Ok guys – I thought I’d do something a little different for next week’s Reader Spotlight, and I need your help!
During this crazy time of year it’s important to take a moment to be thankful for what we have – and as we do so, we also need to recognize how much we are able to help ourselves, our families, and those around us through couponing and deal-seeking! So this week I’d like to ask you all to take a moment and answer this question for me:
How has couponing and/or deal-seeking positively impacted your life this holiday season?
Leave your answer in the comments for this post. I’ll be picking some of my favorites and using them for the Reader Spotlight post next week, so make sure you tune in!!
This holiday season we were able to give to more families because I was able to save more on each item. I even saved some money on buying gift cards for a needy family that we were able to give more toys to their children with the savings. God has blessed my family and He continues to show me how to share those blessings with others. Please continue to donate to your local shelter. Merry Christmas.
Couponing not only enables me to provide an unbelievable stockpile for our family, but I can also give to my brother and sister. My brother and sister are on disability. My sister gets great joy out of sharing and she finds a home for everything that is in the boxes.
Thanks Michelle for all your help. Your site is one of my favorites. I have also been helping my neighbor learn to coupon. She just had her first baby and wanted to stay home with her. Couponing is playing a big piece in her being able to stay home. It is amazing how quickly she is learning. I just gave her three of my favorite websites and she was off and running.
I believe that our country is in for some difficult times and couponing can help us not only feed our family, but also help others.
I have gotten such a blessing out of this couponing which has enabled me to be able to do for others and this time of the year its so needed. In years past I didnt really have it to do with but this year I was able to give to toys for tots not what Id like to be able to give but I felt good being able to do something. It breaks my heart to think of how many children will wake up on christmas and not have anything under the tree ..I encourage all of you to find some child that is in need and give most all of us can spare 5.00 . My kids are so blessed this year we have alot to be thankful for …
Merry Christmas and again thank you so much for taking the time to post with all the coupons and updates !!! May you have a blessed christmas
Coupons have not only impacted my life but the lives of others around me as well. My church has a ministry that invites the homeless in to receive shelter, a hot meal, groceries, a hair cut, physical therapy, dental work…etc. I have been able to donate a generous portion of food and toiletries to this organization…and at a price I can afford! It just breaks my heart to know that these individuals come in off the street and have nowhere to stay and no family to support them. I believe Christmas is ALL about giving since Christ gave His son Jesus for us all so long ago. Thank you so much for all of your help and free information! You have truly touched MANY people’s lives. Merry Christmas!
I was told about your site about 6 months ago and follow it faithfully. Thru it I save around 70% on each grocery trip. But my greatest joy thru couponing this year was thru getting free or really cheap toys with coupons. My father passed away on July 15 of this year leaving my mother after 56 years of marriage. Being on her own for the first time in her life, she is struggling emotionally and financially. I have been able to give my mother enough toys for her to use as gifts for her 18 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. She was thrilled to get the help and it has helped her to be able to still see the joy in the kids faces during what is going to be a very difficult Christmas. I thank you for all that you do for others. Merry Christmas and God bless.
Yes!! Couponing & deal seeking have helped me tons this holiday season. I was able to gift a huge box of items (bath stuff, toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, storage bags, and tons of other non-food items) to a local family in need. I donated a couple of items to Toys for Tots and two full bags of toys, food, and bath items to the Ronald McDonald House. My son’s class decided to donate to The Ronald McDonald house this year instead of exchanging gifts, his fellow students were in awe when he brought his donation in. I was actually able to purchase 8 toy items (2 U Build Battleships, 2 Crayola bracelet kits, 3 decks of Pictureka cards, and a Leggo car for $7 out of pocket)! I thank you and your fellow blogger at hip2save for passing on awesome deals! Merry Christmas!
Couponing has helped my family tremendously with saving money. I worked up such a huge stockpile that I donated almost all of it to my son’s food drive at school. These are things I bought really cheap or free, so it doesn’t hurt us to donate them. Throughout the year I have been shopping deals, clearance, and sales for most of my kids Christmas presents which I store away in the attic. I have worked up a hefty amount of presents, I was able to help sponsor a family this year of 10 children.
Couponing has made a huge positive contribution to my family. Each year our church ‘adopts’ a local elementary school and we provide the christmas gifts for children the school social worker has identified. In prior years, we have adopted one child. This year, we were able to provide the entire Christmas for two siblings – several new outfits each and a bike. Our church then delivers the gifts a week early to the parents so they can have the joys of wrapping the gifts and giving them to their children according to their family traditions. We had double the pleasure – and of course, used clothing coupons and rolled gift cards- to make each dollar count.
It was our pleasure and our generosity was absolutely funded by our savings from the coupons!
My family is part of RYFO, a non-profit organization that ministers to traveling bands by connecting band members with a network of host homes, among other services. We get several bands each month that spend the night in our garage apt. During their stay, we provide safe, comfortable sleeping accommodations (bands often sleep in their vans), clean bathrooms and towels (bands often go DAYS without access to bathing), dinner when they arrive and breakfast before they leave (bands often try to get by on less than $5 per day while on the road, and mostly eat convenience store food). So far this December, we have hosted 3 bands, and another is coming through this week. Usually, we don’t see a lot of bands near the holidays, which is good, because my husband is self-employed in the construction industry, and money is always tight in the winter.
However, because of couponing, I don’t worry that we have had so much extra company right at the holidays! I fed 13 band members, a visiting relative, and my family of 7 a lovely breakfast the other morning. We made Belgian waffles out of the pancake mix I paid pennies for! I served oj and fresh fruit I got on sale, and had some really good coffee in my stockpile.
Couponing makes it possible for us to say yes to this ministry opportunity, even though we have 5 children who are expecting something under the tree.
Couponing has been the life thread for my family this year. My daughter and her husband separated this summer. Leaving my 2 small grandsons ( ages 5 and 1)lost in the whirlwind. Thru the last 6 months my grandschildren have been left with me for weeks at a time not knowing what is going to happen next. In the mess of things my daughter and son-in-law managed to not only lose their minds but also their jobs, home and vehicles. My husband nad I are not raising the children in our home. Mom and Dad come and go. We were not prepaired financially to raise these boys. We added on daycare expensesd on to our already tight budget. Without couponing and deal seeking I dont know how we would be feeding, clothing and being Santa this year. ( My grandson started Kindergarten and I dont remember there being so many things to pay for when his mother was young).
When Santa comes this year most of the things under the tree were bought with coupons and rebates.
Thank you to all the bloggers that help me everyday.
Sheila
Couponing has allowed my family to go 100% organic foods for half the price! We always thought going organic would be impossible because it would break the bank, but not so. We journeyed from full price and non-organic groceries to couponing non-organic, to couponing organic in a span of less than two years. It has been a wild ride (sometimes scary!) but worth it!
This Thanksgiving and Christmas have been our first organic holidays. We have enjoyed the taste of our food more than ever before, and it’s not because of our cooking skills ;-)Plus the savings has allowed us more $ to get through these hard economic times. We have our own blog and have written about our journey extensively. God bless!
Couponing has made a huge impact on not just my holiday shopping, but my everyday life. It’s become an ongoing joke with my family when I buy something [anything] they ask me what I paid for it. It’s usually either free or around 70-90% off. Couponing through sites like I Heart Publix has made a big difference in my life. I’m a college student and I live at home, so I’ve always bought household things like dish soap, bleach and laundry detergent to contribute [this is in addition to contributing to all the household bills because I am no moocher!]. With I Heart Publix, I can not only get these neccessities at a great price, but I also have money leftover to buy healthy foods and things like tolietrees. My budget thrives and I am able to enjoy a lot more on less money. I’m going to school for culinary arts so for the holidays I’ve always loved giving edible gifts. With all my savings, I’m able to make my gifts and still have money leftover to get myself something nice. My food budget [groceries & going out to eat] used to be $200 a month. Now, I barely spend half of that [that includes going out to eat once a week and buying groceries once a week]. I used to pay around $75 for shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, etc every two months and now I spend less than $20 and stock up. Couponing has also given me the opportunity to donate. I haven’t started up a good stockpile yet, but once I do, I plan to donate items to those who are less fortunate. I would have never thought to do something like that if it weren’t for I Heart Publix and reading other Reader’s Spotlights. Thank you so much for this site, it’s helped me in ways that will stick with me for he rest of my life.
Always wanting to donate to shelters I can now ( because of you Michelle)
not only do I donate I know I am doing a great thing and it is barely costing me money, Especially since we are a one income family. Now when I hear of a house fire or someone in need. I know I can help them.
Thank you Michelle for all your hard work, and answering all my questions.
Couponing has allowed me to GIVE to others! This year I would estimate we have given away several hundreds of dollars worth of groceries & toiletries to families whose “breadwinner” has lost their job, or to families facing a serious illness, medical debt & time away from work.
Couponing has allowed me to GIVE to my own extended family. During the year I planned ahead and I purchased about 52 gifts for 17 people for Christmas. I spent approximately $240 for a total value of gifts of just over $800!
Couponing allows me to be a good steward of the money the Lord has blessed me with. Granted, it’s not a lot, but I am blessed to have the skills and knowledge (and online friends like Michelle) that helps me stretch what we have.
Couponing like the others have stated has allowed me to give and save. But more then that it has gave me a good distraction from the stresser’s in life. These last couple of years have been a real trying time in my family’s life. My mother having breast cancer, my dad passing away, my teenage brothers getting in a lot of criminal trouble, my Dad’s kids from a previous marriage causing all kinds of problems, me losing my job, my fiance being out of work, etc! Couponing has been a release for me. It’s really therapeutic for me. Plus I have the added benefit of saving money. I was able to provide a nice Christmas for my whole family on unemployment benefits. Thanks so Much Michelle.
Couponing has allowed me to do several things:
First, to provide better for my own family, on less money. We have a decent stockpile built up (so much so that my daughter put on note on the refrigerator with a list of things I am not allowed to buy until we reduce or donate the stockpile: rice, crackers, salad dressing and pasta!)
Second, I have plenty to share. I donate staples to our church food pantry regularly, and I cook food in big batches which I package to give away. We have an elderly neighbor who lives alone, and I send him a plate of food or a container of soup a couple of times a week. There are actually several people in my life who can just use a hot meal now and then. Any time I make soup I put several single-serving size containers in the freezer to have handy to give away.
Third, my family hosts an exchange student. My husband and I already have two teenagers of our own, so hosting another teen ten months out of the year would probably be impossible on our income, but couponing allows me to save so much on groceries, toiletries, paper goods and cleaning products that one more mouth to feed is no big deal. Hosting has been a wonderful experience for my family, and couponing has allowed us to do it for two years in a row. Now, if I could just figure out how to get them to take shorter showers….
My family has a huge bottle bank (one of those gifts you get while pregnant full of little goodies) that my husband, myself and my mom all put our change in all year. With all of the awesome deals that I get through you, Totally Target and Wild for Wags I have had a LOT of change this year. With that change we adopt a family through White Doves (I believe they are a branch of United Way) every year. Our bank has usually had $200-$300 dollars each Christmas (this is our 5th year). Well this year our total was $497 and change. We have adopted a five kid family and are buying all the kids bikes. I wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much for this family without all the change we have accumulated from all the awesome deals. Couple dollars here and there out of pocket and all our change in the bottle.
We have 3 boys and they all come shopping for our adopted family. My two older ones (12 & 15) have started contributing their change as well!! It is great to see the kids really enthused about shopping for kids who otherwise might no have a Christmas.
White Doves asks that you provide Christmas dinner for your adopted family as well. Not only will our adopted family get Christmas dinner they will get lots of stock up items that you (& Kerry and Christy) have helped us accumulate over the last couple of months.
You guys are incredible and have helped so many of us pay it forward by helping others in these tough economic times!!!! Kudos to you and to all of your readers who help others!!
My husband and I have had a tough few years. 2 years ago his sister died tragically which broke the whole family. My daughter was born 5 months later and my husband lost his job a few months after that. We were supporting a family on our very small income and the last 2 years have been unable to have much of a Christmas at all. We now have 2 full time incomes! However I took up couponing right after Christmas last year because I read of all the deals others were able to do to provide Christmas for so little. We were up to our eyeballs in debt when hubby started working in July 2010. Couponing has enabled us to pay off 75% of the debt we accrued in the last 2 years. We have been able to provide a $1000 Christmas for less than $500 for the whole family including each other! We have also been able to add his mom to our cell plan and buy her a computer and add her internet card to our cell plan to help her cut down on expenses since she sacrificed so much for her family as a single mom. We also announced at Thanksgiving that we were starting to save for Christmas at Disney next year! We are saving enough for Hubs, Me , DD and MIL to go meet my family in Orlando! We never would have been able to accomplish all we have without couponing that cut our HBA and Food from $600+ a month to less than $300! I was also able to take advantage of all the deals Michelle and others post daily to put on an amazing Christmas!!!
Recently I became unable to work so the income has dropped. Yet I still have been able to do for others for just pennies with the aid of Michelle and other coupon sites. Toys for Tots, the local food pantry and my grandchildren are all benefiting. Thanks to all the people who make couponing easy (and products affordable)for me. You have made the world a better place because of what you do. Again,THANKS TO ALL YOU ARE BLESSED.
my couponing has provided me, my family and friends with lots of hygenic products year round. but because im now a coupon pro because of wesites like old.iheartpublix.com and simplycvsshopping.com this year i was able to provide my friends children with lots of christmas gift. she lost her job of 10 years this summer and her husbands been unemployed for 6 months. i asked her to read me her childrens christmas list. her oldest told the youngest two that since the economy is bad that santa wouldnt be able to give alot this year so make your list short. so i was able to give her daughter four zhu zhu pets for the price of one. her sons gifts i got free with kohls $10 off $10 and i made sure i got a few of those coupons. so thanks for helping me be a coupon fanatic
I am a high school math teacher (and about 18 month couponer). My school does a food drive around Thanksgiving every year. This year I was determined to use couponing to donate to the food bank and get my kids involved in the competition. I started buying items for pennies on the dollar and showing them to my students to show them what coupons could do (I was buying things like pasta sauce organic and regular, pasta noodles, organic granola bars, rice, etc). My students jumped right in. Myself and my 22 students were so motivated during the drive that we ended up donating over 2000 items just from our classroom. This christmas one of my students (who I have had for 3 years now)was facing a tough time with her mom losing her job and trying to work a part time job, excel in school, and play for the softball team. By combining with the softball coach we were able to donate $150 in gift cards and personal care items for her, her two sisters, and her mom. Couponing has enabled me to really do christmas for my own family so much better as well, but I am really enjoying what I am able to do for others this holiday season. I am even teaching a fellow teacher how to coupon. Thank you for all you do.
I read your site every day.Since I have discovered this site we are able to save so much money living on one income. I was able to finish my degree and my sister moved in to finish her masters.I shared your site with my friendsand family. They have saved so much money and no longer in finacial trouble and are also able to help others.I get great joy out of the deals I get.We have been able to donate to the local food drives and the church.My favorite part of this eperience was when my 11 year old pick an angel from the tree at the mall and was able to fill the bag full of items for another child. I was so proud she used coupons to get the most for her money at the mall. You have touched so many peoples. Thank you
As it is for everyone else, Christmas is always a hectic and expensive time of year. This is compounded in our family by my son’s birthday being just a few days after Christmas. To add to that, the last few years and this year have brought several Christmas and New Years weddings. That all makes for a lot of presents to buy. One of the biggest ways I have saved my money and sanity this year in particular was by stocking up big time on cleaning supplies, candles, food storage, and other home supplies. I have used and will again be using in the near future my inventory to create “setting up house” kits to give as shower gifts. This has helped tremendously this holiday season. I started couponing this year and when my husband wanted to know why we had so much glass cleaner, detergent, etc., I told him, “You never know..” Now we know.
I was able to donate a year’s worth of pasta to my church’s spaghetti ministry for less than $20 (versus $220)! They will in turn save $200 and be able to use the difference to send more children to summer bible camp.
Liz
I have been couponing for just over a year and in June I became unemployed, at which time I was eligible for state health insurance and decided to proceed with medical testing, including mammogram, etc. I was found to have early breast cancer and underwent treatment. This couponing has kept both me and my family going through these rough times. If it had not been for these websites and the awesome deals I was able to get, I am not sure how I would have survived. And just the happy feeling that it gives a person to get a great deal, unless you do this, is undescribable. I have made it through and the holidays are going to be great because of the many deals I was able to get through all these websites. Thanks for your constant updates and great deals. I know it is a lot of hard work on your part to keep this going but it is truly rewarding to people like me. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Thankx to what I have learned with old.iheartpublix.com we were able to put together some toys and food supplies for a family in need from my sons pre-school. Even at a time when we are counting every penny – thankx to coupons and God’s blessings we could reach out to love others this season.
Thank-you for all the tips and links!
As a household we were able to use some of our stockpile of office supplies and school supplies to donate to a battered women’s shelter. The collection was run by our chiropractor’s office. It was fun being able to give out of our abundance.
I am a counselor at a middle school and the staff and most of the students know that I am all about saving money and couponing. Every year, the students work through their homerooms to donate food to our local food pantry. This year, I decided to make it a competition between myself and the students. I went on our morning show and “bet” them that I could donate more goods spending less than $25 dollars than any homeroom could donate spending whatever they wanted. If a homeroom won, they would receive a waffle breakfast cooked for them by the principal and the counselors. I, of course, really wanted them to win but I was still able to donate 77 items spending only around $5. The students love competition so we were able to donate much more than usual, and last week, we cooked waffles for the winning 6th grade class who should be very proud. Also, during the competition, I kept a large running tally, in the media center, of how I was doing. My fellow staff members had many questions about how to use coupons so effectively, so I will be holding a class at school on the fundamentals to get even more people involved in saving.