Something really neat happened to me this weekend. It was a very small thing but I wanted to share it. My son ran out of diaper cream. (fascinating isn’t it?) Anyways, I usually have a coupon for it, but I was at the store and he currently has a diaper rash, so I just went ahead and decided to pick up a tube. I was kicking myself for not being better prepared with a coupon, but it’s just a dollar. Hardly worth coming back for. I usually buy two tubes at a time, one for downstairs and one for upstairs. But since I didn’t have a coupon I figured I would just get one and grab the other one when I could save some money.

I get to the diaper cream section and sitting right next to the cream are two coupons, each for a dollar off of the exact brand I usually buy. How fricken cool is that? How thoughtful (and frugal) of someone. I was able to get the two tubes I needed and use a coupon!

Paying it forward with coupons is such a great idea. If you have a coupon you know you aren’t going to use don’t throw it away. Give it to someone else. Leaving it on the shelf next to the item is a guaranteed way to make sure it gets used.

It reminds me of a time we went out for slushies as a family. I had a coupon sheet and it had two coupons for buy one get one free. We could only use one of the coupons and they were about to expire. I was going to throw it away but then in walked a woman and about 6 little ones. I handed her the coupon and she was so surprised. Hey it’s only a free slushie, but it sure made her happy.

Or the time I was in line at the craft store buying something very small for my daughter. With tax my purchase was going to come to something like $2.10 and I only had $2 in cash on me. I was irritated that I was going to have to use my debit card for $.10. The lady in front of me in line was using a gift card and after she was done paying she had $.15 left on the card. She laughed and handed it to me and said, “Here, you can use what is left on this card.” and walked away. Wow, cool!

While these aren’t life changing events, they are neat little anecdotes that show how paying it forward with coupons can really make someone’s day.

Pic by: Bright Star