Last Sunday I made a rather large trip to the store. I knew going in that this would be a large trip; I hadn’t done regular weekly shopping in two weeks and we are beginning to run low on many staples that I usually keep stock piled. I’ve been catching up on coupons and carefully planning what I needed and wanted to purchase.

There were two things I didn’t plan on: 1)Purchasing so much on this trip that it wouldn’t all fit in one cart and 2)Being recognized by so many people in the store that item #1 became not only inconvenient but embarrassing.

I met someone who regularly comments on these posts in line at checkout, another person sent me a DM pointing out the sheer humor in all of the coupon folks shopping the aisles at the same time, and two other people I don’t know commented to people I DO know that they thought they saw me shopping Sunday night. One of them told a story about how her daughter asked her if she thought I had just moved and had no food…perhaps that was why I was buying so much? Good grief!

So I thought that in my own defense I would show you what, exactly, I purchase that takes up so much space on occasions like this one. I have no excuse for the fact that I’m too stubborn to just park and get a second cart, but I can certainly help you understand part of what coupons do for me…and what it is that my coupons do for the community.

Over the past couple of years I’ve learned to make my coupons work in a way that gets me freebies…or near freebies on a fairly regular basis. I watch for the deepest sales and match them with the best coupons. I’ve also found that I can stock up on these items beyond what my family needs. This is when I started saving up items to donate.

This week, when I made a spectacle of myself I had two weeks worth of shopping to do, there were several items I wanted to stock up on because we were running low. So what made my cart so full?

These are all items that will be going to various charities around town. Every so often I’m able to manipulate both my coupons, sales and my shopping trip so that I can round up donations for local charities.

Because I would already be making a trip, my husband and I decided to take a quick look through the house and round up some other items we have “over stocked”. I’m embarrassed to say this is what we found:

Over the course of the year we haven’t donated just toiletries. We’ve rounded up diapers;

and it wouldn’t be fair if we left out our four-legged friends;

last Holiday season the kids and I also took a large stash of toys to Toys for Tots, I’ve donated money earned from my coupon classes to purchase groceries for the food pantries and I’ve collected medical supplies for Health Care Access.

My point is this: In this economic climate it often hard for us to look at our budgets and find a way to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves; so if the opportunity is there why not take it? With a very small amount of effort you could make a difference on a local level without depleting your own funds.

This week is a big one for coupon inserts. Many of these coupons will match up with sales around town over the next few weeks. I usually buy 4 copies of the paper but this week I’m planning on getting 6. Stock up on your coupons and be ready for the weeks to come. Why not budget $10 and see how far you can make that go? Do that and I promise that if I see YOU at the store with an overflowing cart, I won’t laugh. I will just smile and nod.