It's been a long time since I posted about my charitable donations; so here goes. First of all, I will be changing things up a bit. I'm going to stop the tally of value of goods and money spent because it's so time consuming. You can rest assured that most things on my list are free or money makers. I also may not post every week. I'll post when I think the deals are worth getting.
I'm also changing how I will be giving out donations. I had been working with a few other friends and adding our haul for a different charity every three months. The interest has dwindled to primarily my stock pile. So I've decided to just get what deals work for me, add them to my stockpile (see pictured), and distribute the products to the organizations that mean the most to me throughout the year. Since deals are often seasonal, that allows me to better match a group's needs with deals I've gotten over a longer period of time and to give each charity a wider variety of freebies.
For instance, our church, the Church of the Good Samaritan, supports the Volunteer Ministry Center in downtown Knoxville through a mentor program and serving meals. This group works very hard to help transition people away from homelessness. A couple just achieved that and I wanted to help celebrate that accomplishment with a "stock your pantry" gift bag.
In a reusable shopping bag they can use to shop future deals I added:
- 2 bottles water
- 2 boxes pasta
- 5 soups / soup mixes
- 1 body wash / shampoo
- 1 hand soap
- 2 deodorants
- 1 pack of feminine needs
- 1 gum
- 2 packs of post-its
- 2 pens
- 4 toothpaste
- 2 toothbrushes
- 1 floss
- 1 razor
- 1 ibuprofin
Everything pictured was free or less than $.50 and the value is probably $50. I would love to inspire them to learn the couponing skills to do this themselves to help stretch their budget. At least they have a few items to get them started.
So in the future, I may not be chasing as many deals. Walgreen's will have to work harder to pull me into their store, and I'll probably be going to CVS just twice a month. A little here, a little there can go a long way. And when a group or individual needs something, I'll be ready!
Do you coupon for charity? Do you find my posts helpful?
i clip and print coupons but i just cant seem to do as good as i want to .I want to really get into doing this .I would like to be able to do as good as you and be able to give to charity. How do you do this good with couponing ? What sources do you use ?
ReplyDeleteOMG, I hope you're not a spammer because you just made my day. I wouldn't consider myself "good with couponing"--just persistent.
ReplyDeleteA couple of tips: whenever you print a coupon, make sure you print it twice by hitting the back button or by going through the process that got you the printable to begin with. Why only get one deal when you can get two?
Ask friends, family or neighbors for any newspaper coupons they aren't using. When there's a good deal, you don't have to get 100 of them but having extra coupons will let you get enough to share with others.
The most common freebie is for toothpaste. Hang onto every one you see until they expire.
My main sources for the match-ups are in my posts: Southern Savers and Coupon Katie.
Post another comment if you have more questions and good luck!