This is Challenge #5, sponsored by McDonald’s, in the 90-Day Budget Boot Camp. Scroll down to find out how to enter their exciting giveaway! If you’re new, find out how you can join to kick your own budget’s butt!
Are you ready for the next challenge in the 90-Day Budget Boot Camp? Here it is!
- – The Challenge – -
Organize those coupons!
We gathered coupons last week, now it’s time to get them in order.
Why? Without a coupon organization system, you’ll be less likely to use them and more likely to completely forget about them or avoid them, because you can’t find anything. Plus, with your coupons organized, you’ll be able to quickly plan your shopping trips.
What? Do you need a fancy coupon holder to organize your coupons? NO! In fact, most won’t keep up with you, if you plan to seriously coupon. So, when choosing, make sure you take into consideration the following -
- How many categories does it have and is it possible to add more?
- How many coupons will it hold?
- Can your children easily dump your coupons?
- Is it easy to carry and something you definitely won’t mind lugging through stores?
- How much time will it take to keep your coupons organized?
How? There is no right or wrong way to organize your coupons. It’s all about what works for you! Will you actually spend time clipping them or will you often be backed up with a pile of unclipped coupons? Will you carry around a big binder or will you often leave it at home because it’s too much? Think about how you function and try a few styles to see what works best for you.
Check out Organizing Coupons for popular ways to organize your coupons, container ideas, pros and cons of each method, and popular bloggers who use each method!
Come back on Wednesday to find out how our Challengers do and hear their experiences!
- – Giveaway – -
This week’s challenge is sponsored by McDonald’s! In fact, it’s actually sponsored by the following locations, so if you’re in my area, stop by to say thanks for supporting the Budget Boot Camp!
| 1. Restaurant # 11316 – Geist 9611 N by NE Blvd. Fishers, IN 46038 |
2. Restaurant # 12363 – Fall Creek 9833 Fall Creek Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46256 |
| 3. Restaurant # 15571 – Sunnyside 10955 Pendleton Pike Indianapolis, IN 46256 |
4. Restaurant #6840 – Fishers 8990 E. 116th St. Fishers, IN 46038
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| 5. Restaurant # 20868 – Amoco 9290 E. 131st Fishers, IN 46038 |
6. Restaurant # 2657 – Noblesville 1810 E. Conner St. Noblesville, IN 46060 |
| 7. Restaurant # 33047 – Fishers Crossing 11909 Fishers Crossing Fishers, IN 46038 |
8. Restaurant # 32582 – Hazel Dell Crossing 14625 Hazel Dell Cross. Noblesville, IN 46060 |
Prize:
McDonald’s is offering one (1) $5 Gift Book to three (3) lucky winners! Each gift book includes five (5) $1 gift certificates to use. Think 5 FREE large sweet teas (my favorite), yum! And, speaking of coupons, head over to get a $1/1 Real Fruit Smoothie or Frappe coupon to organize too.
Required Entry:
Share with us your style. If you organize coupons, how do you organize them? If you don’t organize your coupons yet, which style do you think you’d like to try out and why?
Bonus Entries:
Each task below that is completed is worth one (1) additional entry. All are option, but give you more changes to win!
- “Like” the 90-Day Budget Boot Camp on Facebook!
- Follow @MummyDeals and @InGoodCents on Twitter and tweet this – I’m kicking my budget’s butt w/ @ingoodcents & @mummydeals! Could your budget survive? #budgetbootcamp #giveaway http://bit.ly/d24Y3C
- Add the button for the 90-Day Budget Boot Camp to your website’s sidebar.
- Blog about your personal experiences with this challenge and link back, so your readers can start kicking their budget’s butt!
- Subscribe to In Good Cents via RSS or e-mail
- Subscribe to Mummy Deals via RSS or e-mail
The Fine Print - Entries will be accepted until Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at midnight Eastern. Winners will be chosen randomly via Random.org and announced on Mummy Deals on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010. This giveaway was sponsored by McDonald’s. We were not compensated for this post, but may have received free products for us and our challengers. Regardless, as always, all opinions are my own!
At In Good Cents you can find new 
{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
Organizing my coupons has been my biggest struggle lately. I over flowed my coupon holder in no time. Then I started putting them in snack baggies with the categories written on the baggie all stored in a plastic grocery bag. Still frustrating, but at least now I have more of an idea of how many categories works for me, instead of the few pre-printed ones. I have decided to do the binder organization. I bought the dual binder at Target and now I have to get the baseball card pages and start re-organizing these coupons.
Congrats Rebeca! You won the McDonalds card. Please email your address to ingoodcents@gmail.com
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Right now I made a homemade organizer which I will probably have to quickly retire since I am getting so many. I took a decorative box and cut out alphabetical inserts from an old cereal box I labeled with a sharpie. I wanted to spend NO money on my organizer (defeats the purpose in my opinion.) If you are a die hard couponer a friend of mine uses a filing system where he just files the entire insert and labels it on the front with the date since all the matchups are online anyway and he just goes and grabs the ones he nees. For now I pull out the ones I need beforehand and take my box with me just incase I missed anything.
I have a small coupon organizer with tabs/categories. The front section is the place I keep all of my current, to-be-used-this-week coupons, separated out by store and grouped together with paper clips. The rest of the sections are by categories. It works well for me because the organizer is small and I can fit it in the glove compartment of my car.
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I have a huge binder that has baseball card holders in it and about 30 catagories I love this binder my kids even organize for at times when the time just isnt there. Getting kids envolved is a huge help and most of the time I can pay with them extra bucks which they love
I file the inserts away by the date I received them and clip them when you plan to use them.
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http://twitter.com/BogoBandit/status/19831621084
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I buy only 2 papers/week. So I was using a small phone book and the alphabets used to be my dividers. Then, my hubby spotted a expandable tabbed pouch in the dollar section @ Target. I’m very happy using it. It has 12 categories. So, I bought 2. They are small and they fit into my purse very well.
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Congrats Thabal! You won the McDonalds card. Please email your address to ingoodcents@gmail.com
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I like to clip them and then file them in one of those little coupon books. Well that’s what I’m going to start doing. Usually I clip them and throw them all into one pocket and sort through while I make my grocery list. I really want to start using the ecoupons. I think that will be a great help.
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Your button is on my blog!
I heard about the binder method of organizing ( with the baseball card inserts) about a year ago and I have absolutely loved this system. It’s not an issue to take my binders with me since they sit in a designated shopping bag ( with other things like my price book). I’ll be organizing my coupons this week, though, since my son pulled all the inserts out of the binders.Ugh.
i have 3 medium-sized accordion organizers. they fit in a small reusable bag so i can bring them to the store with me easily. one is for food, one for non-food, and a 3rd for restaurant and other business coupons (great clips, carpet cleaning, etc.). it works well for me!
i tweeted & i follow you http://twitter.com/thepajamachef/status/19909727925
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I file all my coupon flyers by week-ending Sundays and when I see a blog about a certain coupon, I just go into the files and cut it out!. (Works great too with hubby who does all the clipping for me)!
We subscribe by email to “In Good Cents”. Now, if I could just find bloggers who don’t have children and family but still need to find the time to blog about deals of the day.
Maybe I need to blog…. Ok when I retire in a few years. See you then. Smiles.
I have a coupon folio where I have everything divided into section – Health & Beauty, Laundry & Cleaning, Food, Baby, etc. I never buy anything without coupons!
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I have an “accordian” folio that I keep all my coupons in!
I do a combination of both methods. I write the date of the insert on the outside, and fill them in sheet protectors in binders, one binder for each month. I read blogs for coupon matchups, which tell me which insert to find each coupon in, and clip it.
Or, if I want a coupon for something I need, I look it up in a coupon database online to find it.
I also use the clip and file method for coupons I clipped and didnt use, internet coupons, and miscellanious ones. For a while I had these in baseball card holders in a binder, and am going to try out just filling them in an accordion file, still in baseball card holders.
When I go shopping, all the coupons for each store go in an envelope, with my list and matchups written on the back of the envelope.
I’ve also started always carrying with me coupons for items I often find marked down – like eggs and yogurt.
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My coupon organization consists of saving the ones I’ll use and stuffing them in my purse. :)
I like the Budget Boot Camp on Facebook and added the button to my blog.
I use a well-worn envelope….but you’ll have to wait to find out more about that in a few days!
I like bootcamp on FB!
I use a file system to organize my coupons.
I subscribe to IN Good Cents via email.
i use a file system
Congrats Sarah! You won the McDonalds card. Please email your address to ingoodcents@gmail.com
I use the 3-ring binder with the baseball card protectors inside. It works great (when I keep up with it….)
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