I am so EFFING sick and tired of .................

[starladarcy]

THROWING AWAY COUPONS!!!!!!!! This is the 3rd month in a row that i have thrown away 2 16 GALLON CONTAINERS of coupons !!!!! Everything from tearpads,blinkies,inserts,and even UNCUT IP'S!!!
Last month i donated 2 16 gallon containers to the coupon classes that they do at the YMCA and a friend of mine who works there told me they just went right in the trash can!!! She said no one who attends those classes actually care about couponing they come for the free week of membership!
So what in the hell i am suppose to do with all the q's that i accumulate?
I have told my neighbor to stop giving me stacks of Sunday papers because i just throw them away in the end.I even started buying my q's now to try and cut back on Q clutter!
I still have some people that bring me totes of inserts,entire Tear pads,and Blinkie machines! ( Yes i said Blinkie Machines LOL ) All of which end up in the garbage.
I don't have to much time to list EVERYTHING i have to trade so it makes me SOOOOO Effing mad because i see a lot of people's ISO'S and i have either ALL or HALF of what the person needs!
What can i do to try and keep my home Q clutter free???

[blestwithboys]

concentrate on a few people you have traded with and know what they want. i know i for one would be willing to trade in just a stamp if it was stuff i really wanted.

[KatieSoCal]

I agree with you Star - I'm not quite knee deep in coupons like you are - and I'm really new to trading. I'm glad to spend a few $ in postage if I can help another person out to help their household. Times are hard for many people. I'm unemployed for 30 months, but in good shape from planning ahead financially...I still want to help others if I can.

I get very frustrated with people that come to me in real life and ask me to teach them, help them, clip for them. Then to find out that I spent 10 hrs organizing a few deals for them, tracking down the coupons and creating a list, they said they forgot to get over to CVS, Rite-Aid, or WalMart to save the 80% they so desperately needed to save a week prior - they missed the sale. What a waste of my time.

Hopefully the trades I have started doing here will actually be helpful to those I have sent them to...I hope so.

[Sharkie1995]

I get extras at the recycle center so that is why I go online and see who is looking for stuff and just send them. I spend saturday mornings digging through
the newspaper box so I can try to find some I need and my pastor's wife needs since we don't get many inserts in our papers up here. So the others are
just sent out as raoks or trades or whatever so I do not have to toss them. It is sad that those people do that after all the effort you put into helping
them. I say Thank you for your kind heart in trying to help others and know that no matter what they do , you did something good! a.

[emrldrose]

I don't have to much time to list EVERYTHING i have to trade so it makes me SOOOOO Effing mad because i see a lot of people's ISO'S and i have either ALL or HALF of what the person needs!
What can i do to try and keep my home Q clutter free???

I think Jen and Katie both have great ideas. The only thing I can add is if you have everything or almost everything on someones list, you could trade for gift cards or coke codes or just send them as a random act of kindness.

As for organzing your coupon clutter, I don't have much to suggest. I use a binder and a shoulder bag to keep all my stuff together, but it is not very convienent right now. I am thinking a file box for uncut inserts might help organize coupons I don't typically use. It seems to be a trial and error process to find what works best for each person. Good Luck.

[LITSA]

Now everyone I know you are just trying to help, but please remember the forums rules and don't post ideas that go against them. I work hard to try and protect our members and that is why many of the rules have stayed the same. It's one thing for those of us who have been together for years and quite another for others just to show up and see what they can get.


I do not have near the quantity of coupons that you have starla, but I too toss more coupons than I would like. Most of the reason why I just cannot DO a binder even though I did try. Too much work for my efforts.

Blessings and Hugs, "Angel"

[Bear]

It is hard for me to have sympathy; I only wish I had your problem. Oh wait, I have a solution. Just ship all your coupons to me and I will take care of them for you. With that amount they may need to come by Greyhound bus!

[kwirtley]

I have several suggestions for you. You could contact your local Women, Infant, and Children's (WIC) office. They maybe already have a box of coupons that you could add to. If not you could ask them if you could put a box there. When I lived in PA the WIC office had one. I don't know how much it was used. I definitely used it. Also you could try asking your library. They maybe willing to help. The coupons that are already cut..you could send them overseas to our military families. They can use them up to 6 months past the date. One website I know of is...Contacts* News* Adoption* Base L I also have seen on this site asking what to do with leftover coupons. I have seen a couple military wives saying they would take coupons. They maybe willing to take the inserts. I think the cheapest way to mail is flat rate express mail for less than $5. You can also use the large flat rate boxes for less than $15. Hopefully this helps a little.

[shallen3]

Starla, I'd be happy to take some of those off your hands! I haven't even been buying extra inserts lately cause the paper went up again.

[Mickiab]

It is hard for me to have sympathy; I only wish I had your problem. Oh wait, I have a solution. Just ship all your coupons to me and I will take care of them for you. With that amount they may need to come by Greyhound bus!

Maybe the Greyhound can travel to OH via MD....would love to help you out by taking those darn coupons/tearpads off your hands!!

I started up a coupon box in the coffee area in my office. It's really taken off -- many many take from it....and some even add their own. It's working out really well.