How Robin Hood would ‘Vacay’

Robin Hood, folklore legend from my home Country of England was famous for stealing from the Rich and giving to the poor – I am sure that you have at least seen the Disney movie so know where I am coming from, if not, bear with me… I thought today that if Robin Hood was to vacation, he would share the wealth from the places he visited, and that made me think of how to leverage the ‘highway robbery’ in the form of all the free stuff we have access to in the US to help out with people when we visit.

I recently wrote about Pack for a Purpose, a charity that was established in 2009 to help travelers bring much needed supplies to initiatives around the World, these places are often lacking the most basic school and medical supplies and such a small effort on our part can really change the world for the better.

My readers will note that we have developed a number of ways to earn very cheap things, or even free stuff from office supply stores like Staples – stores like this are a favorite of mine for the following reasons:

• Staples regularly run discounts/markdowns on top notch products.  They allow coupon stacking on these products to bring their prices down, sometimes as low as free, and sometimes we can actually MAKE money on buying something there when coupons and rebates stack together.
• Staples has a fantastic Ink Rewards Program where you can earn $20-$40 (depending on your status) in Staples Credit every month: here is the primer on how to do that. <staples primer>
• If you are actually paying for something with real money, the Ink Bold from Chase Earns 5x Ultimate Rewards per dollar; Staples Rewards (their own rewards program) a further 5% Cash Back in Staples store credit and if you purchase online you can earn a bunch of points from Shopping Portals too!  Currently my favorite is American Airlines AAShopping giving out 4x AAdvantage Miles per dollar spent.

Understanding Supply and Demand Pricing

The crazy thing about this is that in the places where they need things the most, they cost the most, and the salaries are the least.  Today I bought a notepad from Staples for 1 Penny.  That is right, 1 Penny.  I wouldn’t stop in the street to pick up a Penny, but here it is worth 120 leaves of paper, and there, in the places that need it the most, in schools around the world that don’t have access to the right supply paper costs often make it simply too much of a luxury to afford.  I also bought a box of 100 BandAids for a Buck.  I think I may actually be able to get them cheaper than that, but I was happy with the price.

Here is the mission:

We take from the Rich, and give to the Poor.  By using an ‘extreme couponing’ approach to acquiring much needed supplies for needy people around the World we can stretch our dollars that much further, and I will post on a regular basis where the deals are to make it easier for you to participate.

Build a War Chest

Every week things will come on sale from various retailers (Staples will be a focus, but I may include others when they are real bargains to be had) I will list the items and their SKU so that you can locate them easily.  You acquire the items at a fraction of their cost here, store them, then when you travel cross check your destination with the Pack for a Purpose destination’s page and make a care package for the people there.

If you don’t see a lodging/tour company nearby your location, feel free to reach out to local organizations in the area to see if they might participate.  You can also email me at matt@saverocity.com and ask me to check into the region for you to offer some suggestions on likely Charities.

My goal is to make this as easy as possible for you to participate in, and as cheap as possible too, using the skills we have learnt for good, taking from the Rich and giving to the Poor.  My follow up post will include the first items to fill your War Chest.