Beverly & Pack / Flickr

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

Stop throwing away your expired coupons! Instead send them to military families overseas to use for up to six months after the manufacturer’s expiration date.

You’ll be helping service men and women save money on groceries when they shop at their on base commissionaires. This is not time consuming, difficult, or costly since you’re already clipping coupons.

Organizations like

the Overseas Coupon Program and most veterans groups accept coupons and send them to troops. Coupons to Troops is a directory you can use find persons that collect coupons or military families. You can also mail out the coupons yourself.

Whichever way you decide to help, make sure to follow these four tips to save time and money when sending your unused or expired coupons.

1. Cut coupons to size to save money on postage.
2. Only send manufacturers coupons like the ones from the Sunday inserts no later than two months after expiration (keep in mind that it takes time to send and process the coupons). Do not send store coupons or online coupons.
3. Contact the base or organization where you are sending the coupons to ask how they want you to organize the coupons. They’ll usually have you divide the coupons into food and non-food coupons.
4. Make sure to address your envelop correctly and include a name when mailing to military bases as the postal service will not deliver the letter or package without a name.
5. If you’re sending a package, use flat rate Priority Mail. It’s only $4.95.

Getting others involved can also help you collect more coupons and you can split the cost of the postage. To further show your appreciation and support to the men and women serving this country, you can also send them military packages.

USACEpublicaffairs / Flickr

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

In a comment, Susie A. suggested we find organizations that facilitate sending items to soldiers overseas. Care packages include items soldiers need or enjoy while they are away from home. To create inexpensive care packages you can buy items in bulk, organize a collection in your community, or use coupon matching to score free items like toothpaste. If you have a loved one in the military, don’t forget to take advantage of military discounts. For those that would like to send a letter or care package to service members overseas, here are three organizations that help you do so.

1. AnySoldier.com – This website allows you to find a soldier or unit of your choice to send them a letter or care package. You can browse the website to find the name of the soldier and the items he or she is requesting. The site also provides addresses to send packages to. You are responsible for paying to ship the package or letter. Properly addressing a package is a must because the U.S. post office no longer accepts mail addressed to “any wounded soldier” or the like for safety reasons. Make sure to send your care package using priority mail to save money. Overnight or express mail only insures your package will arrive to its destination in the United States. Beyond that, it is in the hands of the military.

Military families sending their loved ones care packages can order a free “Mili-kit” from the post office for free. The kit contains priority mail flat-rate boxes, envelopes and priority mail tape. To request the free Military Care package kit call 1-800-610-8734. Choose your language. Choose option 1 for Express Mail®, Priority Mail or Global Express Guaranteed products. When you reach a live agent, request CAREKIT04.

2. OpGratitude.com – This organization collects items in California to be sent to soldiers overseas. You pay to mail care items to the organization and they take care of sending the goods overseas. Or, check the website for locations and times to drop off a donation. You can also donate money via snail mail or using your credit care on the website to help cover the cost, $15 per box, of sending packages overseas. The group needs volunteers to sort donations and assemble care packages.

3. Operation Troop Aid – This non-profit organization sends care packages to troops that include among other things beef jerky and sanitizer. It costs $40 to ship a care package through Operation Troop Aid, including the contents of the package and shipping. Make donations via Paypal or mail a check or money order. They accept donations in any dollar amount, but only send out a package when they have enough money to cover shipping costs.

At the top of the heap you have the CEO, who makes $643,846 and pays 34 percent of his income (some $215, 734) in taxes. At the bottom is the janitor, who makes $28,245 and pays 16 percent of his income (some $4,585) in taxes . Strangely, all the workers depicted are men, unless those are burly cross dressing women.

A pie chart next to each job description shows how many dollars go towards each of the recipient categories. The dollars figures are different for each job but the percentages that goes to each category is the same. Note that military spending is by far the biggest recipient of our tax dollars, followed distantly by health and a nondescript category labeled �other.�

I highly recommend checking out this chart that shows where you tax dollars go.