Recycle and Helping Out

Yeah, I know its been awhile.  Has everyone adjusted to the school schedule yet?  I haven't.  And as soon as I do, my youngest will start as her first day is not until after Labor Day.  I am looking forward to the three hours I will have to myself though.

I am not a pack rat and I do not like having clutter in my house.  Much to my husband's dismay, I throw things away almost prematurely.  But I do have an issue with trashing things that could be reused by someone else.  Especially, clothes and shoes my kids barely wear.  Thankfully, I have friends that I can pass these on to.  The other thing I have an issue with are expired coupons.  But after some research, I found that we can pass these on to a military base because they are allowed to use them.  I went to southernsavers.com and found a ton of information on how to do this.  I adopted a military base in Okinawa, Japan and simply mailed them today for just $4.95.  The website listed step by step instructions and the clerk at the post office was very helpful.

Here are the basics:

Adopt a Base.  Go to the link on the website and it will lead you to a list of bases available for adoption.  Or you can just use the following base that I have already adopted under the organization of Coupon Connectionz.
Okinawa, Japan (USAF)
Family Services Program
18 MSS/DPF
Unit 5134, Box 80
APO AP 96368-5134
*There was not a particular reason I chose this one, except that I had a cousin who was born in Okinawa.

Two months max on expired coupons on the date of shipment.  They can use them for 6 months after but since volunteers at the base must process the coupons once they arrive and get them out to be used we have to leave enough time for the families to sort through them as well.

Use Priority Mail Supplies.  I used a Flat Rate Envelope.  You will also need an address label and USPS Customs Declaration Form 2976-A (This you will have to get from the mail clerk).  On the address label, I addressed it from Coupon Connectionz with my home address.  On the Form 2976-A fill it out as follows:  1=Manufacturers Coupons 2=Pkg 4=$0.00 5=Gift

Then take to the post office and mail it out.  As I said, it only cost me $4.95.  I also got supplies for the next round of expired coupons while I was there.

Let me know how it goes.  It actually felt good to send these off in the hope that maybe someone else could use them.