Ok all you coupon clipping mommas, I have a mission for you. Did you know military members and their families can use Manufacturer Coupons up to 6 months AFTER they expire at the commissary on base? Yep, the coupons you can’t use anymore can provide those who serve our country with a little savings!
I was so excited when I stumbled across this web site about an Overseas Coupon Program. It is run entirely by volunteers, and it provides information about how and where you can send your coupons to U.S. Military bases overseas. Of course, the program would love for you to collect mounds of coupons, but anything you have that you can send helps.
Here is the gist of the program:
- Adopt a base. (You don’t have to do this, but this seems to be how the site is able to track how many coupons it has helped provide. So, why not?)
- Manufacturer coupons only. In-store coupons are useless. No restaurant coupons either.
- Clip your coupons as if you were going to use them yourself.
- Separate into 2 piles – food and non-food and place into baggies or envelopes to keep separate.
- Send coupons no more than 2 months expired so they have time to use them.
- Add up the dollars saved if all coupons are used (again, this isn’t necessary, but it helps the web site track).
- Mail your coupons to the base.
- Report how many coupons you mailed back to the web site.
That’s it! They even give you props on their site for the dollar amount of coupons you send.
Since my coupon stash was in sore need of purging (wow, some of my coupons expired in ’08), I went through all of my coupons, dumped everything too old and sorted the rest accordingly. I also dug Sunday’s leftover coupons (you know, the ones I knew I wouldn’t use) out of the recycle bin and clipped those. I now have 2 little piles ready for mailing. In pile one, food items totaling $152.48 in coupon savings. In pile two, non-food items totaling $472.13!!!
Now, as my jaded husband pointed out, they may not be able to use all my coupons because the commissary may not carry everything (or they might not want it). But what if they can use 1/2 or 1/3. (Hey, I am sure they can use the $3 off Advil!) That’s a lot more than I will pay in postage!!!
So, my coupon clipping friends out there this is my mission to you. Adopt a base, send coupons and support our troops. If you have older kids, involve them in the project. I know coupons mean a big difference to our household bottom line, I bet they mean even more to families overseas.
Note – I am going to wait to mail my coupons for a week. So, if you know me personally and would like to add your coupons to my mailing, just let me know and we can meet up so you can pass along your coupons. (Might as well save the postage!)
More information about the Overseas Coupon Program!!!
This is such great info – thank you so much for sharing! Each week (or every other week), while sitting in car line, I sort through my coupons and pull out the old ones – now I have something to do with them! You may not be at car line yet, but I’m sure when your time comes you’ll be writing a post about great ways to make use of your time in carline – and you can add my coupon sorting to the list 🙂