Starting Fresh with Coupons: What Do I Do with my Expired Coupons?

Ok, so far, we have already posted our first two topics in our Starting Fresh with Coupons in 2012 Post Series.  If you missed them, you can read them here and get caught up:

• Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: Time, Time and TIME! Is it Worth My Time??
• Starting Fresh in 2012 with Couponing: Organization is KEY!

Now, after you have become organized, what do you do with all of those expired coupons??  I’ve answered this a long time ago in the Freebies2Deals FAQ Section.  But I think it is time to address it again.

How to Find and Pull Out Expired Coupons

If you are using the Binder Method to organize your coupons, only pull out expired coupons once a month.  If you spend time each week doing that, it is going to take a lot of time.  And, we want to be as efficient as possible.  I only pull out my coupons once a month.  When I get my new P&G Coupons, that is my signal to pull out any expired ones.  Since the monthly P&G coupons rarely overlap, I know that once the new ones come out, the other should be expired or very close to it.  Then, I can pull out all of the coupons at the same time.

Should I Throw My Expired Coupons Away?

Well, that is up to you.  You can definitely recycle them or throw them away.  Or, you can make a difference and send them overseas!  If you didn’t know, Military Families stationed overseas can use expired coupon 6 months past the expiration date. And, as you can imagine, it can really help them out! These families are all over from places like Italy and Cuba to Germany and Japan.

How to Send Your Coupons to Overseas Military Families

First of all, after you pull out your expired coupons, you will need to separate your coupons into TWO piles.  One should be food items and one should be non-food items.  Grab two Ziploc baggies with the words “Food” and “Non Food” written on the outside. Then, put those two ziploc bags into a mailing envelope and send them to your Overseas Military Station of your choice.

Grocery Saving Tips has a very extensive list of military bases that are currently accepting coupons.  And, they update it all of the time- so your coupons will always go to families who are waiting for your coupons and need them. So head over here and scroll down, you will see a list of different addresses you can mail your coupons to.  The problem with sharing just one or two addresses for all of us to use is that those bases get too many coupons and can’t use them.  So, I like to choose a different base each time I mail the coupons.  That way, everyone gets a little love from my neck of the woods. 🙂

What is the Cost to Mail the Coupons to the Military Families?

Since the Military Bases overseas are actually U.S. Territories, it will cost the same to mail to a Japan base as it would to mail to a neighboring U.S. State.  Pretty cool huh?  So you won’t be breaking the bank just to mail your coupons.

So the next time you think about just throwing your coupons away, think about helping out our troops!  They do a lot for our country and sending expired coupons is the least we can do!