Coupon organizing

Last year I began couponing, not in a really big way, but I started saving and using coupons to save money. I am so glad I did because it really has saved money. My problem was, of course, organizing the coupons. I couldn't find anything in which I could conveniently organize and save my coupons. All the portfolios I could find had no more than 14 sections. The coupon organizer were cute, but really didn't have enough slots, either. But last weekend, I found this portfolio at Walmart for $9 with 26 slots -- room for the entire alphabet with a cute little carrying handle!

I was saving coupons in a shoe box-sized plastic container. I had to make dividers (made from index cards) and clip each category to the index card with a paper clip. I am not showing it here because it was messy and it really wasn't easy to use. I had to clip everything into a pile, separate the piles into categories and then go through and paper clip them together in categories. If this doesn't make sense, I can understand. It also didn't work! When I took the box to the grocery store, it wouldn't fit into the cart and sometimes I tipped them over -- well, it was a disaster.

Now, I can clip the coupons and file them alphabetically and then go through and clip them together into categories. I still use the index cards for the categories, like "Cleaning, Dish washing detergent."

So far, I have done a week's worth of coupons and it was wonderful, compared to before. I also can take this cute portfolio to the supermarket and it will sit in the buggy and I won't dump out coupons. I can't wait to see if this will work in the long run but today, I am pleased.