Donation Runs

Anyone who has been couponing and refunding for longer than six months knows you can accumulated a lot of stuff. A lot. A whole lot. So, what to do with the excess?

Well, you can:

• Use it (duh)
• Share with friends and family
• Garage sale the excess (a different article)
• Donate the excess
• Let it spoil and toss it in the trash

Ok, let’s assume you’d like to avoid the food becoming outdated and tossed. You probably didn’t buy it to funnel it from the grocer to the garbage, you bought it with an intent that it gets used. So, if you can’t use it, ask your friends and family if they can. At first they may look at you oddly but as soon as you say you have too much and it was “free” people usually say “thanks”. Many time people think you are trying to sell them something, but the magic “free” word makes them more comfortable with accepting your overflow. Sometimes people will ask “how” and as you’re explaining use this as an opportunity to ask them to save their Sunday inserts for you (after they’ve removed the coupons they will use, of course), unless you see them as a convert.

We’ll leave garage/yard sales for another article, but many folks sell their surplus at garage/yard sales, flea markets, ebay, or similar outlets.

So, you’ve given all you can to help those you know, you have stored enough to survive doomsday, you’ve sold everything you can, and STILL you have leftovers! What to do? Donate the extras. But where?

I donate foodstuff to local food pantries. Right now, the economy has dipped in much of the United States and donations to food banks have too, yet the need has risen. Food banks and food pantries accept all manner of items from cereals, to coffee, to toothpaste, to toilet paper. There are food banks that accept frozen foods (although they are more difficult for individual donaters to find). Some food bank warehouses are huge and filled with pallets. I’ve toured two in our area that looked like a Sam’s Club that’s how much stuff they had pouring through. After seeing that, I decided to make my donations through local churches with food pantry missions. This enables the church to have more to give, the donation is extremely local, and the donation has an immediate impact. I also donate to a neighborhood food pantry with donation funding andsupplies not affiliated with a church. They see the same people weekly, have back offices to help guide these folks to public assistance, and need donations to provide immediate impact.

To locate a food pantry, search google for “food bank my town, my state” or “food pantry my town, my state”. You can also call the local Catholic diocese headquarters, your local presbytery, the local temple, etc. Any church or synagogue will know of a food pantry accepting donations, or point you in the direction of someone that knows of one.

I donate my H&BA extras to a battered woman shelter. By necessity these are difficult to find, so the easist way to locate a contact is to call 1-800-799-SAFE National Domestic Violence Hotline. Explain you need a local contact so you can donate goods. They will take your number and have someone call you. My local contact works downtown, a 45 minute drive from my house. But, her home is less than 10 minutes from mine and after I leave my drop-off boxes in her garage, she takes them in the next day.

You can also donate to halfway houses, men’s shelters; just about anyplace that runs a non-profit help organization will accept or know where to send donations.

As far as tax deductions of these goods: I am not an accountant nor an IRS agent. I would never advise anyone to take a deduction or advise them that they could not take a deduction for these donated goods. Speak to your accountant or call the IRS 1-800-829-1040 to find out what is and isn’t eligible for a tax deduction.

If any opportunity presents itself for me to get food or H&BA for free, I almost always take it. I can usually give away or donate anything. My personal “can’t get rid of it to anybody” exception is margarine. So, I stopped “buying” free margarine about 15 years ago because I just do not have an outlet to give it away and we don’t use it. I do leave coupons on the products in the store when it is a sale price so someone else can get the free item. Sometimes it hurts (hey, the need to get free stuff is in my blood), but I just can’t see accumulating something with no outlet for use.

If you have any other donation advice, tips, tricks or now of any other outlets, please post them or send me an email at admin@couponsdealsandmore.com

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