Putting together your coupon binder-101

Many of you have been asking for a demonstration of how to put together a coupon binder and I am more than happy to share my tips and how I put mine together!




Supplies Needed:

1. 3 ring binder-I choose Case-it as my favorite, but any binder will do.  I found mine for $15.97 at Walmart. You'll want one that zips closed and preferably has file folders and a zipper pouch.
2. Baseball card holder pages and clear page sleeves-Walmart is the cheapest but Target isn't much more expensive.  The baseball card pages can be found at the front of both stores near the registers where they sell baseball cards, Yu-gi-oh cards, etc.
3. Lastly, you'll need a divider system.  I use the pages found at Krazy Coupon Lady.  The link to the page is here.  It's what you see in my picture above with the cute catch phrase "pick another checkout lane, honey".

Now you're ready to put your binder together.  Below are pictures of what my binder looks like:

I use my zipper side pouch for my scissors and my envelopes that are labeled for each store that I shop at.  Each labeled envelope includes that stores shopping card, if they have one, and any Catalinas or rewards to use for future shopping trips.

These are my side expanding files that I use for a few different things.  One has grocery store ads, one has drug store ads and I use the others for fast food coupons, target printables, etc.

This is what a filled page looks like. 






Now that you have all your supplies and have downloaded your binder pages, it's time to put it all together.  The plastic sleeves will be for your divider pages and your baseball card pages will be where you file your coupons.  Lastly, you'll need to sort and file all your coupons.   This will take the most amount of time, especially if you've been collecting for awhile.

In addition to my binder, I have a hanging file folder tote, that I file all my whole inserts that I get in addition to the papers I purchase.

A couple of things to note:

1. In the beginning, don't be surprised or frustrated if you don't have HUGE savings like you see on the show Extreme Couponing.  Those are EXTREME cases.
2. Each week as you add to your coupon arsenal, you'll have better and better shopping trips.
3. Any time you save over 50%, you're doing a GREAT job.  Be proud of what you accomplish.
4. Most importantly, stockpiles are not built over night; they happen one week and one deal at a time.

Good luck and happy couponing!