Donating 101

Some not-so-great news from the Hockanum Valley Community Council Tri-Town Food Pantry. The local Stamp Out Hunger food drive last Saturday May 14th yielded approximately 4,000 fewer pounds of food than last year. The pantry serves a lot of families with kids who, once they are out of school for the summer, can no longer receive free breakfasts and lunches. With such a shortfall, there is a very real possibility that the pantry will run out of food before the end of the summer, leaving these kids in serious trouble.

As I continue to urge everyone to donate as much as they can, I did want to remind everyone of a few things that you should NOT be donating:

• Food past its expiration date*. Yes, even "non-perishables" have an expiration date, and the food pantry has to throw those items out when it gets them! Dave Engelson, the director of HVCC, told me he got some items that had expired in 1994. 1994! That means they would be older, in many cases, than the kids who would be expected to eat them. Gross. If it's not good enough for you to eat, please don't assume that someone else will want it.
  Tip: If you have a stash, like I do, be sure to rotate your items so that you use the oldest items first. If you keep putting new items in front of the older ones, there is a much greater chance that you won't notice when something goes out of date.
• Food that has been opened*. This seems like a no-brainer, yes? But Dave tells me they got loose bags of tea, half-eaten boxes of cereal, etc. Again, they cannot use these. Look, if you open a box of cereal and you decide you don't like it, you either suck it up, or I don't know, leave it out for the birds or something. But don't dump it on the food pantry for them to throw out for you, 'K?
• Other items they might not be able to accept, like OTC medications, perishable items, etc. When in doubt, call ahead and check. Some places can take things like aspirin and cold medicine, some can't. Some have fridges and freezers, others don't. If you drop off a bunch of stuff they can't use, chances are it might end up being discarded, especially if it's perishable stuff they have no way to keep cold.

The good news is that I am meeting with Dave at HVCC on Friday. I'm hoping that I can harness the power of the Internets to help them out! Stay tuned, because I might be making some more food drive announcements for anyone in the Manchester/South Windsor/Vernon area.

*Not that I think any of my readers would be guilty of these! For one thing, you can obviously read and are clearly fairly intelligent if you're here. :-)

What are you getting for Couponing for Community?

Are you making a donation for Couponing for Community this week? I can't wait! It will be nice to get my basement back. :-) I am going to try to pick up a few last-minute items tomorrow and then assemble, catalog, and photograph my donations tomorrow night. I have to double check with the food pantry on their hours to see when I can drop off. If your donation will fit into 1 or 2 bags, you can leave it by your mailbox on Saturday and your mail carrier will pick it up as part of Stamp Out Hunger day.

Remember, if you want to participate, make sure you like the C4C Facebook page. They now have a counter up to track donations - click on the "See Our Progress" tab on the left. You can submit your own totals and see what other people have donated. As of this posting, they are currently at 7300 items - almost 3/4 of the way towards the 10,000 item goal!

Want to make that number go up? Check out these free and cheap deals available this week! All of these are $1 or less. This is just a list - click on the links to find out how to get these prices.

CVS:

• FREE Carefree pantiliners
• FREE Similac ready-to-feed formula
• $1.98 for 2 Xtra laundry detergent ($0.99 each)
• $0.99 Mitchum Advanced Control deodorant
• $1.97 for 2 Aussie or Herbal Essences ($0.98 each)

Walgreens

• FREE Colgate toothpaste
• FREE Clean & Clear body wash
• FREE Carefree pantiliners
• $0.99 Mitchum Advanced Control deodorant
• $0.89 Gillette Fusion Proglide razor

Rite Aid

• FREE Carefree pantiliners
• FREE Similac ready-to-feed formula
• $0.99 Stayfree pads or o.b. tampons
• $1.99 for 2 Finesse hair care ($0.99 each)
• $1.00 for Ivory, Zest, or Safeguard bar soap

So what are you getting and giving this week? Be sure to email me at notacrazycouponer@gmail.com with pictures of everything you plan on donating and I will feature you in a post!

Couponing For Community - What can you get this week?

Couponing For Community week is coming up! I have been saving up items in my stash since February (don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on expiration dates) and I cannot wait to tally it all up. However, I know that many of you don't usually stock up and so don't have a pile of stuff to donate. Don't be left out! You can still participate in the donation drive and contribute towards the goal of 10,000 items, just with free and cheap items you can buy this week.

I've compiled a list of needed goods that are all UNDER $1 this week at drugstores. Please, please consider grabbing these during your shopping trips and donating them to a shelter or food pantry next week. This is just a summary - click on the links to see the breakdown of how to get these deals.

CVS:

• -$1.00 Colgate toothpaste (that's right, get paid to walk out with toothpaste!)
• FREE Ivory soap 3-pk
• $1.00 for 2 Right Guard deodorants ($0.50 each)
• $2.00 for 2 Aussie or Herbal Essences shampoo ($1 each)
• $1.00 Bic Soleil Shimmer razor

Walgreens:

• -$1.00 Noxzema disposable razors (Moneymaker!)
• $1.00 Aussie or Herbal Essences shampoo
• $1.00 Bic razors
• $2.00 for 2 Head & Shoulders shampoo ($1 each)
• $1.00 for 2 Right Guard deodorants ($0.50 each)
• $0.89 for Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor
• And I know these are a little more than $1, but:
• $3.00 for 2 U by Kotex sanitary products ($1.50 each)
• $4.00 for Walgreens jumbo pack diapers

Rite Aid:

• $2.00 for 2 Right Guard body wash ($1 each)
• $2.00 for 2 Right Guard deodorant ($1 each)
• $1.00 Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor
• $1.00 Dove for Men deodorant
• $0.50 Carefree pantiliners

Questions? Not sure how to get these items? Want to share your plan for next week? Post a comment below!

Couponing for Community

Kaley over at ChaChing on a Shoestring is once again organizing the amazing Couponing for Community drive. To coincide with National Stamp Out Hunger Day on May 14, couponers across the country are invited to make donations to their local shelter, food bank, pantry, or other worthy cause during the week of May 8-14, 2011. The goal is to have couponers donate 10,000 items.

I think this is freaking brilliant and I am super excited. Last year I participated on my own, but this year I am signing up the blog on the Couponing for Community Facebook page and inviting my readers to join in as well. Here's the plan:

1. Start setting aside donations now. Non-perishable food, household items like TP, and personal care items like toothpaste and shampoo are all in huge demand. Any and all of these items can be gotten free or very, very cheap from grocery and drug stores! So as you're doing your own weekly shopping, keep your eyes open for good deals.
2. Spread the word! If you have your own blog, please consider linking to ChaChing's post. (or back here!) On Facebook, "like" the Couponing for Community page.
3. During the week of May 8-14, make a list of what you've put together (if you can remember it, maybe include what coupons you used and where you got them, just for curiousity's sake). You can also take a photo of your donation.
4. Post your list and/or photo to the Facebook page, and consider telling them you learned about the event through this blog! (I'm not above drumming up a little blog traffic while I'm at it, I admit.)
5. If you'd like to be featured on this blog, please also email me your list/photo at notacrazycouponer@gmail.com. I will be making a series of posts that week detailing what my readers have donated.
6. Finally, of course, make sure you find somewhere to bring your items. If you only have a bag or two, you can leave them by your mailbox on May 14th for your mail carrier to pick up as part of the Stamp Out Hunger drive. I know a lot of grocery stores in my area have set up drop-off boxes as well, which is super convenient. I'll probably bring mine straight to the Tri-Town Food Pantry - I've been saving up for a while now and I don't want my mail carrier to hate me forever. :-)

Please leave a comment on this post if you think you can participate. Let's do this thing!

Big Y matchups 2/3/11 - 2/9/11

Yes! Finally, a Buy One Get Two Free sale at Big Y. There is also a Unilever deal that I discuss at the end of this post.

When it comes to using coupons with a BOGO or B1G2 sale, bear in mind that according to their official coupon policy, Big Y does not have to accept coupons against the free items. Theoretically you should only be able to use 1 coupon per deal. In practice, however, I have almost never had any trouble using coupons against the free items. (The exception was one time when the sale didn’t ring in and she had to take it off manually – in that case, the 2nd coupon wouldn’t go through.) So go ahead and give them multiple coupons – the worst that can happen is that they will hand them back to you, and at best you get some really amazing deals.

I also wanted to use this as an opportunity make another quick plug for donating extra items to your local food bank, pantry, or shelter. I was so excited when I found out that the Tri-Town Pantry in Vernon now has a fridge and a freezer for perishable goods. If you look at the first two pages of the flyer, a lot of the best B1G2 deals are for meat and seafood. Some of those I can freeze myself, but when, for instance, am I going to be able to use 15 pounds of russet potatoes (5lb bags B1G2) before they all sprout? Now I know that the Pantry can take the extra 10 pounds and put them to good use.

OK, here are the best matchups for this week. As always, check your own flyer for regional differences as well as for good sales that don’t include a matchup. Also, don’t forget that you can print coupons for Big Y brand products at http://www.bigy.com/coupons/. There is a new monthly sale flyer out for February as well that I will try to go through soon. Grab a copy in stores or view it online at http://www.bigy.com/coupon_book/20110203-20110302-CBcoupons.pdf.

Jolly Time popcorn, 3-pk – B1G2
Use $1/2 coupon from the 1/9 SmartSource (exp. 2/28)

SuperPretzel soft frozen pretzels, B1G2
Use up to 3 $0.50/1 coupons from the 1/23 RedPlum (exp. 2/23) or printables

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest pasta, BOGO
Use $1/2 coupon from the 1/23 SmartSource (exp. 3/31)

Campbell’s Chunky soup, BOGO
Use $1/2 Chunky Healthy Request from the 2/6 SmartSource (exp. 3/20)
Use $1/2 Chunky Healthy Request from the 1/2 SmartSource (exp. 2/13)

Ken’s marinade, BOGO
Use up to 2 $1/1 coupons from the 1/9 SmartSource (exp. 2/28)

Old Orchard Healthy Balance juice, BOGO
Use $1/2 Healthy Balance juice printable  (Requires account setup)

Weight Watchers snack cakes, muffins, or cookies BOGO
Use up to 2 $1/1 Weight Watchers Sweet Bakery items printable

Dr. Oetker pizza, BOGO
Use up to 2 $1/1 coupons from the 1/16 SmartSource (exp. 3/6)

Buy $20 of Unilever products, get a $5 coupon on your next order
This is like the grocery store equivalent of a Register Reward or +UP Reward. If you buy $20 worth of specified products, you get a $5 coupon (called a “catalina” after the company that makes the machines that print them out) to use on your next order.
The big question with these catalina deals is, what counts as “$20 worth”? When we used to have Shaws in Connecticut, they would calculate the amount you needed to buy before any sales or coupons. So let’s say you bought 4 items that were normally priced at $5 (the “pre-sale price,” or PSP), but were on sale for $3 each, and you had 4 $1/1 coupons. You would pay $8 and still get back the $5 catalina. Stop & Shop, on the other hand, specifically states on most of their catalina deals that the qualifying total must be after any sales or coupons. Boo.
I did some quick checking, and no one seems to know how Big Y is calculating their qualifying prices on this deal. Based on the wording of the ad, which states that you must use your Big Y loyalty card, I am going to guess that the $20 must be based off of the sale prices, however since they don’t say anything about coupons I would think that any coupons taken off would not count against your total. But that is totally my own uninformed opinion. If anyone tries this, please let me know what worked for you!
There were a ton of Unilever product coupons in one of last week’s RedPlum inserts. I’m not going to post all the matchups here, but take a look at what’s included and what coupons you have and decide if it’s worth it for you.

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.