Expired Coupons??

One of my recent hobbies is coupon-ing (I can hear my brother laughing at me right now...). Slowly, but surely, I'm learning how to get good deals on the food we eat and the products we use (for example, $0.11 for a box of couscous, which Matt loves). Many of our local stores offer double and triple coupons, which adds up every week. I cut out every coupon I get, because I never know what's going to be on sale or what I'm going to need!

However, being just the two of us (and Hula), we don't exactly consume a lot of goods. What do we do with our left over coupons and coupons that we just don't need? I have four options that I'm learning to alternate between:

1. Stock-up on basics: Even if I don't need chicken broth, I'll use my soon-to-be-expired coupon and buy stock on sale. If I know that I'm actually going to use it soon, I'll stock up :)

2. Stock-up on items to donate: We like to give back to the community and participate in drives for those in need. When there is an amazing deal on products like soaps, toothpaste, canned food, diapers, etc, I purchase with my coupons and save the item(s) to donate. This way, we always have stock on hand and we can contribute to worthy causes while watching the budget :)

3. Send to friends: I have several friends with babies, and since we don't have kids yet, I send them my baby/kid related coupons. Even if they don't use them, I know that they have the potential to use them. I also send links to good online coupons to friends who I know will want to use them.

4. Send to military families overseas: The commissary stores on army bases accepts expired coupons up to 6 months past their expiration dates!! For families earning very little, coupons can make a big difference. Since I'm clipping anyway, it's an easy way for us to support our troops. If you would like to donate your coupons, go to http://www.ocpnet.org and follow their instructions for mailing coupons. This site sends coupons to a base of your choosing, and the coupons are put in a box at the front of the commissary for the shoppers. Military commissaries accept coupons 6 months past their expiration date as well as internet printed coupons. You can also send your coupons directly to military family/friends overseas!

If you have any creative ideas for old/irrelevant coupons, please let me know! Happy clipping :)