Merry Christmas to All!

 

Here's my Buc-ee's ornament on my Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  He never made it onto our small tree last year so he made his debut this year.

While everyone has a wonderful Christmas Holiday with what and whomever fills you with joy please at least say a prayer or keep in mind the folks in Western North Carolina who are still suffering from the devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene that hit their area back in October.  I personally know that area and how cold those mountains get in the Winter and most of the people who live there are suffering greatly and will continue to go through a traumatic time as the season progresses.

If I lived closer I'd be taking all these toiletries and foodstuffs I get for cheap or free to them instead of the food bank here in Louisiana.

Nick Johnson, a youtuber who has documented this disaster and the government's lack of help, has two videos out recently.

Maybe think about donating to some organization or person on these videos inside of buying another Christmas present for a family member.  I'll be donating.

Sluggy

Finally Getting My Donation Act Together

Summer has almost come and gone here and I am finally getting my donation act together.
That only took me since late June to get back into my decluttering groove again.

Hauling a donation up to the local Food Bank is problematic for me.
Ya see, they are only open on Friday mornings....for 3 whole hours.
Add in that I don't "do" mornings, plus it was summer so there was no other reason like school in session to get me up at the unearthly hour of anytime before noon.
Do you see the problem now?

So here I am up at almost 3 am on Friday morning, blogging about this problem and typing up the list of stuff I am taking in later today.  At this point, I'll just stay up, deliver the goodies when they open for the day and come home for a nap.

Moving on to the goodies....here are the Stockpile Sale leftovers I'm hauling up today.  Our food bank also takes non-food donations of personal hygiene products, paper goods(napkins, toilet paper, etc.)and cleaning products(laundry detergent, dish soap, etc.)

10 Shampoos
5 Body Washes
10 Deodorants
6 Toothbrushes
6 Feminine Products
25 Toothpaste Tubes
20 Diapers *not pictured*

Unfortunately, I have no food to add to this donation.  I have hardly done any deals this summer and the stockpile as well as the freezer is emptying out at an astonishing rate!  There was an awesome Catalina Promotion deal at Redner's a couple of weeks ago that would have let me get an embarrassing number of bottles of ketchup for a very low price.  But it coincided with the college packing and prep craziness week and I just couldn't make the trip all the way over to Redner's in time.
And ketchup is one thing that is always on the food bank ladies list of wants.
*sigh*
So this little collection of goodies will have to do for now.

Have you made a donation to your local food bank or shelter lately?
If you stockpile, go on and spread the deal love in your community, won't you?
Pick up an extra something when you go to the store and help feed those local folks struggling in this economy.

Sluggy

Decluttering and Donating

If you are into decluttering be sure and check out my bloggy friend Mark's blog HERE.  Most Fridays he posts his weekly decluttering booty....er, or should I say bounty?  Anyway, HERE is a recent example of what he's sent packing.  Be sure and go check out his efforts and cheer him on!
Gotta love a man who fights the urge to hoard his kid's outgrown clothing.....

Well I DID get a donation for Sallie's together for February!
Here it is.....

 One big trash bag full of assorted used clothes......

And another bundle of mostly clothes and some odds and ends.
Among the odds and ends is an MP3 player my Daughter had to have one Xmas, that's been sitting in my desk for a couple of years now.  Everyone has Windows 7 here now so we can't upload anything to it.  I hate technology......well, the fact that things go obsolete so quickly!
Ugh....
The rest of it mainly is a load of my sweaters.  5 of them I never even took the tags off of, let alone wear them.  They were my size, the right colors and styles that don't make me look like a troll(a rare thing!lol)AND they were a "deal".  So I bought them.
Let's not get into the fact that I don't WEAR Sweaters....ever!
Nope.
I live in PA on the top of a mountain.
Even so, I wear a winter coat maybe 3 days out of the year....if that many.(We won't get into the fact that I have a winter coat hanging in the downstairs Coat Closet that I have never worn.  It's been around since Clinton was in office, or since my Daughter was an infant....)

I go outside barefoot....in the winter......in snow even.
I am a walking 24/7 Hot Flash....not just since menopause but ALWAYS.
Why the hell am I buying sweaters?!?!LOLOL

So after keeping them safe and snug in my cedar chest for the last oh.....7 years or so!....I have let them go, hopefully to a new owner who will actually WEAR them.

We got our donation together in February and Hubs actually dropped it off on Friday, March 4th.  I am still going to call it a Feb. donation.
Monday morning, we begin gathering the March donation.

So what clutter have you sent packing outta your life lately?

Sluggy

May Charity Challenge....Share the Stockpile Wealth!

I regularly read Tanya's blog, over at the CVS SAVER. I am taking part in her monthly Charity Challenge for May. Please go check it out and think about sharing some of your couponing good fortunate with others like the Challenge Participants have.

The Lutheran Church here in Teeny Tiny Town has quite a few active social outreach programs. One of them being an area Food Bank or Pantry. I'm just blessed to overflowing with foodstuffs here from all the good deals I have found using coupons. We can't possibly eat it all so I called up the church and offered to make a donation to the Food Pantry from my stockpile. Here is what we put together to take over for the Pantry shelves.

This Church also holds a Free Medical Clinic for those who can't afford to go to the Dr. or to an Emergency Room for treatment. They are always in need of supplies and medicines too. I asked the lady up at the Church if they could use some Diabetic Glucose Monitors. She isn't involved in the Clinic but she said to bring them. If they can't use them, they will know of someone or some place else where they can be put to good use.

So we're also taking these up to the Church in the morning....

What Random Act of Kindness have YOU performed this week?

Sluggy

Whatever You Do Unto One of the Least...

I am not a traditionally religious person.
I was raised Catholic.
Because of some experiences in that faith, & then in a Protestant faith, I have serious personal issues with organized religion.

This does NOT make me a bad person or a non-spiritual person.
I have as many morals or ethics as the next person, in some cases I'd dare to say I have more?
I just don't spend my time studying or professing my spirituality in a church or temple.
There are many paths to god, or enlightenment, or whatever you wish to call it. Everyone needs to find their own way.
And other people need to respect every one else's beliefs and pathways.

At the root of all religion(or should be) is the directive to love one another. To put it in the current vernacular, People trump things.
I think anyone would agree with that.
That's a basic tenets no matter your religion.

Things are not inherently bad or good.
The way in which we use things give those things either label.
We should use things to HELP people or any of
God's creatures.


Which brings me to Stockpiling.

Getting things we need in our lives for free through legitimate channels(like rebating/couponing) is good.

We save money on the things and can use that money for other meaningful purposes in our lives.

Acquiring A LOT of things....like more tubes of toothpaste than we will ever use in a lifetime, or so many boxes of cereal that we can't eat them all before the expiration date....that kind of acquiring is not so good.

That is putting things first.
Not people.

So what should we do when the Stockpile gets unwieldy?


We sell stuff. If your family needs cash to pay bills and you have an excess of food &/or toiletries in your stockpile, have a yard sale or put items on eBay/Craigslist/local trading post.


We donate stuff. If you know a family who is struggling, load up a bag of goodies. If you have a local food bank, load up a bag of food for it. If you have a local medical clinic, load up all those free glucose meters for it. If you have a local women's shelter/homeless shelter/senior community center, load up a bag of toiletries & snacks for them.


This post was inspired by someone I know on my yahoo newsgroup called The COMPACT. Most of us started over on The Compact group not buying new for a year with varying degrees of success, in an effort to re-examine our shopping lives. Those who choose to stay past that 1st year have modified their pledge a bit but in general choose to not buy new when avoidable and are much more conscious consumers with a heavy dose of being truly green and protecting our environment.


Anyway, this friend has been spending this Lenten time trying to do RAOK(Random Acts of Kindness)via Feeding Hungry People.

I think it's a noble cause!

I look up to this person for her efforts in this, especially given the load of responsibilities she bears in her daily life besides this Feeding People Cause.



A recent post about her FTH Challenge got me thinking about my stockpile of stuff & how I should help too. Then I read an article in our local newspaper about a local animal shelter that gave direction to my plan.

The economy has been very bad for not only people but for Pets too. People can't seem to find the money now to feed or otherwise take care of their pets. They also can't afford the Surrender Fees that most shelter's charge to give up a pet.

The article said that the personnel at this shelter arrive every morning to find dogs tied up to their chainlink fence and cats inside the 10 ft. high fence. (There is no exterior door in this fence. People are literally throwing their cats over this fence into the shelter's outdoor enclosure.)


As I have undertaken a 60K Savings Challenge this year, I don't have much left in the budget $ to give to the shelter.

But I do have a way to make my small sum of cash go much further.

Yep.

Coupons.



Over the last 10 days, while shopping for my family's needs, I incorporated some pet food shopping with high value dog & cat food coupons I had.

I was able to stretch my $20 cash into $68 worth of dog/cat food using coupons. Both sons assisted me with some of this shopping.

On Saturday we were able to take 12 bags of food up to the shelter.





#2 Son with the Pet Food for the Shelter.
I know it's only a drop in the bucket but it's a start.

Doing Unto the Least of God's Creatures.
Feeding the Hungry Animals.
We will continue to keep this as our Pledge.


Sluggy