Let me be the first to tell you, I'm a complete organization idiot. I mean it. You can ask any of my closest friends, you can ask my mom, heck, you can even ask my co-workers. I'm a teacher and my desk at school (well, shoot, while I'm telling on myself, I might as well tell it all) AND my desk at home look like a bomb has gone off no less than 5 feet away and the piece of furniture that caught the aftermath was my desk. I once had a co-worker ask, "How do you find anything on your desk?!". It's really kind of like a magic act, where the rabbit comes out of the hat. I know essentially where things are, I just have to pinpoint them. I am a very visual learner, so once I see something, I have a pretty good idea of where to find it again. It's when someone walks in and decides they need to "straighten up", that things get sketchy. I mean, when I die, if I am sent to an eternity of purgatory, I'll have to organize sock drawers or something similar... you know, which is funny, because it would be my mom's heaven. :) Why am I telling you this? It all comes back to organizing coupons.
I told you in one of my very first posts that my coupon notebook was in a shape, when my BFF saw it. I'd like to say it got better. Nuh-uh. No way, no how. As a matter of fact, I've since given up the notebook altogether. I've long been interested in seeing how other people organize their coups, because there's really no hard & fast way to do it-- although some people will try to convince you that their way is the only way if you're going to be a serious coupon-er. I don't buy it. I personally don't have the time to insert all those coups into baseball card sleeves. Wait, maybe I should say I'm not willing to take the time to do it.
Lately, this is the method to my madness-- envelopes and a shoebox. For the die-hard organized, they're probably rolling their eyes at this. Roll on. I figure if the envelope system works for Dave Ramsey's budgets, surely it can work for me!
First, I designated envelopes for several categories: FROZENS, FACE/MAKE-UP, PAPER, NON-PERISHABLES, etc. and put all the envelopes in a plastic shoebox.
When I cut coupons out, I sort them and put them in the envelopes. So what's all that other junk in there? Coupon flyers from the stores, that I'm not sure I'll actually use, so I just stash them in there. When the new store circulars come out, I go through my envelopes before I go to the store, so I'll know what I have and check for coupons online. I have another envelope marked CURRENT COUPONS, which means that is the envelope I use at the store. However, I always carry my shoebox with me... just in case there's a non-advertised deal (manager's special, clearance, etc.). I know people who use their shoebox kind of like a recipe box and file the coupons behind divider cards. I was afraid that some would slip between categories, or if the box got dropped and the top came off, I'd have coupons blowing from here to eternity-- and you bet your sweet bippy I'd look like I was in a cash machine trying to grab them back! :)
The sight of my envelopes and shoebox might just throw you into cardiac arrest-- so don't use it! I have several friends who use other methods such as accordion files and they don't even cut the coupons out until they use them. They just file them by month, because online sites such as I Heart Publix will tell you in which insert you will find the coupon. Do you have a method that's working for you, even if it doesn't really make sense to anybody else? Stick with it! Are you struggling to find a system that works for you? Talk to other friends who coupon and see what they do or see if you can come up with a method of your own. You might just find the next system I use, when I get tired of my shoebox. :)
Next time we meet, let's talk about how to get started, if you're new to coupons and not spend money you normally wouldn't. Until next time, save on, friends! :)
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