How to Make a Coupon Binder, Part 3

This is Day 3 of How to Make a Coupon Binder.

Click here to view Part 1.

Click here to view Part 2.

Last week, I got fed up with my previous coupon organizer and decided to create a new one to fit my needs.  I needed a coupon organizer that allowed me to view every variation of coupon in it’s own see-through pocket.  If I had coupons for $0.25 off 1, $0.50 off 2 and $0.75 off 3, then I needed a pocket for each one.

Today, I’m showing the next steps in making a homemade coupon organizer.  Remember that I shopped at home for this project.  I could have bought a large photo album at a discount store, but I decided to make one for free at home!  I know that many people use baseball card holder sleeves, but those can cost $3 a page!  Plus, if you have long coupons, they really stick out from the pockets.  I like my new coupon organizer, because it meets my specific organizational needs and it was ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

Here are the final steps to making a coupon binder:

Step 4 – After cutting slits in the sheet protector in Step 3 (see previous post), insert a sheet of printer paper into the sheet protector.  By cutting the slits first, you don’t have to worry about cutting holes in the paper.  This way, you’ll end up with a front and back side to your finished coupon organizer page.

You might find it helpful to color code your pages.  Remember that many coupons will blend in with white paper.  Here is my color-coded system:

• Pink – grocery items
• Yellow – refrigerated or frozen items
• Green – cleaning items, baggies, hygiene, etc.
• Gray – restaurant coupons, CVS/Walgreens, etc. coupons

  

Step 5 – Using the crease lines you made from folding the sheet protector in Step 1, use your sewing machine to form pockets.  In the picture above, I am sewing on the crease lines.  You will need to sew both vertical and horizontal lines.

Step 6 – Repeat Steps 1- 5 with several sheet protectors and different colors of printer paper.  I recommend running several sheet protectors through your sewing machine, one after the other.  That way, you don’t have to keep stopping, cutting, and restarting your machine.  When one finishes going through, you just put the next one in after it.  Then, all you do is cut the thread between the sheet protectors.

Step 7 – Put your sheet protectors in a binder. Insert coupons in the pockets.  Notice that each sheet protector is double-sided, allowing you 8 pockets per sheet protector.

For items that have several coupons in the same category, such as cereal, toothcare, etc., you can use facing pages of your coupon binder.

By color-coding my pages, I can instantly go to the correct section of my coupon binder.  I can also add tabbed flags to the sheet protectors, divider-style.

Congratulations!  You made a homemade coupon organizer and you used materials that you had at home!  If you make a coupon binder, make a post on your blog, mention learningtobefrugal.com in your post, and write a comment on this page!!