Who Am I?

If you talk to most people who know me, they will say I tend to have expensive tastes.  I can walk into a store and, without looking at price tags, pick out the most expensive item in the room.  I inevitably fall in love with said item and find it hard to convince myself to purchase something less expensive.  I often times opt to not purchase anything at all if I can’t have exactly the item I want.

Not only do I usually pick out the most expensive items, I almost always get things brand new.  Not because I’m opposed to hand me downs (in fact, I had a lot of those growing up), but because more often than not I want specific items that no one else has.  That or I’m too shy to ask for hand outs.

I realize this does not put me in a good light.  I accept that about myself and move on.  Sometimes you can’t change…

Anyhow, one day, when my mom was visiting, we passed a consignment store on the way to Bath and Body Works.  She asked me if I’d ever been in there and I looked at her in disgust.  Jake wear anything that wasn’t brand new?  Well, that was just unheard of!  She rolled her eyes and led me into the store.

I apprehensively started poking my head around the store.  I started off by looking at the books.  Pretty decent selection for relatively cheap.  Not bad, not bad.  Let’s keep going.

I passed rows and rows of toys and board games.  Interesting…both those things can be expensive especially when kids play with them a handful of times and then they get discarded like yesterday’s new.

Then we got to the clothes.  It was like a shroud lifted from around my head.  I finally saw the light!  Why pay $10 for a new sleeper when you could get the same thing (albeit lightly worn) for $2.50?  $20 for an outfit for my little man?  Please…try $5 bucks!  What about short sleeved onesies for him to roam around the house in during the warmer months?  $5-7 each?  Nope…ONE DOLLAR.  ONE!

I was sold.  That day I picked a few items up and took them home to Jeff.  I figured he would say he didn’t want his little boy to wear clothes other kids had worn, but he said, “That’s great!  Just wash them first.”  (He’s so funny.)

Since that day, I have visited the same store a few times.  Each time they have new stuff, so I try to go every few weeks just to look.  I have found some pretty cute things I must say!

Then, Abby posted a blog about a huge sale she volunteered at where she lives.  She talked about all the great purchases she and her husband made at the sale.  She also talked about how being a volunteer not only let her see all the items that were up for grabs, but let her in early to shop before all the other people.  What a great idea!  I asked her how she found these sales and she gave me some tips.  I googled consignment sales in my area and found a Facebook page about it.  Low and behold, they were looking for volunteers to work the sale!  Bada bing, bada boom!  I currently have an email out to the group asking for more information.

I’ll keep you posted…

I’m so excited.  That is all.

 

Support Our Troops! With Coupons!

In the last several months, I have begun couponing.  Not in the crazy “let’s see how big my stockpile can get in two weeks” way some of the people in the couponing/blogging world do, but in the “let’s see how much money I can save on products my family will actually use” way.

I buy 3 or 4 newspapers and week, pull out the batches of coupons, clip the ones I want, and throw the rest away.

Until now.

Did you know you could send the coupons you won’t use overseas to military families?  They can even used expired coupons! Their newspapers don’t contain coupons, so they rely on people like us to help them stretch their dollars the way we stretch ours.

Here’s a list of FAQs from the Troopons page at supportourtroops.org:

FAQs

This is patriotic, but not tax deductible.

• You get your benefit by feeling good now, and having more good info when you meet God, not when you file with the tax man.

No Minimum Donation Size.

• A million grains of sand make a big beach.
• Expired Coupons Are Accepted Until They Are Two Months Old.
• Coupons older than two (2) months expired on the date of mailing are no good. People at the base must have time to process them there, and families need time to use them in their budget stream.

Clip Out Your Coupons.

• We can’t do it.
• You save people at the base time.
• You save postage.

Good Coupons.

• Only “Manufacturer’s Coupons” can be used.
• They can be from the newspaper, dispensers in grocery stores, tear-pads, internet and elsewhere as long as they state “Manufacturer’s Coupon” on them.

Bad Coupons.

• No Assistance Vouchers.
• No Food Stamps or the like.
• No Store Coupons.
• No restaurant coupons.

Sort the Coupons.

• Bases usually have a grocery store, and a department store.
• Put food coupons in one bag and non-food coupons in another bag.
• This helps the base volunteers and personnel send them to the right store.
• Don’t use rubber bands, paper clips, or the like.

Mark the Bags

• Write “food” or “non-food” on the outside of the bag.
• Write the approximate value on the outside of the bag.
  • Use the maximum value printed on any “buy one, get one free” offers.
  • If none is printed, estimate.

What is “Food”?

• Food can be eaten or drank by humans for nourishment.
• Chewing gum and mints are food.

What is Non-Food?

• Housewares, animal food, vitamins, are not food.

Why Total the Value of Coupons on the Bag?

• We can allocate the amounts among the various bases according to their sizes and needs.
• We can track how much good is happening by all us little people.

When to Send Your Bundles.

Send us coupons you won’t use.  We’ll send them over.   Just mail them to Support Our Troops^®, P. O. Box 70, Daytona Beach, FL 32115-0070 the cheapest way you can.

All those men and women fighting for our country (plus their families) dedicate so much of their time and energy for me and my family to sleep soundly at night.  Taking an extra hour out of my week to support them is the least I can do.  My baggies are all set to go just waiting to get tallied.

Invite some friends over.  Make some food.  Have a coupon clipping and organizing party!  Your good deeds will not go unnoticed. 

Please share this post with your friends and family to try and get as much support for the troops as possible!  Thanks in advance.