Today we’re going to hear from Cheryl from over at Simply CVS. Cheryl is a retired home-school teacher who lives with her husband (who was her high school sweetheart!) of 32 years in the Southeast. Cheryl’s family takes giving very seriously – and her story is a great reminder to all of us that giving doesn’t have to be a seasonal thing!

Couponing has not only enriched my family’s life by providing us with high quality food and products in quantities we could never have afforded otherwise, but also has allowed us to share so much more with others. I have been told I am one of those persons who would give the “shirt off their back” to someone else, so my joy of giving has been fulfilled in great part thru couponing. But it is a family affair for sure.
While growing up, my family didn’t have even a dollar to spare, so sharing with others financially was out of the question; but that didn’t stop my parents from reaching out. My father was the neighborhood fix-it man, not by trade, just by hobby (his name was even Emmett like in Mayberry). If something was broken, they’d call on him. Another “outreach” he had was to the paperboys. On rainy days when their papers got soaked on the corner waiting to be delivered he’d help them bring the papers in our house, lay several out, turn on fans and the furnace and dry them out, and put them back together. While the paper boys delivered those papers, he would get another batch ready. So as you can see, even without financial ability, he found ways to give and instilled that desire in me.
While my husband and I were raising our daughters we passed this legacy on to them by teaching them to give of their time and resources. We have many fond memories from serving others –  including volunteering regularly at an adult day care center when they were small, giving of their own toys to drives put on after natural disasters, filling shoeboxes each Christmas for Operation Christmas Child and taking flowers and baked goods to seniors at church.
A few years ago my husband gave each of us a $10 CVS gift card to spend on donations and told us if we had $10 left at the end of the year he would give us another one to do the same. (This was back when we didn’t have to pay tax when using Extra Bucks.) At the end of the year, we each had over $10 in extra bucks left and still some on our gift cards! My youngest daughter saved up all of hers until the end of the year and then donated it. You can see from the picture below how far that $10 went when combined with coupons and extra buck promotions (the dining room table was covered but it didn’t all fit in one picture, but this is about two-thirds of it).

Couponing allows my family to share “financial” benefits with others. I like to think of giving as bringing sunshine into others’ lives. Life can be rough, and caring and sharing (whether of time or things) can make it momentarily smoother for others and brings the giver a sense of satisfaction and joy. I am very thankful to be on the giving side of the equation—we never know when that may change!
Today, I can’t help others the way that my father did because of physical limitations, but through couponing I am able to help others with their basic needs. I often get food at the grocery store for free or for pennies, but my main haul is from CVS. I bring home on average 5 different items each week from CVS for donations. And that is one reason why I started Simply CVS—to show others how they can meet many of their family’s needs by bringing home hundreds of dollars worth of stuff each month for just pennies on the dollar and have extra to share.
I spend a lot of time at CVS, so I like to ‘treat’ the staff at my CVS regularly – which is easy to do with couponing! This is what I got them on a recent “truck day.” I tease them that they have to take what I can get for free!

If you would like to donate items this holiday season or anytime year-round, here is a starter list of places which generally accept donations.

  • Operation Christmas Child (nationwide collections)
  • Local Food Pantries
  • Local School Supply Drives
  • Children’s Homes (local and out of state)
  • Orphanages (in other countries)
  • Overseas medical trips
  • Church preschool, children’s & youth programs
  • Shelters for Abused Women
  • Pregnancy Resource Centers
  • Adult Day Care Centers
  • Shelters for Men (program helps them break addictions to drugs and alcohol and teaches them a trade)

Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Cheryl!
In order to keep this new feature going, you all are going to have to volunteer to tell us about something YOU do when you are couponing!! Your post can be about almost anything to do with couponing. You can tell us about a particularly good or bad situation you’ve dealt with as a couponer, about how you got into couponing or how couponing has impacted the rest of your life, you can make a list of things every new couponer should know…just about anything, really! If you think it’s interesting and it has to do with couponing, email me with your idea at contactiheartpublix @ gmail.com!