OMG, it was a coupon box.

Yesterday I had the privilge of touring the Community Action Center (CAC), an awesome nonprofit serving those in need and actively working to prevent homelessness in Sandy Springs & Dunwoody. I walked through the food pantry, saw the volunteers sorting clothes, almost bought a purse in the thrift store (it was really cute and $3, but they weren't open for business) and then I SAW IT.

Sitting on a side table in the waiting room where people wait to meet one-on-one to tell of their needs and have CAC compassionately work to help them... THERE IT WAS.

It was a black plastic box marked COUPONS.

I love coupons. I have an adorable coupon box. And I love how saving $0.40 really does add up. But I don't NEED to save the $0.40. (Here's a previous post on that idea.) I am not a small step away from homelessness or already homeless like many of these people seeking assistance from CAC. If you read my We-Not-Me Wednesday posts, you know that I believe that fabulousness does not come from expensive clothes or having money, it comes from thinking of others, enjoying life and constantly doing the best you can with what you have. That's where the frugal part comes in. Just doing the best with what you have... um, and taking advantage of companies that want to give you free stuff and try to get you to buy their products! :)

I love that CAC has a coupon box, so I couldn't help myself and peeked inside. It had a few walgreens coupon pages, but not much. I thought immediately of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and realized that "using coupons" doesn't rank up there with food & shelter. These people have more important things to worry about and even though coupons save you money, you have to have money to use them. I hope & pray that sometime very soon, these people will have enough money to use and enjoy coupons like I do.

Check out http://www.ourcac.com/ for ways you can help the Community Action Center. And you hang in there and keep clipping coupons! The more you save, the more dollars you have to help others!

**In other news, I'm totally jazzed that I won two tickets to Primal Atlanta this weekend! Huge thanks to Georgia Organics (become a fan of them on facebook right now). Great food, free beer & wine and some amazing people who really care about their food & where it comes from. Can't wait!