When I decided to make the transition from a coupon binder to a coupon box, I was at a loss.  Where could I get a box, and what kind should I use?  I couldn’t find anything suitable locally.  There was a great box already done up to be great for coupons, on eBay, but it was almost $30.  That’s a lot of money to spend to make money.  So I decided to try just using what I had.  (Well, mostly.  We apparently left behind our duct tape when we moved, so I had to go out and buy duct tape.  But there’s plenty left.)

I started with a large corrugated cardboard box.  This box.  Because I knew I wanted to use envelopes as “file folders” for the coupons, I used an envelope as a measuring tool to draw the box pattern.  If you look closely, you can see the lines I’ve drawn near the bottom left of the box.  I just started from the bottom of the “new” box, and drew the bottom, then draw the sides attached to it, etc.  If the box had been large enough, I would have made the lid all one piece with the box itself, but it wasn’t quite big enough to do that and not have a box crease (from the corner of the original box) in the middle of it, so I made it separate.  So…

STEP 1: Get a large corrugated cardboard box and draw your template on it.  If you want to put tabs on your envelopes, be sure to make it tall enough to accommodate them.  And be sure to make the lid just a tiny bit wider than the box so it will fit over it.  The lid is basically just another box, with very short sides (and one end “missing,” so it can attach to the box like a hinge).  I added tabs to the sides of my sides, to give it a little extra something to adhere to at the corners.  (Because of the part of the box I used, one corner did not have a tab, which very observant readers may notice in the pictures.)

STEP 2: Cut out the box pattern.  It works best if you use something like a box cutter and do not try to cut all the way through in one pop.  Just lightly trace the lines with the blade to score them, and then you can go back over them more firmly and it will be easier to stay along the lines as you cut through.  I suggest cutting outward toward the edges of the box, so you don’t accidentally slip and cut in too far.  And be careful not to cut along your fold lines!  Scoring the fold lines after you cut out the pattern is a good idea, though.  I just used the dull side of my scissors, because I didn’t feel like digging out a more appropriate tool.

STEP 3: Fold the box into the appropriate shape and tape the corners.  I used duct tape, because I didn’t want the surfaces to be too “shiny” in case I wanted to glue onto them later, but packing tape would probably work, too.  I taped inside and outside.

I also taped the upper edges of the box to help reinforce it a little.  When you’re done taping the bottom and lid, tape the bottom to the lid.  The duct tape is quite sturdy enough to make a hinge, but you might want to use two layers for extra strength.

STEP 4: Cover the box to make it pretty.  I’m sure there are much better ways of doing this.  I just covered mine with plain white paper (the wrong side of some wrapping paper), ’cause it’s what I had.  Shelf paper would probably have been neater.  And wrapping paper (the right side) could have been prettier if I’d had anything besides very obvious Christmas and Hanukkah papers!  There may be a neater way to apply the paper itself, too.  I just folded mine over the box (it took lots of fiddling), and taped it.  This made it slightly loose and “puffy,” and some of you creative types could probably do it much more neatly.  But this works. 🙂

Here you can see it hinged open.

I lined the inside with paper, as well.  Also, I cut an extra piece of cardboard to fit inside the bottom of the box, with the corrugations running perpendicular to the corrugations in the main box bottom.  This is probably not necessary, but I thought it might make the box less prone to buckling if it should get really heavy.  (It really isn’t that heavy, though, even full.)  I covered this with paper and then just pushed it in, so it covers the ugly edges in the bottom of the box.

STEP 5: Decorate as desired.  Okay, so this is not awesome, but it’s at least cheery.  When I was done decorating my box, I covered all of the outside surfaces – including the bottom – with clear packing tape.  (You can see the buckles where my paper was not tight against the box.)  This is partly to help protect it from rain, but largely because my paper was kind of loose and I didn’t want it to get caught on something and tear.

I filled the box as Crystal described when she talked about her coupon box, except that I used tape instead of staples to attach the index cards to the envelopes.  Very minor detail.

One reason I wanted to make my own box was so that I could make it latch, and I haven’t gotten that far yet.;  My plan is to attach a button to the front of the box and thread a rubber band through holes in the front of the lid, so the rubber band can loop over the button.  Even without the fastener, though, this stays shut pretty well.  I practiced dropping it, to see how bad the resultant mess would be, and it didn’t open.  It’s surprisingly sturdy, too.  So far, this has been working for me. 🙂