Evolution of Mom's Coupon Organizer

Many, many years ago when I first started clipping coupons I stuffed them in an old envelope and put it in my purse - well, most of the time I remembered to put it in my purse. Since I used recycled envelopes I was pretty proud of my "no cost" coupon organizer.

But there were a couple of problems with this system.
- The envelopes tore easily dumping coupons all over the bottom of my purse.
- It was hard to remember what coupons I had. I ended up standing in the store sorting through the coupons looking for ones I could use.

So next I invested $1 for a nifty little "coupon wallet" - which are basically an envelope made out of plastic or cloth with general dividers. This was sturdier - but not large enough for my growing coupon collection.

My shoebox worked fine for organizing the coupons - but as my coupon collection grew my shopping trips became longer and longer. I usually went through the coupons and the ads before heading to the store so I could pull the coupons for sale items. But I'd still take my shoebox with me because once I got to the store I'd think of something I needed that wasn't on my list - or I'd find some of those tempting "unadvertised specials". So there I was slowly making my way up and down the aisles - stopping every few feet to check through a different envelope for a coupon. By the time I got through it was dark outside and my feet were killing me.

I knew there had to be a better way but I wasn't having any brilliant ideas. Then one day while getting ready for a garage sale I made an important discovery. I was sorting a box of things my son wanted to sell. You know how that works - we spend $20 for some toy or game the kids can't live without - then the next month they stick it in the garage sale for $1 - and they want the $1!! Opps, I guess I accidently climbed up on my soapbox - sorry.

Anyway, what I found changed my coupon organization system forever.