Organizing grocery coupons

[midnight]

Can someone please give me a good system for organizing grocery coupons??? I have lots of them cut, but I can never seem to find the ones I need. Does anyone have a simple way of sorting them? Where do you keep them? HELP!

[jjhilts]

I have been cutting coupons since I was in college.... I've been out for going on 6 years now. The system I've always used is to first buy a 4x6 index card box holder. Next I label a whole bunch of index cards with catagories. The ones I use are:
canned veggies,
beverages (coffee, soda, juice... I also include creamers inthis group, since they are coffee,etc),
cereal,
soups,
sauces (ie. tomato, BBQ, etc),
prepared foods (ie. side dishes, taco mixes, etc),
baking products,
bread products,
junkfood,
cat products,
misc products (I put coupons for battieries, lightbulbs, charcoal in this one)
personal (such as toothpaste, lotion, razors, shaving ceram)
hair products,
OTC medicine/vitamins,
cleaning products,
laundry products,
paper products,
platic wraps/bags

The I sort all the coupons into those categories. Afterwards, I sort each coupon under each category by expiration date (oldest on top) and put a paper clip on them. If you have prior coupons already filed, you simply file the new coupons within the bunch by expiration date. Every Sunday, I go through each category and since all the old ones/expired ones are on top, I just serparate them and throw out. From the time I start cutting to closing the card box, it only takes me a half hour. Al the sutff I have for rebates go on a bulletin board right in front of my computer..... so I see immediately what is still waiting for me to buy/send in.

Hope this helps
Joanna

[Lori63]

I keep mine in long envelopes labeled by category, including one for coupons that expire the end of the month.