff on clearance and don’t know how you could do that.
Thanks!
Amanda…I don’t think hole punching the inserts is a good idea. If your luck is anything like mine, you will punch a hole in the barcode of a really good coupon. I also file whole inserts in a binder, but I use a sheet protector to hold each week’s inserts. That works well for me! I hope you find a way that works well for you!
Hmmm… I do a binder, but like the idea of not cutting all. Maybe a binder with each insert hole punched & divided by date would work…
Binder method works for me. Sucks cutting out all the coupons I think i might use but thats why my hubby gets that job!
each week I put my inserts in a plastic shopping bag and with a permanent marker label it (I.E. 05/22/11)
then when I get ready to shop I check the coupon data bases and see what inserts have what I want, then I get them out and cut the coupons.