Pile of Extra Coupons--What to do?

[katarain]

My coupons had been piling up for weeks. They were in a real mess, with the inserts all mixed up together, so I couldn't organize by insert like I wanted to. So, I've gone through them and clipped what I thought I might use. The result is a huge pile of coupons which I didn't want or that are expired.

I don't have time to go through them and organize them in any way. is there anything I can do with them? Do people around here want piles of disorganized coupons on the off chance there's something useful? I know I sure wouldn't. But if there's demand, maybe I should try trading for something I want, like diaper coupons. :shrug7:

Maybe I should send them to a military base, but I couldn't afford the postage.

Any suggestions?

[Cynthiabutterfly]

I *try* to keep mine organized by insert date- with 2 toddlers running around, that rarely happens.... I put them in a tote after I've clipped what I really want and think I might use. Then if I see a good sale or find someone who wants to trade, I'll clip them out.

When I have a rainy day or time to kill, I pull out the ones from the bottom and throw out the ones that have expired.

If the tote gets full, then I'll throw out the ones on the bottom without sorting thru them. It's not a perfect system, but it's all I've got time/energy/space for.

[cintinative]

If I have extras and I can't organize them, I cut them out and include them in trades as extras (less the medicine/baby/hair color ones). Sometimes in the process of going through them and cutting them out, I find ones I want to sort and put in my binder for trading.

[motherofmolly]

check at your local community center and or doctor's office....our community centers have a basket at the front counter to put coupons in and take what you need...if they dont have one, maybe you can bring a basket and your coupons and see if they would use it....
also my doctor's office has a basket for coupons. the ones you get in the mail and in mag's...maybe you could see if you could add them in...

or find a mom's group and see if they would take them...maybe thru your local park district.

or see if the local daycare would like to start a basket for them also.

elderly center/assisted living these are the places that can use the "adult" items especially along with others

in fact you just helped me think of an idea for the class i go to every mon/wed for my daughter...it is tot time at the local park district and i think i am going to see if some of the mom's want to do some trades/exchanges of coupons they dont use while we are there!! whoo hoo

[vbc99]

I get behind on filing my inserts all the time. I've gotten in the habit of writing the date on the front of the insert when I get it. That way, if I end up with a big pile, I at least know what week I'm looking at. This might help in the future.

[foodie]

I get alot of free coupons from free local regional papers in N VA--specifically The Times newspapers. Various counties for the same paper with the same coupon inserts--so duplicate coupons available. I raid newspaper stands with the free papers. For example, Fairfax Times, etc. The newspapers are regional according to the counties and are distributed by the same newspaper company. They just put the county name on the front of the masthead.

I also put my coupon inserts that I haven't sorted and/or filed in my binder in a brown paper grocery bag and label the exterior of the brown bag with the date(s) that the coupons came out in the papers. For example, "10/04/09" date would be on the grocery bag and then I know which date to file in order.

Foodie:biggrin: