It’s Sunday, time to sort thru all my coupons to weed out those that are expired (they only seem to expire on Sundays too) and clip new ones.
Rather than throwing away your expired grocery – food and non-food coupons or sending them off to be recycled, do something better. Support our troops overseas by sending them your unused and expired coupons.
Expired coupons to send to military bases overseas.
I just sorted through my stash of coupons from my coupon binder, and found over $40 in savings in newly expired coupons. Then went through the last 5 weeks of coupon circulars I saved and cut out every coupon that was left (another $80 of savings or more!)
US bases overseas honor expired coupons for our service women and men to use at their on base commissaries (food only) and P/X (non-food) items. “Servicemen and women stationed overseas often do not receive a weekly newspaper filled with coupons. However, the military commissaries where they shop do accept manufacturer coupons,” according to the Billings Gazette.
It’s not expensive, difficult or time consuming to send coupons overseas. Sending mail to an overseas military base costs the same as mailing a package in stateside since all the bases have U.S. postal addresses (APO or FPO). And several volunteer organizations like the Overseas Coupon Program as well as veterans groups (American Legion, VFW, etc) will appreciate your coupons and send them to these overseas military installations, so our military personnel and their families can save money too.
It’s best to send/drop off expired coupons at least once a month or send them yourself via Priority Mail which only costs you $4.95 (at the time this blog was published) whether you send 30 or 175 coupons. Commissaries and P/X stores will accept coupons up to 6 months past their expiration date for any manufacturer’s coupons.
Simple steps for sending expired and unused coupons overseas:
1. Cut out all coupons from your local coupon circular – this cuts costs in shipping allows more room send more coupons and makes them easier to sort once they arrive at their destination.
2. Sort coupons – 2 types of coupons: food and non food. According to the OCP Website, “Most bases have 2 stores. One is called the “Commissary” which is a grocery store and the other is the PX or BX which is a department store. We ask you to sort the coupons into “food” and “non-food” bundles so that they can more easily be placed in the correct venue once they arrive at the base.”
3. If you’re sending your coupons directly to OCP, the volunteers request that you add up the total amount of coupons. This is so they can keep track of how much has been donated.
4. Place sorted coupons in an envelope or plastic baggie marked “food” and “non-food.” Do not use paperclips or rubber bands. Here’s the rule of thumb for sorting food and non food coupons: if it can be or should be eaten by people it’s food; if it’s not designated to be eaten by humans (like dog/cat food) then it’s non-food. Vitamins is an exception, these are considered non food coupons. (I was a bit confused by this too.)
5. Drop off your coupons to veterans’ organizations in your city/town (check phone book or Internet), a military base if you have one nearby, send to a friend/family member who is serving overseas (tell them to share with other families too) or send directly to a participating base abroad via OCP. You’ll have to adopt one of the bases first, before sending your coupons. Instructions are found on the OCP Website here.
Ask your friends, family and coupon groups to donate their unused and expired coupons too; have them sort the coupons into food and nonfood and put them in an envelope or plastic baggie and add up the savings to reduce your chore. If you’re part of a coupon group, designate a different person to send the coupons each time, so you’re not always stuck doing the task.
Happy Couponing – clip, save and recycle your coupons every week!
Hopefully you have 1 general discount store in your area where you can buy groceries and other household items when other stores don’t have what you want. Where I live, we have Aldi’s, Walmart and Super Kmart. Aldi’s was my safe store for buying the bulk of my groceries before Extreme Couponing, and this is also the store I return to when the coupon deals do not work for me.
