Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I have incredible respect for those who are actively serving. It can be a sacrifice to live abroad, and let's face it… military pay isn't spectacular. Add to this the fact that prices at overseas commissaries and exchanges are much higher than they are stateside. Military families can use all the financial assistance that we can provide.
You may not realize this, but coupons are still good for six months beyond their expiration for military families serving overseas shopping at the base commissary or post exchange. This has led to a rewarding service opportunity for those who collect and use coupons from their Sunday paper.
SavingsAngel.com has supported this program for over four years and has shipped over $1.4 million dollars of coupons from our members to a number of bases overseas. This effort is part of our larger mission to help end lack and hunger in our communities by empowering people to give more to the causes they support. We do this by revealing how to get groceries for pennies on the dollar each week which can lead to full pantries and an abundance to give from.
Here is how you can serve overseas families:
1. Coupons must still be clipped and sorted into food and non-food stacks. If you want to be extra helpful, you can even separate product categories like baby products out. Please do not sent full inserts. While the coupons do not need to be expired, based on experience, try not to send any coupons that are more than two months expired. There is some lag time between when they actually arrive on base and are distributed. This work is all handled by volunteers – so the easier we can make this for them, the more likely we are to create successful savings.
Please do not send:
- Coupons that are ripped or have vital coupon information trimmed off – such as the expiration date, barcode, or redemption address.
- Store coupons. If the coupon says, “redeemable only at Target”, for example, the military family will not be able to use it.
- Coupons for regional products. This often includes products like milk, and regional produce growers.
- Food stamps
- Restaurant coupons
2. Please keep your stacks divided using different envelopes or zipper baggies. Rubber bands and paperclips do NOT work well. When your package opens, you don't want an avalanche of coupons pouring across the volunteer's table. Also, it's possible that mailers can be inspected while in route – and an organized package will be much less likely to fall apart if it needs to be opened by a postal inspector.
3. If you do not know an overseas military family, ask around on facebook, online forums, etc… You should find a family who could use your donations with a little asking. You can also mail your coupons directly to the overseas base. You will want to make sure it is routed to the correct location. An active overseas base mailing list is maintained at www.ocpnet.org. You can use a Priority Mail APO/FPO Flat Rate Box or envelope to save money. My friends and I at SavingsAngel.com can also ship your coupons to several different overseas bases if you mail them to SavingsAngel.com – Military Family Support, PO Box 302, Jenison, MI 49429.
Every baggie of coupons you can send helps save valuable dollars and stretch budgets while shopping at their local BX/PX or Commissary. While this is not a tax deductible charity, this certainly is a patriotic charity. An extra $100/month saved for a military family can make a HUGE difference in their budget during their time of service and sacrifice!
The easiest way to cut your grocery bill in half is through using manufacturers coupons combined with the best sales at local stores. Normally, this takes a lot of work to create a winning shopping list for your family. Each week, SavingsAngel.com combines over 2,000 products on sale at local grocery and drug stores with their enormous database of manufacturer coupons ““ which are found in your Sunday paper and throughout the Internet. This combination results in access to over 300 products each week for 50% off or better. Here are a few examples of deals that are available until Saturday at midnight. Please look in Tuesday's Grand Rapids Press each week for tips on how you can easily start cutting your grocery bill!
Josh Elledge is the Chief Executive “Angel” of SavingsAngel, Inc. ““ launched from his Holland, Michigan home in January 2007. A husband and father of three, he now appears each week on Fox 35 Orlando, in the Grand Rapids Press, and a number of radio stations across the country teaching families how to cut their grocery bill in half using the Internet. Elledge created the technology found on SavingsAngel.com through the need to save his own family's money. Successfully able to cut his own grocery bill from $600 a month to less than $300 a month, his message has reached hundreds of thousands of families. SavingsAngel.com is now growing rapidly throughout the country. You can watch a short video at SavingsAngel.com that will explain more information about how to cut your own grocery bill in half with the help of SavingsAngel.com.
