Extreme Couponing

[Color Me Badd Fan]

There's a TV show on TLC about this.

One He-Man of a woman dropped into Cincinnati area Kroger and proceeded to fill nine shopping carts full of crap. She proceeded to buy 150 candy bars and about 100 boxes of dry pasta amongst other things. It all added up to about $1,100 before the coupons and $51 after the coupons. In the process she had to use about three registers simultaneously (there's an item limit on some registers) about half the store was occupied getting this Christian Warrior lady through the registers.

The second woman profiled was, as you may guess, an Mormon gal in her late 20s. She wasn't quite a ridiculous as Divine, but she did buy 40 jars of Ragu -- not quite as disgusting as 80 Butterfingers and 70 Baby Ruths, but still pretty bad.

[Jeff Spicoli]

No one needs that many candy bars...

The fat lady with severe control issues whose husband is a weakling (not to mention a Bengals fan) is ridiculous. No one needs that many Butterfinger bars. And what's she's going to do with all of that toilet paper? I think "Hoarders" would be a more appropriate show for her to be on.

[Mrs. Funk]

I don't get understand extreme couponing. I've seen dozens of blog posts where women have paid $3.99 for $75 worth of frosting, sugary cereals, candy, and other junk. Most people, unless they really just need to eat something, don't need that kind of crap in bulk. If I have a coupon for something I already purchase, I will use it.

Most coupons simply aren't for things I want, need, or regularly purchase. I would LOVE coupons for fresh produce. Maybe these exist and I'm unaware of them. I find going through the Bountiful Baskets co-op the best way to save on the cost of fresh ingredients.

I guess it's somewhat the thrill of the chase, no? To have saved a bunch of money even on crap, just because you can and thumb your nose to the system.

[marsupial]

I don't get understand extreme couponing. I've seen dozens of blog posts where women have paid $3.99 for $75 worth of frosting, sugary cereals, candy, and other junk. Most people, unless they really just need to eat something, don't need that kind of crap in bulk. If I have a coupon for something I already purchase, I will use it.

Most coupons simply aren't for things I want, need, or regularly purchase. I would LOVE coupons for fresh produce. Maybe these exist and I'm unaware of them. I find going through the Bountiful Baskets co-op the best way to save on the cost of fresh ingredients.

I guess it's somewhat the thrill of the chase, no? To have saved a bunch of money even on crap, just because you can and thumb your nose to the system.

I am the same way. The bulk of my grocery bill comes from fresh produce. I have yet to find coupons for that. A lot time of times off brand items are still cheaper even with the coupons. Most of the coupons I find useful are for things like makeup and tampons, things where I care more about the brand.

[marsupial]

Oh, and I know some women in the ward who are now paying $40 a month to receive coupons from the Seattle area, which apparently has better coupons in their Sunday paper than Jackson. I can't imagine paying for coupons.

Also, I don't find it useful to me to drive around to several different stores or scour the internet to save a couple of dollars on pasta and granola bars. It's not worth it.

[Mrs. Funk]

Oh, and I know some women in the ward who are now paying $40 a month to receive coupons from the Seattle area, which apparently has better coupons in their Sunday paper than Jackson. I can't imagine paying for coupons.

Also, I don't find it useful to me to drive around to several different stores or scour the internet to save a couple of dollars on pasta and granola bars. It's not worth it.

I've never saved $40 by using coupons. The cult of the coupon is becoming a little ridiculous.

[DrumNFeather]

I've never saved $40 by using coupons. The cult of the coupon is becoming a little ridiculous.

I wouldn't go that far. I think that like anything, if done wisely and in moderation it can be a very effective money saver. Now, getting 100 candy bars is certainly extreme, but I think that a lot of the people who are "hard core" are able to find great deals on a lot of useful things and not just junk.

You are right about produce though...that is rarely on sale if ever.

[Mrs. Funk]

I wouldn't go that far. I think that like anything, if done wisely and in moderation it can be a very effective money saver. Now, getting 100 candy bars is certainly extreme, but I think that a lot of the people who are "hard core" are able to find great deals on a lot of useful things and not just junk.

You are right about produce though...that is rarely on sale if ever.

I suppose I should say I've never saved $40 on food using coupons. I have used coupons on stuff like garbage bags, shampoo, and toothpaste. I used multiple coupons I had saved up to buy my first printer when I was eighteen for $20. It can be useful and cost-effective.

By far, however, the couponing trips I see on blogs involve tons of processed food and products crammed with high fructose corn syrup.

[Katy Lied]

These are the silliest people I've ever heard of.

1. One guy has over 1,000 tubes of toothpaste.
2. One woman has over 1 years worth of diapers, is not married, and has no kids.
3. One woman has a spreadsheet of every single item in her local grocery store, along with its location in the store.
4. All of these people devote every single inch of spare space in their homes to storing the stuff, and every minute of their spare time to couponing. I bet if they get a part time job at minimum wage, they'd have more disposable income than they do with the savings from couponing.
5. One couple exceeded the coupon limit, and had to call 5 other people to come in to cash out their coupons for them. They were in the store a total of 6+ hours.
6. I'm baffled about what they do with stuff that they will never get around to consuming before the perishable date. One lady buys 35 bottles of maalox in one trip. She will buy more in her next trip. At least one guy does something useful and takes all of his items and sends them to the troops in Afghanistan.

I know it's about the challenge, and I know it's a rush for them, but I cant identify with 150 bottles of French's mustard, or 100 cups of yogurt.

And I notice when they brag about how little it costs them, they never mention the cost of all the newspapers, and the printer costs

[falafel]

My wife loves this show.

Most of the people are pretty ridiculous. They spend 35-40 hours a week collecting coupons in order to save that $1000. Think of all the money they could make if they just got a full time job.

The other thing is that they never tell you how these people get the stacks and stacks of circulars with all the coupons. Odds are they're spending several hundred a week on newspaper subscriptions in order to get them all. There was a Las Vegas Review Journal employee that was teaching "seminars" on couponing to all the Mormon mommies in my neighborhood a year or two ago. As you might expect, she wanted everyone to buy 4 or more copies of the Sunday paper.

[TripletDaddy]

I've never seen the show. I need a new demographic to laugh at now that I have been persuaded that the elderly are off limits. When is it on? What channel?

[Portland Ute]

I don't get understand extreme couponing. I've seen dozens of blog posts where women have paid $3.99 for $75 worth of frosting, sugary cereals, candy, and other junk. Most people, unless they really just need to eat something, don't need that kind of crap in bulk. If I have a coupon for something I already purchase, I will use it.

Most coupons simply aren't for things I want, need, or regularly purchase. I would LOVE coupons for fresh produce. Maybe these exist and I'm unaware of them. I find going through the Bountiful Baskets co-op the best way to save on the cost of fresh ingredients.

I guess it's somewhat the thrill of the chase, no? To have saved a bunch of money even on crap, just because you can and thumb your nose to the system.

Well, I don't do it, but I don't begrudge people that do. My SIL does this, but not to the extreme of taking up multiple registers, I don't think.

Anyway, they do it because they are very, very tight on cash right now. The cereals they get in bulk aren't all "sugary". They have some Special K, life, etc. That is literally what they eat for breakfast.

She claims that by doing this couponing that she rarely pays anything for items such as light bulbs, cleaning supplies, toiletries, toilet paper and other paper goods.

She has 5 kids. They go through a lot of things like pastas, etc. So, the deals for spaghetti and Ragu are budget savers for their family. She also makes her own bread from scratch. She supplements with fresh vegetables. She buys fruits and vegetables when they are cheap and cans stuff. She buys meat when it's on sale and even cans that.

She doesn't buy/hoard stuff that they will not/do not use.

I guess it's fun to laugh at because it's on TV, but some families really do rely on couponing.

Is it gourmet food? Nope. But it's not just food. It's also a way to make ends meet for big families that may be going through tough times.

One other thing she does is roll through items and gets cash back. With the cash back she then applies it to the fresh veggies and meats or dairy to discount that food, too.

[Mrs. Funk]

Well, I don't do it, but I don't begrudge people that do. My SIL does this, but not to the extreme of taking up multiple registers, I don't think.

Anyway, they do it because they are very, very tight on cash right now. The cereals they get in bulk aren't all "sugary". They have some Special K, life, etc. That is literally what they eat for breakfast.

She claims that by doing this couponing that she rarely pays anything for items such as light bulbs, cleaning supplies, toiletries, toilet paper and other paper goods.

She has 5 kids. They go through a lot of things like pastas, etc. So, the deals for spaghetti and Ragu are budget savers for their family. She also makes her own bread from scratch. She supplements with fresh vegetables. She buys fruits and vegetables when they are cheap and cans stuff. She buys meat when it's on sale and even cans that.

She doesn't buy/hoard stuff that they will not/do not use.

I guess it's fun to laugh at because it's on TV, but some families really do rely on couponing.

Is it gourmet food? Nope. But it's not just food. It's also a way to make ends meet for big families that may be going through tough times.

One other thing she does is roll through items and gets cash back. With the cash back she then applies it to the fresh veggies and meats or dairy to discount that food, too.

I think there's a distinction between what your sister-in-law does with coupons and the type of purchases I mentioned in my post. I don't begrudge anybody saving a buck to feed their families, and I certainly didn't mean to offend.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I've never seen the show. I need a new demographic to laugh at now that I have been persuaded that the elderly are off limits. When is it on? What channel?

You missed a marathon of episodes this afternoon. I had never heard of this show until I saw a friends facebook about it Friday. I watched 3-4 episodes this afternoon. Best new train wreck since Hoarders.

[TripletDaddy]

So for the uninitiated, what is the standard MO of these extreme couponers? For example, someone mentioned getting free lightbulbs. Do they just scour the newspapers for coupons that give you things entirely free? Is there a coupon for free light bulbs? How do people walk away with hundreds of one item? I guess the coupons have no limit?

We dont even subscribe to a newspaper now so it has been a short bit since we received coupons regularly but maybe I need to start paying more attention. I don't remember seeing many coupons for free stuff. I seem to recall seeing 20 cents off a can of such and such...those sorts of deals.