“Dear Jill,
I would like to know if there is a better way to organize my coupon wallet. I bought one online and set it up with the stickers it came with. It has categories like ‘Dairy,’ ‘Frozen,’ ‘Snacks’ and so on.
I have found that while my wallet is full of coupons, it takes quite a while to find what I am looking for while I am checking out at the store.
Jeanie M.”
A coupon wallet is a great way to carry coupons you’ve cut out for your weekly shopping trip. Coupon wallets are not terribly expensive, either. I am a big fan of dollar-store coupon wallets as they typically last a year or more, and the investment is really minimal.
Some coupon wallets come with pre-printed categories, while others have blank stickers so you can label the wallet pockets however you’d like. I have my coupon wallet’s pockets labeled by store, and not by product category. Why?
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When I plan my weekly shopping trip, I only take the coupons with me that I plan to use.
For more than 10 years now, I’ve been using the “clipless” method of couponing. (Learn more about this method at jillcataldo.com/welcometocouponing). Instead of cutting and organizing every single coupon that comes in the newspaper, I only cut what I intend to use on this week’s shopping trip.
Shoppers using this method build a library of coupon inserts. Each week when the paper arrives, they remove the coupon inserts, write the date on the front of the insert, and then archive it in an accordion file or set of file folders.
They’ll later find each coupon they need for their current week’s shopping trip by referencing the date that the coupon appeared in the inserts.
The clipless couponing method relies on an online grocery matchup list to help you plan your shopping trips.
These store-specific lists are compiled and maintained by coupon bloggers around the country, like me, and the lists tell the shopper exactly which coupon to use on which item.
For example, a shopping list might say that a brand of soup is on sale for $1, noting that a $1-off-2 coupon in the “10/6 SS” will drop the soup’s price to 50 cents per can.
If I wish to purchase this soup, I need to cut this coupon and add it to my coupon wallet for the week.
The abbreviation “10/6 SS” tells me that this coupon can be found in the Oct. 6 SmartSource insert. I remove that insert from my file, cut the soup coupon out, and then return the insert to the file.
I’ll then move to the next item on my shopping list, looking up its corresponding coupon and cutting it out.
Because this method ensures that I’m not cutting or handling coupons that I won’t use this week, it’s extremely time-efficient.
This is why I label my coupon wallet pockets by store name. If I am headed to Store A this week, I’ll put all of the coupons for the items I plan to buy into that pocket before going shopping.
I leave the front pocket in my coupon wallet blank without assigning it to a store. Why? As I add items to my shopping cart in the store, I also move the coupon associated with that item to the front pocket of the wallet.
When I reach the checkout lane, I know that all of the coupons in the front wallet pocket match what I’m purchasing that day. If everything I want to buy is in stock, there won’t be any coupons left inside Store A’s pocket.
If a product was out-of-stock, its corresponding coupons would still be in my Store A wallet pocket, reminding me to get rainchecks for them before I leave the store too.
This method also eliminates any issues of carrying “too many” coupons.
Because you’re only bringing along what you need for the store or stores you’ll visit this week, you won’t find yourself in a situation of trying to wrangle an overstuffed, out-of-control wallet.
