Wondering what to do with all those expired coupons?

Each time you purge your coupon binder, or your coupon swap box of all the expired coupons, where do you put them? There is somewhere MUCH better than the trash.

I just recently discovered that expired coupons can be used overseas at military bases up to 6 months past the expiration dates.

There is a civilian run program called the Overseas Coupon Program that is dedicated to helping military families stationed overseas stretch their food budgets. As of March 1st, the 2009 total was $2, 073, 947.68 worth of coupons donated to this worthy cause. The running total has not been updated since March 1st because of family issues with one of the volunteers that maintains the site, but I'm sure it has probably doubled in the last 2 and 1/2 months.

Here are some basics to the program: Cut the coupons yourself before mailing them, please don't send coupons that are more than 2 months past their expiration date, so that the bases have time to process the coupons and get them out before the 6 months window passes. No store coupons, fast food coupons, or restaurant coupons. Manufacturer's coupons only. Please sort the coupons into food and non-food categories. Use small bags or envelopes to keep the coupons separated into these 2 categories, and be sure to label the bags accordingly. Do not use paper clips as they can come apart easily in the mail.

What's food and what's not? Rule of thumb; If it is usually eaten by humans to provide calories, then it's food!

For instance, Dog food is a non-food item. Slim fast or Ensure are food items. Vitamins are a non-food item. Chewing gum and mints are food items. Makes sense right?

Add up the face value of all the food and non-food coupons in one total and write this number on a slip of paper and place it in the envelope. They ask that you do this because it helps the volunteers know which bases may need to receive more coupons.

You can either adopt a base through the program's website, and mail directly to that base every month, or you check the website each month and choose a different base each time you mail. I think it may be easier to adopt a base so that you know where to send the package, and so that the program volunteers have an easier time gauging which bases have the greatest need for adoption.

If you want more information on this, you can checkout The OCP website.

If you are interested in doing something like this, please leave me a comment and we'll see how many people we can get involved.