My Coupon Binder!

Well it's time for the BIG reveal of my *secret* project I worked on last week! I am officially the proud owner of a COUPON BINDER! 

If you don't remember the way I used to store my coupons you can check that out in this post.

I decided to start a binder for several reasons.

1. My poor little expandable folder was exploding all over the place- I couldn't find anything- I spent a good 20 minutes in Walmart looking for the coupons I needed and shuffling through them to the point where I was getting irritated. It wasn't organized anymore. The expandable folder worked well when I was only printing and saving a few coupons but now that I am getting a really into this couponing thing- my needs have definitely changed!

2. A lot of the blogs I read regularly use coupon binders and rave about how it works for them. I thought I might as well give it a try!

3. The project was right up my ally and sounded like fun!

As I mentioned in Friday's coupon recap post, I headed to Staples on Sunday to get this project started and purchased the following items.

A Staples Better Binder in teal, size 1".

I cannot say enough good things about this binder. It is so sturdy and well made- I don't think I will ever buy another type of binder again. Well unless it's free...or I have a coupon.

2 Packs of Staples Trading Card Pages.

2 Packs of Staples 3 pocket coupon pages.

Luckily I had some tabbed dividers already at home just waiting to be used so I didn't have to purchase those. I also used my label maker for this project but that isn't necessary to complete this project.

I started off by sorting my coupons by category. Right now I don't need a ton of categories because my binder isn't that huge yet. Most coupon binders I have seen have TONS of categories, so as my needs change my categories will probably change- but for now I'm happy with the categories that I'm using. They are as follows:

Beauty

Health

Food

Household

Stores

Cleaning

Then I took my time placing the coupons inside my binder. I may need more of the 3 pocket sleeves soon because those seemed to fill up the fastest since there are so many printable coupons to collect! I placed them facing both directions so I didn't waste space (no great organizer wastes a bit of space!).

Then I created a cover for my binder and slipped it in the front clear protectant sleeve. 

Reasons I love it:

1. I can find all the coupons I need very quickly.

2. There is a ton of room to grow- although someday I will probably need a BIGGER binder!

3. I can see the expiration date and just sort through my binder quickly to get rid of expired coupons.

4. They won't get lost!

5. Although I don't feel totally comfortable yet- I can bring this into any store with me and shop knowing that I haven't left any of my coupons behind. 

There you have it, my big project! Hope you enjoyed! =)