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By Kellene Bishop
I can’t think of a single person I know who wouldn’t love more sanity and peace in their life. But I suspect that very few of them would think of cutting coupons as a source of that sanity and peace, right?
Last Sunday at church, a guy gave a lesson to the whole congregation on financial preparedness and being financially prudent regardless of whether you’re struggling or not. His advice was timely and right on. But today… I saw his wife in the grocery store behind me lugging around three of her four children. Now since I don’t have this experience when I go to the grocery store, I’m probably not the most sensitive as to what they were going through in this moment. So I asked her as she was putting groceries on the conveyor belt, “You’re not paying too much for those groceries, are you?” She stated that that the cereal she had just put up there was “only $2”, etc. I gave her a brief example of what cutting coupons could do, namely make her cereal that was sitting there on the belt only 50 cents. I even had a coupon for her handy that I was willing to give her so that she could do this. But alas, she told me “I don’t even have the time to think about those kinds of things.”
This isn’t about trying to get a woman to switch from her favored “Cocoa-Puffs” to generic rice puffs. This is about saving substantial amounts of money on what folks are already buying by cutting coupons.
*Heavy Sigh.* One word: disappointing. I’m certain that with her family size of 6 that she could save at LEAST $3,000 right off of her food budget every year! Can you imagine what her husband, who’s an investor, could do with that extra $3,000? Do you realize that I’ve spoken with countless household heads that have reduced their grocery budgets for their large families down to only $100 a MONTH!?! Just from cutting coupons and using some type of online service to help them know where to best use these coupons.
Cutting coupons literally brings you sanity and peace. I don’t cut coupons because I’m cheap. I cut them because I’m smart… and patriotic. More about that in a moment.
Photo by Pat Ramsey
In honor of “National Donut Day” I watched hundreds of cars stand in line at the drive thru at Krispy Kreme last Friday. Gasoline wasting away. Time being sucked up, all for a free piece of sugar and dough. Yet some say they don’t have time to SAVE precious money and to provide food storage for their home? Folks don’t have time to literally save thousands of dollars a year? If you don’t have time to save thousands of dollars a year, you better be making millions of dollars, because that’s the only way that kind of math really works out. PUH-LEEZE. It’s FREE food, folks. It’s FREE food storage. There’s not a billionaire I know that will pass up free food because they understand the value of lifesaving commodities. How do you think they got to be so wealthy in the first place?
“I guaran-dang-tee you” that if you don’t have time for emergency preparedness now, you certainly won’t have time for it when everything hits the fan.
I’m really not being judgmental here. I’m trying to point out that for so many people something so important is usually off of their radar. The ironic thing is that it’s usually not a part of their playbook for the very reasons that it SHOULD be—the kids. Yes, the kids in our life take up a lot of time and focus. But when the soccer games and the dance lessons are cancelled because of an EMP, earthquake, or financial collapse, those distractions won’t seem very important and you’ll be kicking yourself for not having the focus and foresight. Worse, because you didn’t prepare properly you may very well BECOME one of the bad guys, desperate to do anything you can to save your family. Food for thought.
In addition, if more people were to implement the method of cutting coupons to save money on what they are already buying, there would not be a barren food bank in America! Additionally, you can donate your excess coupons to military commissaries overseas. Military commissaries will a will accept manufacturer’s coupons for up to six months after the expiration date. So if you don’t use your coupons, simply send them on the collection organizations and they will help the military families serving overseas. There are quite a few organizations you can hook up with to do this. Simply by going to www.ocpnet.org you can learn how to “adopt” a military base and how to mail coupons to that base. I also have a contact here in Utah for this as well: Julie Young of Brigham City, Utah will accept your coupons, categorize them, and send them on to the military. She currently sends coupons to London, Guam, Iraq and Germany.
Ms. Young is also looking for more coupons to send to stateside military families, who need current coupons, ideally those that will not expire for several months. To contact Young, you can e-mail her at coppertop@favorites.com or call her answering service at 435-730-4280.
There’s a surprising need among military families actually, especially those with little babies and small children that need diapers and formula, but can’t afford to buy them. Meat, detergents, milk, juices, canned vegetables and fruits are the most expensive items. Any coupons in those categories are the most requested by my military wives.
Cutting coupons not only can save your family a significant amount of money while stocking your food storage shelves, but it can also be a very patriotic act as well! So, start cutting your coupons. The sanity and peace can literally be worth the life of your family.
Copyright 2009 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.
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