Custom Coupon Book

I've been using one of those dollar store accordion folders to store coupons and I find myself never using them.  The grocery list and coupons never seem to stay together.  I told myself I needed a better system, but never found one.  Then I saw this.  I've had a disc bound notebook for years and love it.  I can easily move my to do lists around without ending up with a bunch of loose papers.

I started with a notebook...

I really like the Martha Stewart one that was used on my inspirational find, but it was a little larger than I would have liked.  This one is about 4 x 5.5 and fits nicely inside my purse.

Next I decided that I didn't want just plain old envelopes inside so I broke out my envelope punch board and some pretty paper paper.  I found the size that I liked best and made some envelopes.

As I was putting all of the envelopes together, I decided that the cover of the notebook needed something - a little color.  So I grabbed some Copics that matched the colors from the envelopes and colored the cover.  Love it!

Back to the envelopes.  I decided I didn't really need dividers like the inspiration notebook, so I decided to just label the envelopes.  I printed out the category names I wanted onto some sticky back paper and punched them out with a label punch.

Once they were punch, I attached them to the envelopes and then added everything into the notebook.

I left the sheets of paper in there between the envelopes to make shopping lists on so now they'll stay together.

The biggest expense of this whole project was the punch needed to get everything to fit the discs. I was really hesitant at first but then I realized, I've been using one of these notebooks for years and now I could customize the paper I'm writing on (like using the gelli print papers I've been making!).  And I realized it was a great way to add larger coupons to the notebook - this way the envelope wouldn't get too full and tear too soon, although I did use some pretty hefty paper so hopefully that won't happen!

I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  I'm feeling more organized already!

Thanks for stopping by.  Next week I should have another card to share.

Angie