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How to Purge Expired Coupon Inserts!
For me, convenience is the name of the game. I want the easiest path to accomplish my goal. In this case it is to purge all coupon inserts that have expired and either recycle those inserts or give them to one of the organizations that collects expired coupons for military families overseas. What I like to do is to determine which inserts have no valid coupons left in them and purge those inserts first. If there are inserts with more than TEN valid coupons, I will keep those inserts intact until the next purging round rather than take the time to go through and clip each and every one of those coupons, it is all about time management to me. If an insert has just a couple of valid coupons, I will decide if I would purchase the item if it were free or cheap and if so, I will clip those coupons and get rid of the rest of the insert.
I personally do not clip all coupons from my inserts. I order my inserts from an insert service, they come to me in a 2-3 day mailer, so I simply write the date of the inserts on the outside of the mailer envelope, plop it in a file box and use that for my filing system! To read more about how I organize my coupons click here.
Looks like a regular foot ottoman, but inside are my mailing envelopes neatly lined up by date for easy access. I write the date on the outside of the envelope, put them in the ottoman, pop on the top and they are out of sight and nice and tidy. No need to buy file folders or envelopes!
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THIS IS HOW I DETERMINE WHICH COUPON INSERTS CAN BE PURGED
We have a very simple tool on the MAIN PAGE of our website (it is there all the time) where you can plug in the month you have and it will tell you which inserts are still valid. Try it out here, now to see how you like it:
Here is a more thorough method that I use too
I have a really easy system that prevents me from throwing out old inserts that might still have valid, non-expired coupons in them. Here’s what I do:
On the coupon mom website, when you click on the insert database link HERE it will show you the SOUTHEAST REGION COUPON DATABASE. This is a list of all coupons that have been distributed in Florida (you can change the state to wherever you live).
- When the coupon database opens, don’t search for anything in the search box.
- Simply scroll down to the very bottom (past the pictures) and you will see every available non-expired coupon listed in date order from newest to oldest.
- Scroll down to the very bottom of the list, where the oldest possible coupons are. To the right of that it shows you the expiration date of the coupon. That gives you a good starting point to know which you can get rid of and go from there 🙂
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INFORMATION ON SENDING EXPIRED COUPONS TO MILITARY FAMILIES OVERSEAS:
Our military families are limited to doing their shopping for groceries and household items at the Commissaries and Post Exchanges on base, where prices are much more expensive than you will find in our stores in the US. Both the Commissaries and Post Exchanges allow the use of manufacturer’s coupons up to 6 months past their expiration date. In
other words, a coupon with the expiration date of January 31st can be used overseas until July 31st. Our military families who are stationed overseas do not have easy access to the Sunday newspapers like we do here, so they are very appreciative of any coupons that are sent their way. Most organizations that collect and send expired coupons overseas require you to send coupons that are no more than one month expired to allow time for packaging and shipping and enough time for the coupon to be used once it is delivered. One organization that does a great job with this is called Troopons – Coupons for Troops.
For more information regarding this program CLICK HERE.
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SO what are you waiting for? Time to get yourself back on track! Chop Chop!! 🙂
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