Binders...Binders...Binders!!!!

I'm a little bit of an organization nut.  The biggest thing in the new house is that I'm have more room and tons of ideas for how I want it organize.  The problem is figuring out which will work the best for us.  The idea behing organization is how to make life simple.  For example, the boys are always asking where a toy is or can't find some game.  So the solution was to organize the play room and label everything!  I even took pictures of the way the room should be cleaned so everything has a place.  Now I don't go to totally crazy if it is not exactly the way I have it and I need to update it some since birthdays came and we have more toys with no home!  I'm thinking I'll wait till after Christmas so I can get all those worked into the equation.  Even though I did all of this the play room is rarely nice and neat. Oh well, but when they do clean it- It looks good! 


The toy shelf was made by John - so nice having a handy husband to make my organizational dreams come true! 

Besides neat labeled boxes, binders are my other obsession. I think my binder craze started in college. Then it continued with binders for our job search after college.  When I started teaching I organized lesson plans, lesson ideas, TEKS, test information, etc. in binders. I have boxes of binders that fill a closet waiting for the day I break them back open.


I started a binder a few years back I named "The Allen Cookbook" with recipes in it from the Internet or family and friends. I'm proud of that binder with its plastic sheet covers over every page to keep the recipes clean while cooking. Then I also started a family binder with our calendar, budget and bill information. They help keep my life organized and me happy. I've seen organizers in stores but I have to say mine are better- they work for me and what I need!

Now that I'm at home I've started a few new projects.  One being Coupons.  I told myself that- "If you are not going to work then you have to figure out how to save money."  So, I got to work looking up all the coupon websites and tips on how to make the most of it.  My favorite site of course is the Krazy Coupon Lady.  I think I really fell when I saw that they had a pdf for pages to a binder to organize your coupons. I used their pages for a while and figured out what worked for me. 

John and I were watching the news and they showed a mom with her binder with the baseball card holders.  He snickered and made a comment.  I looked at him with a "don't make fun face" because I wanted them too!  He of course told me, if it makes me feel better I should get them.  He is so understanding!  I had to order my baseball card holders online since stores can't keep them in stock.  Now I have my card holders and spent about a day reorganizing my binder.  I redid the title page, the table of contents and some of the subjects.  I found out that their way of organizing was a little confusing to me.  Also there were some things I never seemed to have a coupon for, so I got rid of those categories.  I rearranged their order and also made sub-categories so I could keep my coupons just a little bit more organized.  I added dividers to help me find the different categories easily.  I went to Microsoft Office Templates downloaded a pretty page setup.  It's free and it gives the binder a girlie touch. I think it looks cute! 



My Coupon Binder- Saving Money!



My Table of Contents



Just a few of the pages, Need more coupons!

I'm slowly getting better at using coupons.  I have two down falls for reaching Krazy Coupon Lady Status, I don't go to the stores all the time and the kids just don't let me look through everything!  The binder helps with the prep time so my trips can be organized and hopefully shorter for the kids and my sake.  I also don't take the binder with me.  I've tried once but that was just too much to keep up with.  So, now I go through my list to see what I need then match the coupons.  I also try and look through the adds at the stores to figure out where I should shop to get the most savings.  I did have to narrow my stores down to just a few.  Gas is something I have to save too!



Well, I'm not really sure if I will be a Krazy Coupon Lady like you see on TV, but saving even $30 is great when you know you were going to buy that anyway!  I love my binder and I'm organized.  So now I can give it my best shot!  Stay tune for more on my binder craze! 

You can laugh at me now.  I'm laughing at myself too.