Proposal to DU: COUPONS FOR KATRINA.

[lildreamer316]

First I'd like to say that several of us hope to have a frugal living group up and running very soon; where there will be many tips on how to conserve money in your daily life and a BUNCH of coupon tips! (calling all coupon queens!!) I was going to wait until then to post this idea but then Carolab's post of Michael Moore's letter kicked my butt into gear. Here's the idea:
There's a list of things that the Vets for Peace/Cindy camp need to help those they are finding. Look down the list and see what coupons you have for the stuff on the list; then go buy whatever quantity you can afford (don't forget to check your store for doubling and tripling!!) and send it. This way even the brokest (is that a word?) amongst us can contribute DIRECTLY to someone we KNOW is ON THE GROUND and MAKING A REAL DIFFERENCE RIGHT NOW.
After all the back and forth about the Red Cross I am not so sure my monetary donation is being put to good use (Ice trucks anyone??Sheesh!!) so this is a good way for ANYONE to feel useful. If for any reason you cannot shop with the coupons or use them but they are still good; when/if the group is up I will post a central location to mail them to and we will start a collection or train.
Yes/no?? Ideas? Modifications? Love to hear from ya.

[chalky]

1. Great suggestion, lildreamer!

nommed!

[marbuc]

2. Wouldn't it be cheaper to send money

and have someone buy the stuff there? Won't coupon savings be offset by postage costs?

[Joebert]

3. Yes, but...

this way you know what is being sent.

So many "charities" will funnel donations into their own expenses before some of it goes somewhere.

Efficient? No.
Absolutely knowing somebody is getting YOUR help? You bet.


Disclaimer: I am helping LilDreamer and others launch the new forum she mentioned. :-)

[marbuc]

4. If the money is going to/through Camp Casey

Shouldn't be able to trust that it will be put to good use?

[Joebert]

5. Good point.

But it still feels like somebody else is doing all of the work.

If in a small way, somebody can become involved by actively gathering the gear and the goods, they can feel a part of the bigger team.

A lot of people just can't leave their lives for a couple weeks to do what they wish they could do.

These kinds of things help connect them.

But yes, I certainly didn't mean to imply the folks getting THIS money would be doing anything wrong. Thanks for the clarification.

[lildreamer316]

6. Exactly. I am also working under the presumption

that they may not have ppl to do the shopping; or may not have the time. If this idea has legs then I will investigate further and see if we have someone down there who CAN do the shopping with funds provided from the funraising effort.
This could also be modified to send some bunches of collected coupons to them; and then some of us also pooling our resources and doing a large buy. That is more contriversial because it requires collecting money; which I am loathe to do in light of previous problems. Maybe on the local group level (demgurl and I live in the same town).
This is what I am saying; looking for input.Also, the more coupons you can collect (extra papers; friends; relitives) the less it will cost to send relitively. It's just if you have a double or triple store in your area sometimes with the right coupons you can get the items for next to free or free; therefore all you have to pay for is postage (for example;Diapers are large but don't weigh that much so it kinda evens out).

[CoffeeCat]

7. I just returned from a very successful shopping trip...

...and I was going to donate some of this stuff to our local food pantry. However, I would be more than happy to send some of it to Cindy and friends, if they want it.

Tonight, this is what I got:

--43 boxes of Quaker Granola Bars
--23 Individual Cups of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal Cups
--16 Boxes of Cinnamon Pecan Oatmeal (8 count envelopes)
--4 Quaker Cheese Rice Cakes
--2 Aunt Jemimah Pancake Mixes
--1 Quaker Breakfast Squares.

I got all of this for $10.28, by using coupons!!!!

[Joebert]

8. That's incredible!

I expect posts on how this worked in our new forum when it goes live.

(Thanks for inspiring us to get that forum launched. Any day now...)

[CoffeeCat]

10. For sure...

I'll be happy to post more details about that deal.

Cub Foods is running a great sale/Catalina deal on Quaker items, and that's how I did it.

I'm excited for the forum to start. We'll all inspire each other and help others along the way!

Looking forward to it. :)

[CoffeeCat]

9. lildreamer---

I think that is an excellent idea!

We could latch onto causes and use our couponing skills to help organizations or ongoing programs.

We could fulfill immediate needs. I'm sure many of us have things in our stockpiles that we could donate. Like you mentioned, if we found out about "lists" of things that are needed, we can watch the sale ads and look for great deals on those things.

Great idea!! We could really help out some people.

I like the idea of giving back, with the couponing hobby. We get such an abundance of free/cheap stuff. It just makes sense to donate and give back. I know that cutouthunger.org encourages couponers to donate some of their stockpile and free stuff to local causes.

Good thinking, lildreamer! :)

[lildreamer316]

11. Thanks!

Just wanted to get the idea out before I forgot (I am VERY ADD) and get some response.Also a good way to let ppl know about the group.

[preciousdove]

12. Formerly known as "Cut the hunger" website

Stephanie Nelson started the Cut the hunger site in 2000 it has changed to be under the CouponMom website of late but here is the program overview:

http://www.couponmom.com/index.php?cid=31

Here is a deal finder by state:

http://www.couponmom.com/index.php?cid=4

She also has ideas for Katrina but sending clothing is not practical at this time so ignore that suggestion.

PS: You don't have to be a Mom to participate!