One of the most important parts being a successful “couponer” is being organized. You have to have your coupons organized to use them effectively, and there are several different methods to do this. Some people like a coupon box, others use an envelop system. I personally “love me a three-ring binder,” so I chose the binder method from the start.

You don’t have to run out and spend a fortune to buy the supplies to make your coupon binder. You might even have what you need in your house already — I did. I started out using my daughter’s old middle school zippered binder, seen here and a few baseball card pages from my son’s stash:

Doodling and all, her old zippered binder was a good place to start. After all, the  point it so save money, not spend it. Anyway, I’ve since graduated to a larger and more sophisticated binder, but here is what you need to get started.

• A zippered 3-ring binder
• Coupon pages – I use a combination of baseball card pages and  photo pages. You can buy baseball card pages at Walmart for about $6 for 35 pages (they’re kept near the checkout lanes most of the time).
• Category dividers – I started out by cutting old manila folders in half, using a three-ring punch and then writing the catory on the folder tab. Plastic dividers work, too.
• Scissors
• A few standard-size envelopes (for putting coupons in that you’ve clipped and need to file, or that you pulled for shopping).
• A 3-ring zippered pocket to hold your scissors, pens, and other loose supplies.

Here are a few pictures of my binder:

I like to keep all my stuff in my binder so it’s all in one place when I need it, so I also have a 3-ring plastic folder with a velcro closure where I keep my weekly newspaper coupon inserts that I need to clip, as well as any other coupons I find in magazines or at the store that I need to file. It’s also a great place to keep my All You magazine, which I highly recommend to any couponer.

Here are the categories I use to in my binder system:

• Baby
• Baking
• Beverages
• Bread
• Canned
• Cereal
• Cleaning
• Condiments
• Dairy
• Frozen
• Fruit/Produce
• Hygiene
• Makeup/Hair
• Meat
• Miscellaneous
• Paper/Plastic
• Pasta/Rice
• Personal Care
• Pharmacy
• Snacks
• Soup

I have clear plastic pockets in the front of my binder to keep the weekly CVS and Walgreens ads, along with any unused Register Rewards or ECBs (see the Coupon Lingo post), as well as the monthly Walgreens coupon booklet. And I have the same clear pockets in the back of my binder to keep the weekly grocery ads for my area. I “stabilize” these pockets by cutting a manila folder down to size and inserting it into the pocket. That also allows me to label each pocket. See below:

I also have pockets for Restaurants.com certificates that I’ve purchased (above) and photo pages for larger restaurant coupons that come in the mail around my birthday or that I receive via email when I register on their Web sites. (I’ll post more about these money-saving habits later).

As I mentioned above, after a just a few months of doing this, my daughter’s old binder wasn’t big enough. So, having slashed my grocery bill by more than 30 percent in the first month alone (read more about that in Getting Started Part 1 – Why Clip Coupons), I felt justified purchasing a larger binder.

It’s a beast, but like I said, I like to have EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink in there. That way, if I’m waiting for my son at guitar lessons, I can clip and file coupons. When I’m at a swim meet, I can peruse my All You magazine for money-saving tips or review the grocery fliers and make my shopping lists according to sales at the stores. (read more about how my grocery shopping habits have changed later in the Getting Started series, so be sure to subscribe via email in the upper right corner of the site so you don’t miss anything). Here are some pictures and here is where you can purchase one for $24.99 if you’re interested (but it is not necessary):

Yes, I carry it into the store with me, which is why I love the shoulder strap, because I’m usually toting a toddler who weighs about the same as my binder. It’s nice that one comes with a shoulder strap. But I’ve heard of other women cutting the strap off an old purse and using it with their binders, so again: don’t feel like you need to spend a lot of money getting organized!

One of my other coupon heroes, Money Saving Mom, uses a coupon box system, and can read about her method here.

I’ll write more about how I organize my shopping trips so that I’m not having to dig through my binder all the way through the store in my next post, Getting Started Part 4. In the meantime, you can read the first two posts in this series here and here.

And don’t forget to visit m coupon database and visit Coupons.com for even more savings.

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