Inspiration

Part of my inspiration to start this blog came earlier this week. I was making a donation to the Hockanum Valley Community Council Tri-Town Pantry, a local food pantry that serves Tolland County, CT. They're wonderful people there and they are always so nice when I come in! This time, the director, David Engelson, happened to be there. He asked me if I'd ever seen the actual pantry and offered me a tour. We chatted for a bit and I told him that all the stuff I was donating, I'd gotten basically free by couponing. He was quite impressed.

Right now, I'm only working part-time (not by my choice). So I can't necessarily write a check every month, even though I know that's probably what they need the most. What that does mean is that I have the time to track down deals on stuff I know they can use. Here's what I brought in this time around:

That's 5 rolls of toilet paper, 2 jugs of laundry detergent, 6 sticks of deodorant, 4 boxes of tampons, 1 bottle of baby lotion, 7 shampoos, 8 toothbrushes, 15 tubes of toothpaste, approximately 20 razors, 2 bags of cough drops, several assorted food items, and 9 jumbo packs of diapers. Grand total? Maybe $25, $20 of which came from the diapers. I know the toothpaste and brushes were all completely free, as were the deodorants and razors. (Part of my goal with blogging is to keep better track of that kind of thing.)

I try to make a donation about that size every 2-3 months or so. (Except all the diapers - those were a one-time deal at Walgreens. Usually it's only 2-3 jumbo packs.) This is all stuff that was in excess of what my husband and I could use. I know I've talked to people who've said, "I don't want to be one of those people who just buy stuff because it's a good deal, and then end up with a huge pile of stuff going to waste." Which is totally reasonable. Sometimes when you hear serious couponers talking about the kind of things they buy with their coupons, you think, "Who needs that junk?"

I just want to show everyone that, even if you don't need that junk, someone out there might. There's a happy medium between hoarding and passing up on great deals. Such is the Not-Crazy Couponing Way.