Cleaning Out My Closet

I am having a garage sale on the first Saturday in November and I am cleaning out my closet! Actually, I'm cleaning out my whole darn house, but I'm mostly gonna show you my closet.

Why? Because I need your help to make some decisions! Welcome to Mommy Managing Interactive!

Along the way, I'm going to show you some of my Frugal Fashion Finds!

I'm really excited (and slightly terrified) to find out what you guys think!

I have a closet full of stuff.

I want to have a closet full of stuff I LOVE.

This is what I'm starting with:

My Coupon Organizer (Part 2)

A lot of you have inquired about where my coupon binder and pages came from.

Good news: My binder was only $3.74.

Bad news: It was a clearance item at CVS after school started this year.

You won't be able to find my specific binder, but I found a similar one at Wal-Mart for $9.96. It has pockets on the outside for small scissors or a calculator.

The expandable file is inside. I really like mine being on the outside, but this binder still seems very useful.

The sleeves I use for my coupons are actually photo album pages. They are made to hold 5x7 size photos and they have two pockets per page. It is $1.96 for 10 pages. My binder has 25 pages.

My categories are in order of how I shop at my most frequently shopped store (I printed the categories from my computer onto cardstock and cut them to size). Map out the aisles of your favorite store and write down the categories you find works best for your coupons.

I just used regular sheet protectors at the back of my binder for restaurant coupons, retail stores' coupons, and rebate forms.

I didn't run out and buy this when I first started couponing. I made my small check file work until it wouldn't even close. I used an empty 12x12 scrapbook. Then I used an old 3-ring binder and regular 8.5"x11" sheet protectors that I already had. This gave me ideas about what worked for me and what didn't (I knew I didn't want to use the trading card pages I'd read about). Then I patiently searched for just the right system. Also, I felt better about waiting until I had saved a substantial amount of money using coupons.

One thing I read about on someone else's blog (I can't remember whose :(...) was to have a category for "HOT!" coupons. Items that will be FREE, super cheap, or that you really love can go into this category. I haven't used this yet, but I thought it was a cool idea.

I have envelopes for each store that I keep in the expandable file with the ads. If I get a store coupon or a coupon that I know I want to use at a specific store, I just put it in the correct envelope. These also hold my savings cards, ECB's, and RR's.

Let me know if you have any questions!

My Coupon Organizer

This is my Coupon Organizer:

It has an expandable file on the front for my ads.

It has pockets inside.

It has 25 pages with two pockets per page.

Each pocket is labelled on the left.

I have some regular sized sheet protectors for Dining, Entertainment, and Retail Store coupons.
I put the coupons behind the labelled page.


I also have pages for Rebates Offers and Rebates Pending.

Thanks to everybody who entered my giveaway! I greatly appreciate all the positive feedback!