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!!
Ok I have to say that is SO cool! If I owned a sewing machine, I would so do that! You could totally make them and sell them I bet!!!
That is so awesome! I’m new to sewing but want to do this. Could you please tell me what stitch you used on these page protectors? Thank you.
I used a straight stitch on my machine.
I actually made some more recently. Here are the directions in a nutshell:
1. Fold a sheet protector hot dog and hamburger (in fourths).
2. Use a craft knife to slice through all layers below the horizontal fold on either side of the vertical fold (these are the slits to open up the bottom compartments).
3. Put a sheet of colorful printer paper inside the sheet protector.
4. Sew on the vertical and horizontal fold lines with a straight stitch (regular needle, regular thread). If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can easily sew these by hand.
That’s it!
That is a great coupon organizer. I wish coupons would work for us, but they don’t. I am enjoying reading your blog. 🙂
Great idea…
However i don’t have a sewing machine.
I bet you could market this idea.
what a great idea, do have all these items at home and been trying to figure out, how I could use what I got and spend more. Also if I don’t like it, it’s ok …
thanks for sharing
GirlNeedsIt
[…] page. I have been very happy with the design. Here is a link to a website where I saw the idea: How to Make a Coupon Binder, Part 3 Learning to be Frugal The currency protector pages is a good idea. I will have to keep my eye out to see if I can find […]
I love it. I just started making mine. I am in heaven. I have been wanting a way to orgainize my coupons (had the little ones from the dollar store), now I am on my way. Can’t wait to go shopping.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH
You just saved my sanity! I loved the binder system but never could find slots big enough to hold my internet Q’s! The baseball card ones were too small the single pages too big! I am getting out my sewing machine TONIGHT!!!!!!!!
This is awesome!!!
Will be making 3 of these today! One for me and the other 2 for my mom and sister!
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!
Great idea! Maybe add tabs to mark the different sections? This will help me have everything in front of me.
[…] Thanks all for the great tips! Here are a few links, I put a piece of paper in between. How to Make a Coupon Binder, Part 3 Learning to be Frugal The original post: Coupon Binder Pages __________________ ISO: Quaker Oats $1/1 any box of […]
[…] binder (thank you again!) and kristinemomof3 (and thank you again too!) put up this link…. How to Make a Coupon Binder, Part 3 Learning to be Frugal __________________ Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be […]
I love this idea! Thanks for sharing with us.
What kind of thread did you use?
Amy,
I used all-purpose thread.
Did this mess up your needle at all? I just got a sewing machine and don’t know much about sewing. I’d hate to have to figure out how to get another needle! 🙂
@Jennifer: Sewing machine needles come in little plastic packs at the sewing store. There may have been a few extras of different sizes (for different purposes) included with your machine. They’re probably pretty easy to replace once you’ve done it the first time. Don’t lose your sewing machine manual (or look it up online).
I used a regular sewing needle and all-purpose thread.
I love this idea. You could also make them to fit your printed coupons also. Thanks for the idea. You are so creative.
How have these held up for you? Did you use midweight or heavyweight sleeves? Have you had any problems with them?
For all teachers:
These coupon organizer pages are fantastic for organizing die cuts. Last August, I put several of these, by color, into a binder. I labeled each colored section with a binder tab: science, math, social studies, holidays, etc. I went to my school district’s mecca of die cuts (including a digital die cutting machine – select your die cut on a computer and it cuts an entire page out for you), made a binder full of die cuts, and my students loved looking through it, especially when they were decorating spirals at the beginning of the year or when they were decorating lapbooks.
Thanks so much for letting me know the details about the stitching. I do have a sewing machine but am just learning.
Thanks so much for sharing this tutorial. I made my binder with your instructions.
I posted about it and let everyone know about your binder.
Thanks again,
Janet
http://culdesacchic.blogspot.com/2011/01/coupon-book-with-plastic-sheet.html
Thanks soooo much for this idea! I’m making a coupon book for my mother in law & this is perfect! Everywhere else uses baseball premade pages and those get quite pricey! Thanks again! your steps are amazingly easy to read & follow
[…] hobby. I love the hunt and then the sorting. I have so many things I want to do with my coupon binder. I’ve yet to really sort my existing coupons out, and I’m learning NOT to print […]
You could use plain tying paper and use divider tabs to label and that would save you some money….Just a suggestion, I love how you made one..I have have looked everywhere and 4 or 6 slot sheets and they are really hard to find…Thank you for sharing your frugal info..God bless…
This is AWESOME!!! I am glad I found this site before going out and spending a bunch of money. The only thing I need is a binder. I have everything else. I am SO going to do this later on today. I have LOTS of coupons and right now they are in a bucket!!!! I am going to share this with my friends as well.
Thanks!
[…] an outright hobby. I love the hunt and then the sorting. I have so many things I want to do with my coupon binder. I’ve yet to really sort my existing coupons out, and I’m learning NOT to print things […]
Hi,
(Uh, baseball card sheets do not cost That much!) I got a Whole pack last year at Walmart…in a small baseball card section located on the opposite side of the book section in the front of our Walmart…really a place I never would’ve thought to look…HTH
Also, I LOVE this idea…Wow the possible Album Page Ideas and they are totally customizable!!! Why stop here? Go BRAIN, GO!! LOL!
Ok, I love this idea! How can I follow your blog? Are you on FB? New fab here!
I just tried making one of these, but I’m having trouble with the thread breaking. Should I use heavy-duty thread or adjust the tension in some way? Just wondering if anyone has had this kind of trouble with this fabulous idea!
GENIOUS!!! I have a binder, but was having a terrible time getting dividers to work with the sheets I was using and still have room for it to zip properly. This is a great idea because, not only will dividers work, I can color code my pages by using different colors of paper inside the sheet protectors. Thanks so much for sharing this idea!!!
I tried a little heavier thread, and it seemed to work better, but apparently I still need to adjust the tension. It’s quite a mess on the back. And what stitch length do you use? The smaller length stitch almost perforates the plastic, so I’m thinking a longer stitch length would be better?
Sue –
If all else fails, maybe quilting thread would work, as it is quite strong. I use a middle-length stitch, halfway between my shortest and longest stitch choices.
Jessica B. –
Sorry, I’m not on Facebook. My understanding for following the blog is that you can subscribe if you have a WordPress account. Sorry, I don’t know other details about how to subscribe, but thanks so much for your interest!
You are awesome. This is tomorrow’s project!
xoxo
K
[…] an outright hobby. I love the hunt and then the sorting. I have so many things I want to do with my coupon binder. I’ve yet to really sort my existing coupons out, and I’m learning NOT to print things […]
You can skip the entire sewing process and do the same thing with a stapler. It worked just fine.
I made mine following these directions. Thank you!!!!!!!!
wow i would have never thought of that. i was going to pay to buy some like this for my coupon binder giveaway on Facebook, but im going to make them now. how great!! you’re the best.
I made mine tonight!
I’d heard of doing this before, but hadn’t thought of the paper in between. genious. Thanks so much!
LOVE IT!!
This is a great idea and I am definitely going to make some!!
Thank you for your creativity!!
Rachael
[…] an outright hobby. I love the hunt and then the sorting. I have so many things I want to do with my coupon binder. I’ve yet to really sort my existing coupons out, and I’m learning NOT to print things […]
I am SO thrilled over this idea! I have a different use in mind — I do a lot of nail stamping, so I own a hundred different metal plates of different sizes. I want to keep them all organized in one single binder, but was having trouble finding specialized page protectors that were the right size and/or layout for the plates. I ran across this post and knew instantly that I found my frugal and perfect solution. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
Thread type and Stitch Length ?
Our local card/comic store sells 9 pocket baseball sheets for $.25 each. Then I got 3 pocket currency protectors for the coupons I print out. Easy and cheap to make a binder, just got to know where to look.