[Doreen]

You will want to tailor your dividers to your families needs

but, this is what I do

I use a three-ring zippered binder with 16 dividers w/basball card pages in-between.

Baking
sugar, artif. sweetners,
flour, baking soda,
pie crusts

Beverages
coffee, tea, juice
Pop, water
including: creamer

Breakfast/Breads
Cereal, oatmeal,
pancake mix and pop tarts
shelf bread, no freezer bread

Cleaning
cleaning supplies and
deodorizers

Cans/Jars
soups, chili, beans,
vegetables, fruits
pickles and olives

Dairy
butter, spreads, cheese,
Milk, soy milk, cream,
yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese

Desserts
Cake mixes, frostings, brownies,
Fridge cookies, frozen cake & pie,
ice cream, pudding & gelatin

Freezer
breakfast, entrees, pizza,
mexican, fruit & vegetable

Hygiene
toothbrush, toothpaste, floss,
shampoo, shaving, body wash,
deodorant, lotion, fem. care, and makeup

Meat
canned (includes pouches),
lunch meat, hot dogs, sausage, bacon,
seafood, poultry, and other

Medicine
bandages, cough, digestion, external treatments, eyes, ears, mouth,
pain relievers, and vitamins

Paper Products
toilet paper, paper owls
napkins, cups, plates,
foils, plastics wraps, & Ziploc bags

Pets
cat/dog food, pet snacks,
wet food, and chews

Sauces
oil, vinegar, marinade, hot sauce,
mustard, may, ketchup, spaghetti sauce,
peanut butter, jelly, honey, salad dressing

Sides
pasta, rice, potatoes

Snacks/Candy
chips, pretzels, crackers, cookies,
dips, salsa, bars, nuts/dried fruit,
gum, and candy bars

In the front I keep (9) 8 1/2 X 11 3-ring pages to keep special deals in:

Walgreens Deals

CVS Deals

Dillons Deals

HyVee Deals

Price Chopper

Rebates

Free's (I Do Not Want To Forget To Use)

Restaurant

Misc.

I spent Sunday afternoon re-organizing my coupons, and I hope this helps someone!

[tr1022]

Thank you. I am fairly new at this and this is soooo helpful.

[Aprilmar10]

Thank you for posting this! I just went to walmart and got everything I need to organize myself.. and this list is what I will use for my binder. Thank you, thank you.

[Drea]

Thanks, seems like a very good idea to do it like that, I think I will try it that why....

[SavedByGrace]

I cut all the coupons out of yesterday's paper and thought, wonder what I'll do with these now?! I have clipped Q's for years but never really had a system that worked for me. I'm thinking this may be the answer!

Thanks again!

[332pca]

What a fantastic idea - will try this and see if it works for me - looks good.

[simba123]

Thanks for the great idea! Now I know what to do with all those old card holder pages left over from the Pokemon craze my son went thru years ago.

[misschele]

I just got this system going myself and I love it. Try to find a zippered notebook (Case-It is one of the brands) especially if you are clumsy like I am...


MissChele

[marbear]

I am going to have to try this (esp. the zippered binder part). I can't tell you how many times my baby wipe container has busted open leaving coupons rolling out. I am thinking a separate section for hair dye would be good. I rarely use it but we have sooo many coupons for it. I save them in case I get a good ecb deal at cvs, but they really just clog up space in my HBA section.

[lhart24]

I use a similar system... with one addition.. instead of one monster spot for cleaning supplies or any other thing... I divide it into sub categories...

So I have:
Cleaners - Laundry
Cleaners - Air Fresheners
Cleaners - Other (this is a catchall for what doesnt fit in other categories.)

I do this in a lot of the bigger categories so I can find what I need a lil quicker. I also did it with Health and beauty.

Sub categories include
Deo (i always have a ton of this)
Rasors
Mouth (toothpaste mouth wash, etc)
Hair
etc

Anyway ... you get the idea...

HTH

[Mom-2-Em&Mitch]

I cannot visualize what holders you all are talking about--can you explain what the plastic holders look like? my coupons are a mess!

[lhart24]

Originally Posted by Mom-2-Em&Mitch

I cannot visualize what holders you all are talking about--can you explain what the plastic holders look like? my coupons are a mess!

They are plastic pages with pockets.. The pockets come in various sizes. The most popular are 9 pockets per page (3 row of 3) about the size of a baseball card. They were popular for storing/protecting baseball cards. There are larger ones for post cards and such.

Baseball Card Pages - BCW Supplies

that site has pictures of some of the different size pages..

Check walmart in the office supplies or by the baseball cards you can find them in packs of like 25...

HTH

[Doreen]

Those plastic pages are sold at WalMart in the baseball/football card section (up by cash registers), and eventually your coupon binder would look something like this!

[Faith]

I wish I could find ones that are a little larger than the baseball card size. I tried those and to me, it takes a WHOLE LOTTA clippin' to make the coupons fit. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[Doreen]

Faith,
The larger coupons I sometimes paperclip to the dividers. Anyway you go, it's a lot of clippin'!

[Faith]

Is that your binder, Doreen? It looks great!

Sooo colorful.......

PS~ I LOVE your avatar!!!!

[Doreen]

Isn't that darn dog annoying? I've got to change him!

[mysweetiepie]

Originally Posted by lhart24

I use a similar system... with one addition.. instead of one monster spot for cleaning supplies or any other thing... I divide it into sub categories...

So I have:
Cleaners - Laundry
Cleaners - Air Fresheners
Cleaners - Other (this is a catchall for what doesnt fit in other categories.)

I do this in a lot of the bigger categories so I can find what I need a lil quicker. I also did it with Health and beauty.

Sub categories include
Deo (i always have a ton of this)
Rasors
Mouth (toothpaste mouth wash, etc)
Hair
etc

Anyway ... you get the idea...

HTH

Thanks for the idea of the sub categories ......... I got a lable maker marked down @ target a couple of months ago now I can put it to use ........

[Mom-2-Em&Mitch]

thank you--boy not sure i can be that organized??? looks like a lot of work

[lhart24]

There are larger pocket pages.. they dont have to be baseball size.. thought those are most common...

My pages are the same overall size.. but only have 4 pockets. (2 rows of 2). I found these over by office supplies in the dreaded Walmart.

There are also larger ones yet that are for postcards. If all else fails.. find your local hobby shop.. They usually sell them by the sheet for 10 cents or so... they can also help you find post card sleeves or something bigger

[SoccerMama]

Thanks for posting the categories. I put together a binder last night. I am officially a coupon nerd

[Doreen]

Welcome to our crazy world of coupons!

Also,

[granny of 7]

Thank you! I'm so unorganized

[bargainshopper]

So I see most are very organized with your coupon books, but how do you organize all the stuff that you have.. hehe.. I have a fairly large house but I can't get organized for nothing. HELP!!! anyone have any tips for house organization??

[Mom-2-Em&Mitch]

Ok, after an hour obsessing 'will I ever be able to keep up with this organized coupon gig?'...I surrendered to the fact--NO..although I commend all of you who take the time to slip them into their perfect spots But what I did do is buy a 13 pocket check file from walmart and then labled each tab with your sugesstions above...this will give me some structure that I can keep up with. So for those of you who may be challenged like me, this may be a good option for you!