Couponing show on TLC right now!!

[apnep]

Yes, but she used all her coupons and now she eats for free!

AAAAAhahahahahahaaa! Hilarious!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If I had that much, I would definitely donate it..come on, who needs all those toothbrushes and deodorant..send it to our troops!

I went to the link posted above (weusecoupons) and according to Nathan's post (and what he said on tv), the toothbrushes and deoderant were donated to local charities that help the homeless.

It may not have been the troops, but he apparently shares bigtime what he gets.

There is a post with a complete list of what he picked up that day and what was donated. (All the Total cereal was donated).

The website is a bit backlogged from all the people checking it out.

ETA: Here is the link to his shopping trip, he donated the large majority of what he bought that day. http://www.weusecoupons.com/upload/kroger/102703-mrcouponss-tlc-shopping-trip.html

 

[Hemlock]

Just finished watching Extreme Couponing. I thought that it was fascinating! There are no stores around here that double coupon values, so no extreme couponing around these parts. I have to agree that the "hoarding" aspect is a little strange. Nobody needs enough deodorant for 150 years - donate some already.

 

[apnep]

Who really needs 100 bottles of salad dressing? Donate it already!!!

Exactly. How much stuff do you really need to stockpile? That food has to go bad at some point, and since it's free, why not let someone else who really needs it have it? Besides that, it looked to me like the whole couponing completely consumes their lives which can't be healthy either.

 

[OhMari]

What about the first family. Who really eats all that pasta. It can't have have a shelf life forever

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Exactly. How much stuff do you really need to stockpile? That food has to go bad at some point, and since it's free, why not let someone else who really needs it have it? Besides that, it looked to me like the whole couponing completely consumes their lives which can't be healthy either.

Doesn't everyone need a 33 year supply of toilet paper?







Okay--seriously...the first woman was sad. She clearly has a psychiatric problem. (she admitted some very telling things--it just wasn't about the thrill that a hobby gives you, but her moods strongly depended upon that stockpile and her haul).

She evidently (I think--is her name Amanda?) is a member of that coupon website as well.

The other people was understandable--her and her 33 year supply of toilet paper was not.

I get, the 2nd story and the 3rd story of hard times--b/c a good year or two supply isn't a horrible thing and that is even a philosophy of a well known faith group. The last 2 stories also understandable, b/c why pay retail, right?

The first story--it just really seemed that she was an "extreme" extreme couponer. I mean--if you will have a nervous breakdown for not having things go right--something is wrong? Nathan was portrayed quite differently even though dealing with the same issues of scan limitation and making sure numbers were right.

I felt bad for the first person.

The one lady on her own since age 12...well, I was cheering for her.

 

[vicki_c]

I missed the first person because I forgot it was on - tuned in just as her DH was walking down the stairs grumbling.

 

[snowywhite89]

If I had that much, I would definitely donate it..come on, who needs all those toothbrushes and deodorant..send it to our troops!

The show said he has enough deodorant to last a person for 150 years.

The one women bought so much pasta that she could eat a lb a day and eat for most of the year. Far too many carbs.

 

[MissUndastood]

Most of the grocery items were "junk". I don't recall seeing a vegetable in any of the carts. As far as I'm concerened it is just another "hoarder" show. Does one family need 162 jars of Ragu? 247 bottles of lotion? Bodywash that could clean an entire third world country? I think all the people on that show were just plain crazy. They all need some serious medication to combat the OCD.

 

[Belle0101]

I'm all for saving money and I'd love to cut ours even more. We're down to roughly $150 - 200 / month for our family of four. That doesn't count toiletries, cleaners or pet supplies and it's not from coupon use. We have quite a few "bent and dent" stores around here that I shop at.

As far as the show goes, I wish they would have covered more of the "how". That wasn't focus of the show but I think now people are going to think it's easy or that everyone can do it. Not everybody can.

Some examples that differ in my area from the show -

In my town you can get arrested for dumpster diving. It's a big no-no here.

I can't just cruise my neighborhood taking free papers off people's front steps. That's trespassing and theft.

I think Nathan, the gentleman that was on last, shopped at Kroger's. I know because I've asked, that our area Kroger's only allow 3 like coupons per order. So say I want to buy 150 soaps. I would have to go through the line 50 times. Or try because I just don't think it would fly.

We also have Meijers here. Our local ones have a policy of only 2 like coupon per orders will double. Even then the double stops at a face value of 50cents. So if I have 3 50cent off coupons for crackers only the first 2 will double to $1 and the 3rd will be 50cents. Coupons for more than 50cents are only worth face value.

It'd be nice to walk out with free goods, a reasonable amount of goods, but it's not possible in my area.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Most of the grocery items were "junk". I don't recall seeing a vegetable in any of the carts. As far as I'm concerened it is just another "hoarder" show. Does one family need 162 jars of Ragu? 247 bottles of lotion? Bodywash that could clean an entire third world country? I think all the people on that show were just plain crazy. They all need some serious medication to combat the OCD.

Respectfully....

I began couponing 4 months ago....and I always feel I need to tell the cashier that we don't eat crap all the time. Some of my runs will include the fruits and veggies and some don't. I stocked up on some meat and chicken 3 months ago, so it hasn't shown up in our cart in a while.

Those folks are extreme, for certain.

The last ragu sale I hit, I only picked up 20 jars and we are still working on that stash 3 months later. It was buy 2, get 3 free.

But the thing about these shopping trips, the family isn't eating just what is in that cart and it is perhaps just one of their stores and their veg may be from another store.

One of the people featured had a chest freezer full of frozen veggies.

I haven't bought veggies in a few weeks, but I have a stash in my freezer, so there is no need.

So when I buy just pasta or just ragu or just cereal bars (to keep snacks in the car)...it isn't a reflection of what we do in a week.

i think I have 5 bottles of deodorant and don't plan to buy anymore. I was reading on hot coupon world--and someone wanted to stockpile and they figured 2 bottles of deodorant per person per month. I can't figure out how someone goes through a bottle of deodorant every two weeks. I couldn't if I deodorized my whole family 3x a day.

Toothpaste--same deal. It seems a tube lasts forever. I have 20 tubes and no need to buy anymore.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I think most of the couponers shown are extreme and borderline hoarders. I also don't care for people who clear the shelves when they discover a freebie or another great deal. I thought this was frowned upon with couponers? When cvs had their great deals I used to coupon a lot more, now I just focus on groceries and toiletries. Who really needs 100 bottles of salad dressing? Donate it already!!!

This is a serious pet peeve of mine, when stockpilers clear out the shelves so others can't get in on the deal. Just to have the food sit in their garage? Even if they donate it it's extreme. I mean, if they clear out all of a certain toothpaste that's .20 to donate it, then that means that I have to pay more for toothpaste just for my family, there has to be a happy medium in there.

And I wondered about the shelf life of alot of those foods, too, and toiletries. Deoderant and toothpaste expire. And what about mice and bugs, ewww. In this economy I think TLC would've gotten viewers if they'd shown less extreme couponing that people could learn from mixed in with the extreme ones. That lady in Philadelphia wasn't that bad I guess.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Respectfully....

I began couponing 4 months ago....and I always feel I need to tell the cashier that we don't eat crap all the time. Some of my runs will include the fruits and veggies and some don't. I stocked up on some meat and chicken 3 months ago, so it hasn't shown up in our cart in a while.

Those folks are extreme, for certain.

The last ragu sale I hit, I only picked up 20 jars and we are still working on that stash 3 months later. It was buy 2, get 3 free.

But the thing about these shopping trips, the family isn't eating just what is in that cart and it is perhaps just one of their stores and their veg may be from another store.

One of the people featured had a chest freezer full of frozen veggies.

I haven't bought veggies in a few weeks, but I have a stash in my freezer, so there is no need.

So when I buy just pasta or just ragu or just cereal bars (to keep snacks in the car)...it isn't a reflection of what we do in a week.

i think I have 5 bottles of deodorant and don't plan to buy anymore. I was reading on hot coupon world--and someone wanted to stockpile and they figured 2 bottles of deodorant per person per month. I can't figure out how someone goes through a bottle of deodorant every two weeks. I couldn't if I deodorized my whole family 3x a day.

Toothpaste--same deal. It seems a tube lasts forever. I have 20 tubes and no need to buy anymore.

I read an article about the show today and what made me want to watch it was that they said one of the people featured was on a diet to lose weight and was successfully doing it while couponing, but if they mentioned that part in the show I missed it. I was interested in hearing how that was affecting their couponing, if they still bought junk to get catalinas, things like that.

 

[vicki_c]

This is a serious pet peeve of mine, when stockpilers clear out the shelves so others can't get in on the deal. Just to have the food sit in their garage? Even if they donate it it's extreme. I mean, if they clear out all of a certain toothpaste that's .20 to donate it, then that means that I have to pay more for toothpaste just for my family, there has to be a happy medium in there.

And I wondered about the shelf life of alot of those foods, too, and toiletries. Deoderant and toothpaste expire. And what about mice and bugs, ewww. In this economy I think TLC would've gotten viewers if they'd shown less extreme couponing that people could learn from mixed in with the extreme ones. That lady in Philadelphia wasn't that bad I guess.

If you read the information from Nathan (the last guy on the show) -- all of his big purchases were pre-ordered through the Kroger store especially for his order, so he wouldn't clear out the store of everything. And the majority of those purchases go to charity. I thought he was actually the most reasonable - him and the woman from Philadelphia. I didn't hear the other ones say anything about donating that I can recall.

We stockpile some things quite extensively - toiletries and cleaning products. Nothing like the people on the show of course, but enough that we only have to buy those products like 1-2 times a year if that. I don't think I will have to buy another toothbrush for about a year!

As for the junk comment, I agree with the PP - that was one shopping trip to one store for him. He even said himself, he goes to multiple stores per week. When we have time, we do the same - we hit 4 stores on our "serious" couponing weeks. If you looked in my cart at any particular store someday, you might only see junk as well. But you wouldn't see when I'm shopping at Whole Foods for our produce.

It's a TV show - they pick and choose and edit to show what they think is exciting or titillating or controversial to viewers. No different from any other reality show out there - Survivor, Jon & Kate, whatever. You can't really judge (accurately) from watching these reality shows.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I read an article about the show today and what made me want to watch it was that they said one of the people featured was on a diet to lose weight and was successfully doing it while couponing, but if they mentioned that part in the show I missed it. I was interested in hearing how that was affecting their couponing, if they still bought junk to get catalinas, things like that.

The only thing closely related to dieting was when the one lady who was on her own since 12 and a mom at 15 who was providing couponing advice to everyone she ran into in the store....

She said that everyone assumes that it is only junk food but that she eats healthy.

Noone else mentioned anything related to health/losing weight.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If you read the information from Nathan (the last guy on the show) -- all of his big purchases were pre-ordered through the Kroger store especially for his order, so he wouldn't clear out the store of everything. And the majority of those purchases go to charity. I thought he was actually the most reasonable - him and the woman from Philadelphia. I didn't hear the other ones say anything about donating that I can recall.

He also said that the items were in the back, but in several cases the producers asked the store to put items on the shelf...so the shelf grabs were staged.

If amber (which one was she) is also on the same website as he, I wonder if she also donates items and they just didn't mention it.

 

[Abbeys_mom]

This is a serious pet peeve of mine, when stockpilers clear out the shelves so others can't get in on the deal. Just to have the food sit in their garage? Even if they donate it it's extreme. I mean, if they clear out all of a certain toothpaste that's .20 to donate it, then that means that I have to pay more for toothpaste just for my family, there has to be a happy medium in there.

AGREED! Someone on another bargain hunting board similar to this posted "I just got 24 tear pads for free whatever, I cleared them out". Well, gee, you just got 24 whatevers, and could not leave a few coupons for the rest of us? And NOW you come to post about it, after you got the deal? UGH, that made me so frustrated. Why not take what you (reasonably) need, and share? Even when I was double couponing and stockpiling, I rarely had 24 packages of ANYTHING.

 

[sophie832]

So funny that I was just watching this and went to the Budget Board to show DH the coupon sharing that goes on (but not to extremes like those ppl). I had all ghe same thoughts as the PPs. We use coupons, but could never imagine going to those lengths.

Now watching the addictions...crazy! Previous posts have already mentioned toilet paper eating and detergent eating. Just saw the lady who takes her plugged-in blowdryer to bed. Wow.

 

[hurleysweety]

About 20 minutes into watching this show by accident (meant to go to bed...), and I'm so intrigued by these people.

"I want my stockpile to be my legacy"

It really is an addiction. I'm all for couponing, but not at this level. If I have a b1g1 free coupon, and its already on sale, guess what, I'll get two of that item for free. Just two. All I need. Just me and DH. Plus we're kinda healthy eaters - not likely to see a broccoli coupon anytime soon...

I've only seen the first person's story, and just learning about the second. While this show is about couponing, I believe these people struggle with some OCD and other underlying issues in their lives. They use couponing to get their "high." And I get this - afterall, I have the disney addictive personality.

 

[Ericandjenng]

And I get this - afterall, I have the disney addictive personality.

--me too!

I use coupons for things I'm already going to buy and occasionally try a new product but I work fulltime and have two kids...who has this kind of time? And how much $$ do they spend running from store to store?

Then who has this much space to commit to something like this?

I agree with PPs about these people have an addiction or OCD.

ETA: Why does Nathan think that you need to "beat" the store?