Another extreme couponing question: where do they get all the freaking coupons?

[joxer1014]

I too try to save with coupons, but I am limited to what is in my Sunday paper and my weekly store flyer delivery. Then I started watching extreme couponing. Where in gods name do they get all the coupons? One woman went dumpster diving at her local recycle only bin and "conveniently" there was a HUGE bundle of coupons under her feet! Really? They just happened to be there huh? One other woman said she contacted her town newspaper and got all the extra coupons left over from Sunday papers. They even delivered the huge bundle on her curb every morning. How the heck is that possible? I contacted my hometown paper and they told me that they are told by the coupon printers that they MUST destroy all extras after Sunday as per the agreement with the printer or something like that.

Now I am not as dedicated or fanatical as these people on TV but I just cannot figure out how in gods name to they get all these coupons to buy the enormous quantities of stuff they pay next to nothing.

If I didnt know any better I would say that the TV show stretches their coupon supply to make the show better just not 100 per cent accurate.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[KGlo]

I am not an extreme couponer, but I do get the coupons I use for completely free. I do not get any sunday papers or use a clipping service. I work in a steelmill that is 99% male populated. The majority of the men bring in their Sunday papers and put them in the recycling bin without even looking at the sale ads. I go thru the newspaper bins on Monday and take the coupons I want and give extras to people I know who may need them. I now have guys who know I look for the coupns so they save them for me and give them to me directly. I probably get about 20 inserts a week. I don't have a stockpile or anything like that and usually only save about 20 dollars a week, but a dollar saved is a dollar earned!

 

[OhMari]

One lady drove around neighborhoods and took papers from people's houses that were in foreclosurer and she knew now one lived there. She said people forgot to cancel their subscriptions to their newspapers. One family did admit to purchasing 20 newspapers every sunday.

Online you can go to a website coupons dot com and they have some you can print up, but not many.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Internet printable coupons, multiple newspaper subscriptions, ask your friends and family to bring you inserts they are done with (or don't use at all)...these are the easy ways. You can also pay a clipping service, "dumpster dive" for coupon inserts, contact grocery stores for their leftover newspapers...

 

[3boymthr]

Or my favorite. Steal the coupon inserts out of the paper at the grocery and convenience and drug stores. Unfortunately, around here this happens all the time. One Sunday at CVS I literally picked up 16 papers before I found one with the coupon inserts - the ads were all there but the coupons were gone.

 

[dsilva51]

I order 10 full inserts every week from a clipping service. They more than pay for themselves every month.

 

[tiferetsix]

Or my favorite. Steal the coupon inserts out of the paper at the grocery and convenience and drug stores. Unfortunately, around here this happens all the time. One Sunday at CVS I literally picked up 16 papers before I found one with the coupon inserts - the ads were all there but the coupons were gone.

I really hate this too - but have found that my local 7/11 doesn't bother unbundling more than 1 set of papers at a time so I now take mine from one of the unopened bundles. Recently our two local (ish) papers have stopped running all the inserts - one only has the Smart Source and one only has the Red Plum - I am seriously thinking of buying whole inserts now as it is looking like a better deal.

 

[Marionnette]

The one woman who had enough coupons for 400 sports drinks was using coupons from a tearpad. It's not unusual to see empty tearpads in the stores as a result of super-couponers taking the entire pad.

 

[dsilva51]

And those hot tear pads go for big bucks on eBay b

 

[XYSRUS]

I don't watch regularly but one lady had 5000 weekly inserts...She was saying when people ask her where she get so many her reply is "from G*d." I was like either you're stealing them or someone else is stealing them for you-like from a distribution center. This show is ridiculous and stupid to showcase these people. I won't watch anymore.

 

[dsilva51]

That isnthe same lady who got a million detergents and only gave her DIL 5. Who had a whole stock pile of baby food but no baby. Only a grandchild and claims to be 37. Really?

 

[abbyndrewmom]

That isnthe same lady who got a million detergents and only gave her DIL 5. Who had a whole stock pile of baby food but no baby. Only a grandchild and claims to be 37. Really?

Don't forget a bin of cat treats and no cat??? Why she didn't take those directly to an animal shelter is beyond me?

 

[tomthebarncat]

Coupons are a wonderful way to save money, but the extreme couponing show mad me want to barf! Really, what on earth can one family do with 100's of bottles of mustard? this show should be retitled to extreme psychological problems! because the show certainly highlighted serious hoarding issues!! really forcing your kid to sleep in a storage room because you have taken over every inch of the house, what is wrong with folks these days? when I see a good deal of something I use on a regular basis I will buy 2-4 and I consider that a stockpile!

 

[dsilva51]

My husband and I were talking about this yesterday. It's not about if they are going to use it it's all about the stockpile nothing else.

 

[amylynne01]

I don't watch regularly but one lady had 5000 weekly inserts...She was saying when people ask her where she get so many her reply is "from G*d." I was like either you're stealing them or someone else is stealing them for you-like from a distribution center. This show is ridiculous and stupid to showcase these people. I won't watch anymore.

I'm not defending her by any means, but the story goes that she gets them from her fellow church-goers, hence from God.

I get 1 paper at home and will buy up to 4 more each week depending on the coupons that come out. I get my local paper at Rite Aid. I get a 10% discount there, and the paper is $1, so for $0.90, I more than make my money back by using just 2 $1 coupons. My parents and grandparents give me their inserts when they're done with them. I have 3 computers to print from at home. I trade on a coupon forum and buy from ebay. Yes it's counter intuitive to "buy" coupons, but I never pay more than 10% of the face value, so I'm still saving 90% of what the coupon is worth.

 

[dsilva51]

Also you will notice that a good majority of these couponers have been only doing it for a short time. Like since when the economy tanked.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

My husband and I were talking about this yesterday. It's not about if they are going to use it it's all about the stockpile nothing else.

It sounds like some of these extreme couponers might also be extreme hoarders! It'd be awesome if they used their coupon smarts to donate the extra goods.

 

[DisneyScraps]

I used to be an extreme couponer I got coupons for a lot of different sources.

I had everyone I knew that didn't use coupons save them for me.

I made friends with the lady at the recycling center and we had a walk in newspaper bin. I was allowed to take as many inserts as I wanted as long as I didn't make a mess.

I bought coupons from a service.

I was in a coupon club where weekly we shared and swapped coupons and rebate forms.

The best source was Food Fairs. They stopped doing them but our local grocery chain would once a year have a big event where vendors would give out freebies, sample food and they would give out coupons. For any "good" coupon I would pick up as many as possible and at the end of the day ask nicely if I could have whatever was left. most times they would give me as much as i wanted. I might leave with hundreds of a particular coupon.

I was in an internet coupon group and we would schedule meets at different Food Shows I might go to 3 or 4 a year. I am not sure if they do them any more. They stopped around here.

I was not a horder. For perishable items I would give that to the people that saved my inserts, a lot of stuff went to the food bank and I would have a yard sale once a month to see the other stuff. I had regulars and it was a nice source of income.

One nasty lady told me I must have stolen it all. I went into the house and brought out one of my receipts. That shut her up quickly.

 

[eliza61]

I still can't get the object of this show. I watched it last night, the first women goes to the supermarket and buys 200 bottles of night time pain reliever. My first thought was " what the hell are you doing at night"? lol. Most of that will expire before they even get around to using it.

2ndly. Girlfriend spends 30 hours a week couponing? really not how I want to spend my hours.

 

[DawnM]

I have looked at these places, but the cost is roughly the same as just buying that many papers.

Can you point me to somewhere where it is less expensive?

The other issue I have found with this is that the coupons are not the same. I was really upset when our local paper had .75 coffee and during triples it would count as $2.25 off, but the inserts I ordered had $1 off, meaning it would not triple and I would only get $1 off.

Dawn

I order 10 full inserts every week from a clipping service. They more than pay for themselves every month.