Keeping me Coupon Shopping Organized

[avoncallingu]

I've gone through a lot of methods of trying to be able to find coupons when I need them.

I came up with a little system that has been working for me lately.

I keep all the "return" envelopes from mailings that I get and don't need to return. (EG bills that I pay online, etc.)

Then when I'm going through the "Official Deals+Coupons" Thread each week, I use the blank backs of these envelopes to list the deals I intend to buy at certain stores and then put the matching coupons in the envelope. If I don't find the deal, I refile them when I get home in my coupon album (I take the coupon album too for any unexpected matchups!)

Do you have any quick techniques that keep you from fumbling through a bursting album in a store aisle?

[IRefuse_2_PayFullPrice]

I used the same system as you...and I find it so much easier and save alot of time

[macw1960]

I do the same as you as I find it works best for me.

[avoncallingu]

Hey - Great minds think alike, right????

[momof3heathens]

Fantastic idea

Now how do you organize for unadvertised deals? That is my hardest one. I hate dragging a huge binder around just in case.

[sweet sparrow]

Fantastic idea

Now how do you organize for unadvertised deals? That is my hardest one. I hate dragging a huge binder around just in case.

That would be the car purse - a small pouch kept in the glove compartment for items you would buy, but not obviously on sale anywhere.

This is separate from the coupon binder, which is more strictly reserved for trades, but may also ride around in the trunk of your car, should the occasion come up for a deal you can't walk away from.

Disclaimer: I'm only making up stuff as I don't have a car purse or a coupon binder (Gasp!)

I just have one coupon holder, sorted into three categories. The coupons I intend to use that week go at the front in chronological order. If I go to Loblaws as my first stop, for example, those coupons would be first before the coupons to be used at Price Chopper. Most times, I only take the coupons for the products I intend to buy. I haven't come across a deal very often where I wished I had the rest of my coupons with me.

[BC Gal]

I have a coupon purse and love it. Each Thursday evening, I sit down with the flyers and look them over, writing on the top front of each what I want to get from that store. Then I make a grocery list, putting the store name then the items underneath. Since I have all my coupons with me, any in store deals I find I'm ready for.

[sweetnlow30]

I have a coupon purse and love it. Each Thursday evening, I sit down with the flyers and look them over, writing on the top front of each what I want to get from that store. Then I make a grocery list, putting the store name then the items underneath. Since I have all my coupons with me, any in store deals I find I'm ready for.

I have a similar system with a master list of all my price matches and coupon deals. I pull all the coupons I will need from my binder and put them into a pouch in my purse. Just before I get to the checkout, I stop somewhere in the store that isn't too busy and I take only the coupons I need from the pouch and stash the rest back into my purse. I gather my flyers and coupons then head to the cash. It works great for me since I usually walk or take the bus so I never bring a big binder. I occasionally miss unadvertised sales but it is the price I pay for not having a vehicle, minus the cost of gas of course LOL.

[ssbean]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

[momgoneawol]

No great system. I just write down what I want from each store on a master list and then paperclip whatever coupons I intend to use for each store together and place them in a tiny pouch that I carry into the store with any extra coupons that might be nearing expiry that I'm looking for deals on. I leave the coupon binder in car. Seems to work ok, but I've had to send my son out to the car on a couple of occasions as I've needed something in the big binder, but I don't like carrying it round the store.