Today’s member spotlights introduces you to Shannon in Italy and Rebekah in the United Kingdom.

First Name: Shannon

Where are you stationed? Aviano, Italy

Size of your family: 3

How long have you been overseas? Since January 2008 (4 years)

Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas?  I started couponing about six months after we got here since my grocery bill tripled from what it was in the states.  I have finally started to get my grocery bill back in check with the help of coupons!

What is your best piece of advice for anyone newly stationed overseas? Definitely try to save as much as you can.  Living overseas provides you with a great opportunity to travel, but also to save money.  It is a lot more expensive to live overseas, so save where you can and when you can! Coupons are a great way to start. And of course, get involved with Coupons To Troops!

What is your favorite part about CouponsToTroops? This is the only program that I have ever belonged to and absolutely love it! The program is run by a great person, Lesley, and she is always so helpful.  I love that we are matched individually and get coupons mailed to us directly.  I love that I have individuals sending me coupons so that I know where they came from and who to thank.  It’s nice to have that personal interaction with the senders.

First Name:  Andrew & Rebekah

How long have you been overseas? 20 months

Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas? I started when we moved here and learned how much you can save and you can also use older coupons. It really helps with shopping.

What is your favorite part about CouponsToTroops? Having someone in the States send us coupons that they no longer need, we are looking forward to receiving our first package in the near future and we are excited to the part of CouponstoTroops. I think that it is an amazing idea!!

Thank you to Shannon and Rebekah, for sharing a little bit about yourselves and your overseas adventure with us!!!  If you are stationed overseas, and would like to be featured in one of our Member Spotlights, please contact us at admin@couponstotroops.com

Did you know that today (February 1st) is National Freedom Day?   It’s not technically a holiday – it’s  a day of observance that honors the signing of the resolution that proposed the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution to outlaw slavery.    President Harry S Truman signed a bill in 1948 that proclaims February 1st as National Freedom Day in the US and over the years, National Freedom Day has become a day to promote good will, equality and to appreciate freedom.

For National Freedom Day 2012, I propose that we all clean out our coupon binders and organizers and gather up all the coupons that expired on 1/31/2011 and mail them out to a military family, who serves our country and helps keep us free!

If you have not yet adopted an overseas military  family to mail your coupons to, you can do so here!

Everyday we receive emails from people who are still waiting to hear from either us or from their new overseas family, so I wanted to offer a few hints and suggestions on what to do or what can be done.

1.  First and foremost ALWAYS check your spam folder.     Spam filters are notorious for seeing an email come from a foreign IP address and sending the email straight to your spam or junk folder.   Our match-up email contains a few helpful suggestions and includes a couple of links, which may cause our emails to be filtered as well.

2.  If you have been waiting for our initial email (containing the first name and country of your overseas family) for 10 days or more, (and there’s nothing in your spam folder), please  fill out our Contact Us form on our webpage (the recommended option) or email us at admin@couponstotroops.com     Please note that the first and last weeks of each month are peak times for CouponsToTroops- as our blogging friends post reminders to their readers during those weeks, we receive a LOT of address requests so while we strive to respond within 48 hours, the wait time may be significantly longer.     (also please remember that this is a one-woman operation and between school activities, sports, Cub Scouts, PTA, Marine Corps League and sleep, some days are more productive than others!)

3.  If you have received our initial email, but have been waiting to hear from your overseas family for 4 days or more (and there’s nothing in your spam folder), please  fill out our Contact Us form on our webpage (the recommended option) or email us at admin@couponstotroops.com   so that we can follow up with your family.   We will send your family (and you) a follow up email and from that point, your family will have 48 hours to resend their info to you.  If after those 48 hours you still have not heard from your family, please let us know and we can match you up again with a new family.

4.  Once you have heard from us and your overseas family, we recommend adding both  email addresses (ours and theirs) to your email Contact List (and your Safe Senders list, if your email program has that option).      Even with both email addresses added there, it’s a good idea to check your spam folders periodically, in case an email still gets filtered there.   Otherwise you might miss seeing an acknowledgement and a thank you fro packages received from your overseas family, or a status update email from us regarding your overseas family, if/when they notify us to have shipments stopped for any reason (most often because they’ll be moving back to the US and no longer need expired coupons.)

I hope these tips will help keep the email communications flowing smoothly for all of us involved with CouponsToTroops.

I love learning about our senders!

Today’s spotlight will be on Carol, on behalf of the VMERG in Oklahoma, sending their coupons to  4 families stationed in 4 countries.

Name: Carol F. on behalf of the American Airlines group called VMERG – Veteran Military Employees Resource Group – in Tulsa, OK

How long have you been couponing? I have used coupons personally for most of my life, but got involved in sending coupons to the military about three years ago through a friend. That expanded greatly when I volunteered to head the cutting and monthly mailing of the boxes of coupons for the American Airlines group. It was then that I acquired addresses from Coupons To Troops and we’ve gone from sending one box per month up to four medium flat-rate boxes per month! We’re about to outgrow that number and hope to evolve into an even larger contributor soon!

Which country is your CouponsToTroops adopted family stationed in?We currently send to families stationed in Italy, Germany, Okinawa, and Japan.

What is your best piece of advice for anyone just starting to mail out their coupons overseas?   Those wishing to start sending coupons to troops should pace themselves so that they don’t tire of the work. Not everybody loves to cut as much as I do! Don’t wear out your volunteers and make sure they are cutting them without cutting off the expiration date or any of the barcode! Remember that the military families need you and that you are making their lives better by this “little thing” you do!

What is your favorite aspect of CouponsToTroops?  My favorite aspect of the project is that the families benefit so much from getting the coupons and can share them with all their friends and coupon group. I also really enjoy being “pen-pals” with some of the gals I mail to each month. It’s fun to exchange emails, Facebook posts and messages, and even postcards and notes in the mail.

-We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about one of our dedicated groups of senders.   If you are a sender and would like us to put you in the spotlight or you’d like more information on how to start up a group of your own,  please contact us at admin@couponstotroops.com

Today’s member spotlights tell us a bit about Shannon in Japan and Amy in Italy.

First Name:   Shannon

Where are you stationed?  Okinawa, Japan

Size of your family 3 kids ages 9, 12 and 13

How long have you been overseas? 2 1/2 years

Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas? I have always used coupons but being overseas it helps to save money since the cost of living here is higher than stateside

What is your best piece of advice for anyone newly stationed overseas? Be flexible

First Name: Amy
Where are you stationed?  Vicenza, Italy
Size of your family: 3 and a dog
How long have you been overseas? We have been here for 6 months now.
Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas?  I have always tried to be a couponer but since being overseas I am totally into it.  Since being in Italy it is hard for dependents to work (due to the SOFA agreement) couponing is a huge part of our life with saving money.
What is your best piece of advice for anyone newly stationed overseas? Know that it is going to be a huge adjustment and come all at once.  Get out and be active as soon as possible.

Thanks for taking the chance to learn about a few more of our receiving families.  If you are stationed overseas and would like us to put you in the spotlight, please contact us at admin@couponstotroops.com.

When you mail off an envelope or a package of coupons to your ‘adopted’ military family, we strongly recommend including a piece of paper with your name and your email address inside the package.   Since the envelopes and packages are traveling halfway around the world, they are subjected to a lot of handling, from the point they leave your hands until they arrive in your family’s mailbox.     Address labels are often missing or illegible by the time the package is received, and postmarks don’t always give a clear indication of who the package is from.

Many of our overseas families are receiving coupons from their own family members or friends back in the states or from other CouponsToTroops senders, so without a note inside the package, your family may not know who the package is from, making it virtually impossible to notify you about its arrival and to thank you for the coupons.

Larger packages will arrive with the customs form still intact, so in those instances your family will know who the package is from, but they may not have easy or instant access to your email address, so the note inside with that info will be very helpful.

I receive several notifications each week from overseas families letting me know that they have received coupons but they are not sure who they are from.   Your name and email address included inside the package will increase the likelihood that your family will contact you to acknowledge the receipt of the coupons and  to express their appreciation for your support.

It is amazing that CouponsToTroops has the support and participation of so many dedicated coupon clippers.    There is no way we could help out so many military families without the efforts of everyone involved.   With more overseas families signing up with us every day, we hope that the stories from our senders will inspire you to sign up for a family of your own to mail your coupons to!

Today’s spotlight will be on Sandi in Arizona who is part of a large group of clippers in Arizona, sending their coupons to a group of families stationed on Guam.

Name :  Sandi P, Fountain of Life Lutheran Church, Tucson, AZ

Name of your group:  Coupons to Troops Clippers

The cost of a first-class stamp will be 45¢, going up only a penny, but the Flat Rate Priority Mail envelopes and boxes that so many of us use for mailing coupons to our families will have a bigger increase.   According to a USPS news release dated 11/22/2001, the prices will be as follows:

• Priority Mail Flat-rate Small box — $5.35
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Medium box — $11.35
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Large box — $15.45
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Large APO/FPO/DPO box — $13.45
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Regular envelope — $5.15
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Letter-size Mailer – $5.15
• Priority Mail Flat-rate Legal-size — $5.30

My post office is only open until noon tomorrow – and of course, you’ll find me there, getting a few last packages in the mail at the old prices!!    Maybe I’ll see you there!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying our Member Spotlights.  I love that it gives you allows you to meet some of the families that we are helping to receive coupons!   Today we are featuring  Nicole in Japan (well, one of our 3 Nicoles in Japan) and Angela in Germany.

First Name: Nicole

Where are you stationed?  Okinawa, Japan

Size of your family: 3

How long have you been overseas? Since January 2010

Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas? I started couponing when I first got here and now that I have been here 2 years, I finally have a couponing binder and have gotten so much more organized with using coupons.

What is your best piece of advice for anyone newly stationed overseas? Take advantage of the fact that you can use coupons up to 6 months past the expiration date. It really saves you and your family money. Don’t get discouraged when the cashiers tell you that you aren’t allowed to use a coupon. Ask for the store manager if you believe that your coupon can really be used.

What is your favorite part about CouponsToTroops? I love that CouponsToTroops matches you up with families in the states. A lot of other facebook pages like this one to help the troops and their families receive coupons but are designed so that families just send their coupons to one person and that one person sends them on to the troops and their families which causes the coupons to be close to expiring by the time they get here. Lesley makes sure that you have families sending coupons to you and if they aren’t she sends them friendly reminders and if they no longer want to send their expired coupons for personal reasons, she actually cares and finds a new family to replace them. The families that I have been matched up with are awesome and so friendly.

First Name: Angela
Where is your family stationed? Ramstein Air Base Germany

Size of your family? 4

How long have you been overseas? We have been here since April 2011

Have you always been a couponer or did you start once you were stationed overseas?I have been using coupons for about 4 years but being overseas has really up’ed my coupon game

What is your best piece of advice for anyone newly stationed overseas? Best advice when shopping – don’t forget to look at the local ecomony for good deals.  They may not accept coupons, however, they may have a better buy on something that you use that will beat the base price even when using a coupon or considering the exchange rate.  Also, it never hurts to stock up when there is a sale, just don’t clear the shelf.

Thanks for taking the chance to learn about a few more of our receiving families.  If you are stationed overseas and would like us to put you in the spotlight, please contact us at admin@couponstotroops.com.

The inspiration for our Last Date feature was from one of our most frequently asked questions from our senders: “How old can the coupons be that I’m mailing?”

Our overseas families can use manufacturer’s coupons that are up to 6 months past their expiration date.   So on any given date, you’ll be able to visit our website, and the Last Date calendar will show you which coupons our overseas families will be recycling the next day as they have reached their ‘overseas expiration.’

As you package your coupons up, the date that is displaying should be your benchmark in determining how old your coupons should be.  Please keep in mind that  how you mail (first class vs priority mail) will greatly impact how long it takes your coupons to arrive in your overseas family’s mailbox.   Priority mail will take a minimum of a week and for first class mail you should expect a minimum of one full month, although 6 weeks to 2 months is more realistic.

You will want to be sure that your family will have enough time to receive the package and get the coupons organized in their binders or files and still have plenty of time to be usable, so we recommend not mailing any coupons that are older than 3 to 4 months expired at the time of the mailing.

Of course, our best recommendation is to mail your coupons off as quickly as your schedule and your budget allows as the coupons expire.   And to answer another often asked question – you can even mail off any coupons that your household won’t be using BEFORE they expire.    Current coupons allow the military families more time to use them before they reach their ‘overseas expiration’.