Spread the wealth (or at least the coupons)

By Mark Sweetwood

So, you eagerly grab Sunday's copy of The Vindicator. Your pulse races at
the anticipation as that top banner let's you know that you can save $575 with
today's coupons.

Scissors at the ready, you locate the coupon sections and begin to clip.

There are great coupons, to be sure. But...

Pampers? All of our kids are grown up! Alpo? We have cats! $1.00 off Mrs.
Smith's Pies? My doctor would kill me, setting up the most ironic and
complicated patient-doctor relationship since Jean Harris looked up
"Tarnower" in the phone book.

So, you grab the ones you need, but what do you do with the rest? Line the
litter box? Make paper airplanes? Recycle them?

Perish the thought!

First, think about your friends and family (even co-workers and
neighbors). If someone you know has an infant, they might be able to use
the Pampers coupon. A large family might enjoy a cheap pie.

Thinking of others requires some innovation, too. The local pet shelter
might really appreciate the Alpo coupon. In one office I worked in, a
co-worker put a box at her desk and people would routinely drop off
coupons they couldn't use and take those they truly needed.

Spread the wealth! My parents are fond of clipping the best coupon deals
from the weekly Walgreens ad and they then donate those items that
they do not need to the church pantry.

As you might imagine, there are Web sites that allow coupon-clippers to
swap coupons. Check this one out:

http://www.couponforum.com

For the price of a few stamps, you could really amass a good coupon
collection at that site. Note the many threads featuring Pampers
coupons...

Heck, we live in an age of social networks. The trick is to spread the
wealth! I am constantly e-mailing people links to bargains and coupons
that I think they can use. Try it and see if someone out there does not
respond to you, in kind.

Monday: The killer instinct

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Mark Sweetwood is managing editor of The Vindicator.