Simplify- Purse Coupon Envelopes

This year I set a goal to try and simplify and be more efficient.  There are a lot of areas of my life that I would like to simplify, but I decided to tackle couponing first.  I really enjoy finding great deals, and it is easy for me to spend a lot of unnecessary time and effort shopping and searching for great deals.

As part of my simplifying, I have decided to just take 2 coupon envelopes with me on my shopping trips instead of my entire stash.  This will help me to focus my trips and spend less time in the store.

Envelope 1: The coupons I plan to use at the stores that week.
Envelope 2: Contains high value coupons for items that we frequently use.  This envelope is always in my purse so that I can watch for clearance items and unadvertised sales.

Making Envelopes

I saw this Do It Yourself post on how to make envelopes from calendars, and I decided to try it to see if I could make a sturdier envelope that would last longer in my purse.  Instead of calendars, I used pages from free magazines (you can subscribe for free to recieve the American Baby magazine).  I used a baby magazine, so my envelopes are currently baby themed.  I thought they turned out cute.

First I made square envelopes.  Then I realized that my coupons are all folded to fit in rectangular envelopes in my coupon box and would not fit well in the square size.

So I tore apart an old envelope to use as a pattern & traced it to make envelopes that are the same size as the ones I use in my coupon box.

It was a fun little project.  I ended up making 4 envelopes, because I liked the paper.  So if my two envelopes wear out, I have two more ready to go!