Today I wanted to share a different type of post. I wanted to share a declaration of pride, strength, and exhilaration!
For as you read this post, my husband and I are on our way to donate a $4,123.43 Stockpile Donation to three local non-profit groups in my area; a homeless pantry, women’s shelter, and soup kitchen. This past month, I have been planning this this President’s Day donation, where we will be able to give back to community in a large way! I am in no manner bragging, but wanted to share that while the value of this donation is so great, it’s out-of-pocket cost to my family was quite minimal, totaling only $146.71, due only to applicable state sales tax.
How was I able to accomplish this? I diligently coupon shop for my family, make note of cyclical seasonal, national, and regional sales promotions, and actively budget in the cost of donating goods, by way of stockpile deals and savings, into our families savings envelope system. Each week I set aside four to six hours to clip and sort coupons, to devise savings scenarios, and then to shop these deals in my area; deals which I have incorporated into this very blog.
We are not wealthy, but live comfortably. My husband, a public school educator, and myself, a work-from-home clerical aid, work hard to provide a seasoned life for ourselves, rich in love, compassion, empathy, and a shared core belief in charity to others. Three years ago we began a journey of working our way out of collected debt, paying off accessed medical bills, and earnestly saving towards retirement, and today is the conformed affirmation that our scrimping, saving, and struggling was more than worth of our combined efforts. Please note, that when I blog about my passion for savings, day in and day out, I am completely and truly devoted to the idea that families, like my own, can pull themselves out of debt, and be able to not just spend less on your monthly expenses, but live more fulfilled, wholesome, enriched lives in the process.
This past holiday season my husband and I pledged to give a third of our couponed stockpile to local charities in our city this year, and today is the first actualization of this pledge.
Why today? Well, for two reasons. First, it’s a Federal Holiday, and so as a family we are on a respite from work. But secondly, and most importantly, we are using this President’s Day as a living embodiment of the words spoken during the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, who urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
So today I declare that a feat as small as saving money at your local market with coupons, through slow, diligent work and determination, can manifest itself into great change, one tube of toothpaste at a time! Yesterday my family were savers, couponers, and community members. Today we are community advocates.
I encourage all of my readers to consider finding their own way to give back to their respective communities. As Mother Teresa once said, “If you cannot feed one hundred people, feed just one.”
Thank you all for your continued support of my blog.
Here’s to saving,
