Postcards from the Promised Land

There are lots of resources out there to help with couponing these days. In fact, the whole practice is coming back in to vogue.

What if we started using those savings to help others?

Let me share with you how ….

Couponing can save you and your family hundreds of dollars each month. Recently, I participated in a local grocery store chains super double promotion. They doubled coupons up to $1.99 in value. We ended up saving about $50 all together with our coupons on items that we use everyday. The doubling is an added promotion over and above the value of the coupon.

Now, I’m not an extreme couponer. I do have a binder that I use, but I don’t go pursuing coupons. Other than the Sunday paper, we don’t go to extravagant lengths to get “deals”.

Here are some basic guidelines that I use to keep my couponing from getting out of hand:

• Don’t clip what you won’t use. If it’s not something already in your house, then you probably don’t need to clip the coupon for it.
• Don’t buy more than you can reasonably use in a 3-6 month period. Do you really need to buy it now if you aren’t going to use it in the near future?
• Think about how much room you will need to store these goodies. Where are you going to put all of these things? Do you have room for extras?
• Don’t let deals become a life priority. There are much more important things in life than getting a great coupon deal. I try not to let couponing take the place of taking care of my families’ needs.

Use your Coupon Doubling for a Cause

We are giving the doubled portion of our take-home from this week’s grocery run to a family in our church that is adopting. This is an easy way for us to meet our goal of saving money, while at the same time helping a cause that we wholeheartedly support.

This week, we saved $50.00 in coupons . $25.00 of that was from the doubling promotion.

And if you want to see what a little money can do, read Ann Voskamp’s recent post from today about what giving is doing in Guatemala. (Post: Because saying Thank You can change the World)

If you are interested in helping others, here are some great links to get you started …

Show Hope (Adoption)

Compassion (Impoverished Children)

Samaritan’s Purse (Global Relief)

American Red Cross (Disaster Assistance)

Blood:Water Mission (Fresh water for those without)

International Justice Mission (Protecting the lives of those who are abused and oppressed)

or think of a personal cause or family that you could help

Using my doubled coupons to help a cause I love, that definitely works for me!

For more great ideas, check out ….