Helping the homeless

[boo3469]

Hi! I am still pretty new to couponing so I am hoping some of the tenured people can help me out
My work is having a donation drive for the homeless. I really want to donate but I am so so so broke (working two jobs). I have been getting good deals but I know I can do better. I would love to find out what I can get for free (or around a dollar) so that I may help them. Any tips?

[Sylvia]

1. watch for bogo or 10/$10 deals and try to have as many $1 coupons as you can get!

2. Watch the All about grocery Coupons thread... we tend to share great coupons from the web there.

3. Use your grocery stores websites... they tend to post this weeks adverts so it's easy to comparison shop.

4. Find out which of your stores if any price match their competitors adverts.

5. Search, Search, Search for online coupons!

[peacetalks]

Hi Boo --

If I see a coupon in the Sunday newspaper inserts for which I can get an item free, I'll get on eBay, buy 10-20 of the coupons, then buy the items and give them to a homeless shelter. For example, there is a 50-cent Suave deodorant Q and when it doubles at my Kroger and the item is on sale the deodorant is free. So, I spend $2 to buy 20 coupons but then I get 20 things of deodorant for free.

I travel quite a bit in my work so I also donate all my mini shampoos and soaps from the hotel (which is an obvious idea, of course, but hey, it still counts). My flight attendant sister really gets a lot of stuff to donate, so you might ask you family and friends if they have any of the hotel-toiletries around the house they'd like to donate. That would allow you to donate some items without busting your budget.

Also, at my CVS this week they had a bunch of Halloween candy (and the good stuff: M&M's Hershey's etc.) on sale for 29 cents for a big bag. I bought one bag to make sure it wasn't stale (it wasn't). Then I went back in and bought 10 bags of different candy, mixed them into a huge bag, and took it to the shelter. Candy isn't the healthiest thing to donate, but I figure it brightens someone's day a little it's worth the $3.50 I spent.

Good luck!

[boo3469]

Originally Posted by peacetalks

Hi Boo --

If I see a coupon in the Sunday newspaper inserts for which I can get an item free, I'll get on eBay, buy 10-20 of the coupons, then buy the items and give them to a homeless shelter. For example, there is a 50-cent Suave deodorant Q and when it doubles at my Kroger and the item is on sale the deodorant is free. So, I spend $2 to buy 20 coupons but then I get 20 things of deodorant for free.

I travel quite a bit in my work so I also donate all my mini shampoos and soaps from the hotel (which is an obvious idea, of course, but hey, it still counts). My flight attendant sister really gets a lot of stuff to donate, so you might ask you family and friends if they have any of the hotel-toiletries around the house they'd like to donate. That would allow you to donate some items without busting your budget.

Also, at my CVS this week they had a bunch of Halloween candy (and the good stuff: M&M's Hershey's etc.) on sale for 29 cents for a big bag. I bought one bag to make sure it wasn't stale (it wasn't). Then I went back in and bought 10 bags of different candy, mixed them into a huge bag, and took it to the shelter. Candy isn't the healthiest thing to donate, but I figure it brightens someone's day a little it's worth the $3.50 I spent.

Good luck!

Those are all great ideas! Thank you! Yesterday at WAGS they had Aim toothpaste for $1...it was a big tube too! That was exciting lol. Thanks for the help!

[boo3469]

Originally Posted by Sylvia

1. watch for bogo or 10/$10 deals and try to have as many $1 coupons as you can get!

2. Watch the All about grocery Coupons thread... we tend to share great coupons from the web there.

3. Use your grocery stores websites... they tend to post this weeks adverts so it's easy to comparison shop.

4. Find out which of your stores if any price match their competitors adverts.

5. Search, Search, Search for online coupons!

Thank you! On my way to that thread

[Sylvia]

By the way... talk to your local Avon lady. She may have the perfect sized boxes to pack your goodies in!! Often they will donate product too... it's a great way to get soaps, deodorants and cosmetics.

[Cathe]

Today I used five of the Goody $2 coupons to buy a lot of hair stuff (mostly ponytail holders) to donate to the homeless shelter. They were only 23 cents for each package after the coupons! I also had some Nestle's hot cocoa coupons, and after the sale and coupons, they were only 50 cents a box. A fun treat for the kids, I hope.

In the past, when Walgreens had some really good deals on shampoo and toothpaste, I have been able to get that free. And they almost always have some shavers that are cheap-to-free with Wags coupons plus Manu coupons!