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!

It's pink & paisley!

Seriously, I am not a very girly girl, but I am excited to rock out my new pink & paisley coupon box. I love paisley and actually have a cat named Paisley (and another cat named Argyle- for not being a fashionista, I have a thing for fabric patterns with cool names). I'm definitely not finished organizing the coupons yet, so there will be more pics of the inside to come. 

Now I will feel cool using my coups. Hopefully. That is the goal. Oh and to save more money because I can actually find the coupons I want to use!

My dad is my coupon hero

Growing up, my dad had a black index card box that I estimate has saved him like 1 million dollars (that's a loose estimate). He would not only clip coupons every Sunday, but he had (and still has!) his coupon box organized by aisle in his grocery store. He has a definite system. It's awesome. 

So with all that awesomeness upbringing, I went to the store Wednesday to buy a box to hold my coupons. This should be a simple endeavor, but suddenly I got very concerned about how my coupon box would look to others. I suddenly wanted to look cool- and am choosing to express my coolness through my coupon organizer which is possibly the least cool thing, um ever. So after going to three stores, I came home and scoured my house for cool boxes. I think I've found a suitable box- it's a makeup box so as bonus, there's a little mirror in the top and elastics to hold a pen & mini scissors! I'm still working it out, so hopefully later today I'll post pictures of my makeup/coupon box.