What coupons help me do...

Everyone knows the basic.  Yes, coupons save me and my family TONS of money.  I'll first start by explaining what got me started into this crazy world.  My husband has one of those jobs where he works some where for a few months, has a month or so off, goes on another job etc.  One month when he was laid off, I decided just to start clipping a few coupons just to save where we could.  Yeah, that lasted a week.  Before I knew it, I had a binder, my own Facebook page, and a blog dedicated to helping people save money.

It's great that I get to save all this money for my family because really it's better in my pocket that in someone else.   There are so many other things that can be done along with just saving money for my happy little family.

If you've followed my page for awhile you've probably heard me talk about the ""R" family. For those of you who don't know, this is a local disabled veteran and his family that I use coupons to buy things for him and his family to help them out. (For more information, look on the Facebook page under the "Help A Vet" tab).

Let's face it, I have a lot of things I know I will never get to use.  I literally have about a 5 year supply of toothpaste, but if I see it on sale and have a coupon and can get it for free or nearly free, I'm going to get it.  We have a local church that has a program to help families in need.  They have over 60 local families they help each month. Each week, I get a bag of all the overstock I have and send it to them.

A lot of ladies from that same church send me coupons every week (along with other families and friends).  I still don't think they know exactly what I do with them and am giving a lot of things back to the church (it'll be our little secret) and helping other families.  They do it out of the kindness of their heart and they would be throwing them away anyways.

I also apply for ever single free sample I can get.  If I can't use it, it gets tossed in a box and as soon as that box gets full, it gets shipped to Couponing 4 the Military to go into care packages for the troops. Also, all expired ones can be sent there to send to military families overseas.  She currently has over 130 families that she helps.

Coupons and sales have made all this possible for me.  Yes we might take a vacation with the money we saved, or buy the kids a tree house or something else, but when I think of all the other people that are helped simply by taking the time to clip a few coupons, it's more than worth it.