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Food Stamps: How To Get The Things Not Covered Like Toilet Paper

Have you ever had to use food stamps before? I personally have had to use them before (not now but in the past). There is nothing to be ashamed about it. It is a great government asset that if you need it then you should use it. However it would be nice if it allowed for some necessities to be purchased with it. I mean I do not consider toilet paper or soap a luxury but a necessities.

Did you know that there are ways to be able to get those types of things while being on food stamps, without having to come up with money for them? A lot of people do not know it is possible. That is why I thought it would be a great idea to write a post on some tips of how to get the necessities that you need while being on food stamps.

1.)  Make sure you take advantage of your local drug store. Most of them these days do accept food stamps, well EBT cards as that is what food stamps are put on theses days. You can either call your local store to make sure they accept them or look on the door as you walk in. If they accept it you should see a decal on the window.

The reason I take advantage of them is most drug stores now have points or reward plans they offer. What you need to do is keep an eye out in your ad and see what food items are on sale offering rewards back. Like with CVS look for things that you can get ECB deals on, Walgreens has points and register rewards.

Make sure after you find those food deals that you want to get, you look for coupons to go with them. Yes your EBT bucks are free but why not stretch them as far as you can, to get the most out of them. Here is a sample of what I am talking about.

CVS:
Cheerios 11.25-14oz – 3/$8.00
Buy 3, Get Back $2 ECB (LIMIT 1)

$0.50/1 Cheerios Original Cereal printable
$1/2 Cheerios Cereals: Original Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, or Multi Grain Cheerios printable
$0.60/1 Cheerios Original Cereal printable
$0.50/1 Cheerios Cereal (SavingStar Deposit)
$0.75/1 Cheerios Multi Grain Cereal or Peanut Butter Multi Grain Cereal (SavingStar Deposit)
$1/2 General Mills Big G Cereal, exp. 5/14/13 (SS 03/24/13 R)
$1/3 General Mills Big G Cereals, exp. 6/1/13 (SS 04/21/13 R)
Pay $5.75 OOP (Use Your EBT Card)
Get Back $2.00 ECB for buying 3

Now you are probably saying but that did not tell me how I can get toilet paper. After you have made that purchase you would then look for the best deal on what you need to buy. Lets say this week you need to get toilet paper. Look at the ad find the best deal and any coupons you can find to bring that price down even more. Now you would use the ECB that you got for buying the cereal to pay for the toilet paper. It’s that easy!

2.)  Now you might be thinking what about if I am shopping at the grocery store? Well while most of them do not offer the rewards that drug stores do, they do usually have some type of Catalina deal going on. For an example lets say you are going to shop at Price Chopper. A few weeks ago they had a special where when you bought Heluva Good! Dip or Brick Cheese @ $2.69 if you Buy 3,  you Get a $2 OYNO. Again you would want to look for any coupons to use with it to bring that price down lower. Then you would use your EBT card to pay for it. Now you have a $2 OYNO that you can use on what ever you need to pick up, like soap, shampoo, deodorant or whatever.

I hope this was able to give you some ideas on how to stretch those food stamps / EBT dollars and to get the things you need that are not covered. Do you have any good tips that you would like to share on how you stretch yours?