How to Recycle Junkmail to Help You Organize Your Coupons

Today, when I was organizing coupons, I developed my best coupon organization method yet! The great thing is it reuses something we all have: junk mail.

I have tried so many methods of organizing my coupons, and the one I have found the most success with is alphabetizing by brand name in a cardboard accordion file that fits in the baby seat in the buggy. I have tried Everything, and, yes, I have tried collector's card albums and photo albums. This file works best for me, utilizing a file for each letter.

However, as the people behind me in the grocery store will tell you, sometimes it gets messy. For instance, I might pull the "C" file out for Chex Mix coupons, and I have to go through all the Colgate coupons, Crest coupons, Cheerios coupons, etc... Today, I figured out the solution! I decided to recycle Junk mail into little mini-files.

I made little files for "Cheerios," "Chex Mix," etc...out of junk mail. I had lots of junk mail sitting around that hadn't even been opened. You could buy new envelopes and lick them shut....(YUCK!!) Cut the closed envelope up the middle in two pieces. See picture below. Remove the contents. Sometimes, you can pull an additional reply envelope out of the envelope, seal it, and use it, too. The envelopes do not need to be the same size, either. It is even better if they are not.

Label the brand name or coupon type, (depending on how you organize your file) and sort your coupons. I set up a mini-file for the brand names used most often or of which I had multiples . I have one recycled junk mail file for Campbell's, one for Charmin, etc...

Place these files inside your file folder, and place the file inside the accordion pleated file.

This works for me! You can also recycle junk mail to organize your receipts or even organize your purse. Be sure you tear or shred any documents you pull out of these envelopes!