extreme couponing - how do they get their coupons?

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Many buy them and it is unfortunate that the amount they paid is NOT included in their totals.

Sure they may get their groceries free--but spending $200 on newspapers isn't quite free.

Don't forget that MOST spend part to a full time job (20-40 hours per week) with all this coupon sorting and pricing nonsense to get the job done. Not sure if it is just for their special shop on the episode...but it is overkill if you ask me if they do it regularly.

Exactly - they never factor in the cost of the coupons so the show is so misleading. If there is a great coupon out for something my family uses then I will go to ebay and buy several of them. Recently there was a $1 off 1 Welch's grape juice. That is the only juice 2 of the boys will drink so we use a good bit of it. I bought 20 coupons off of ebay and waited for them to go on sale for $2.50 and scored 20 juices for $1.50 each that normally go between $3 and $4 each.

Some stores will give overage on coupons but most will not. The people who got cash back were using tons of overage coupons to boost their numbers.

 

[NYCDiane]

i have only seen the show once. But what completely confused me was them getting $$ back from coupons.

Here in NJ, not sure about elsewhere, you can only get credit for up to the cost of the item. So, for a 50 cent coupon, doubled on a 70 cent item, you only get 79 cents off, not $1. It seemed like they were getting $1 off a doubled 50 cent coupon, so at the end they were getting store gift cards to use on their next order? I was very baffled by this, unless I misunderstood?

That's if a store does "overages" and not many do --- I honestly believe the stores break their own rules and allow for all these overages just for the show. The store where I shop certainly doesn't allow it -- if it's a double coupon, they will only increase it to the amount of the product. The store where I used to shop allowed overages --- they eventually stopped, though, and also stopped doubling $1 coupons and their prices skyrocketed so I no longer shop there.

 

[NYCDiane]

I have a friend that works at a convenient store and pulls out all the coupons from the Papers Sunday night before he closes- because Monday morning- the paper company comes and just throws away or hopefully recycles the remaining copies. He usually gives me the coupons- and then I just pass them around at work.

Here, the stores won't get any credits for returned papers if ALL the inserts aren't in the paper when they're returned. Supposedly, the companies that put out the coupon inserts won't give them (the newspaper company) full credits or something if they don't return the inserts or account for un-distributed inserts/unsold papers.

 

[java]

Our library has a coupon exchange box too.
I can't figure out how the "extreme" couponers get all those coupons either. Between clipping coupons and getting internet coupons I'm thrilled to save $40 to $50 each week! I'm big into using the coupons for items that are already on sale.

Hi twin!

Lately I am not happy unless I save at least 40% off my bill. Thank goodness for Shoprite!

 

[starann]

They also write companies in order to get the coupons. When I've seen some of those shows following a person they have coupons for free items... the only time I have ever gotten a free coupon has been when I was in business school and Johnson and Johnson did on campus interviews and handed out goodie bags filled with coupons, or when I wrote a letter to complain to a company for some stale cookies the company sent me some coupons for free cookies.... Now since I haven't noticed them following grad student on those programs I have to imagine that the spend a lot of time writing complaining letters to various manufacturers.

I've gotten some by emailing companies to tell them how great I think a product is, and they have sent out coupons (not for free). Usually if I email to complain about a product, I have no use for a coupon for the same product.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

When Amazon had their diaper coupons in all the parenting magazines (I was saving $10 so was worth the magazine price) I went to Books a Million and Barnes and Noble and someone had stolen ALL the coupons out (you could see where it was torn). I can't stand tacky people and I consider that shoplifting since they didn't buy the magazine.

 

[hereyago]

If you facebook "Like" some companies or go to their websites and get on their email list, they will send out coupons.

And even though I am far far from being an extreme couponer i have learned from the show.

Even though I know i can save with my store rewards card, I wasn't aware of ecoupons or digital coupons until watching the show then I went to my store's website and added some coupons(which do have expiration dates) and surprised one of the cashiers because he never saw the register say electronic coupon before, so it was funny. and I was just glad that it worked.

I have no desire to devote 20-40 hours a week to it, but I do enjoy saving the money that I can save from doing the regular couponing.

Some of the people are scary: one lady was like if her coupons disappeared it would be like loosing a family member-cukoo cukoo.

And buying stuff that you won't use, now I don't have a problem if they donated it to charity, but to have it just to make the score, um nope.

And that one guy who has been on twice and the first time he talked about "Beating the store" whackadoo.

 

[tavettava]

I love to save money but some are crazy. Our coupons were coming up missing from our paper and come to find out it was the delivery guy. I love the lady who spent 10 hours at the store. To me that is not saving money.

 

[Skye23]

I usually save between 33-50% off almost every grocery shopping trip. If I don't I feel like I've done something wrong - that or all I've bought is milk, fresh vegetables and meat which are all darn near impossible to get many coupons for. I clip my local coupons, print what I can and then I order the rest from a coupon clipping service. I've been using her for years. She does have minimums on some coupons (5) but a lot of her coupons you can buy as little as 1 and sometimes as many as you'd like. She also warns the regulars when she posts coupons and before new episodes of extreme couponers airs so we can get in and get the good ones for our families first. I do try to keep a small stockpile, and let me tell you it was a godsend when we were on foodstamps, not to mention being able to stretch the foodstamp dollar and cut down on the price of non-food items like dish detergent, shampoo and the highly coveted toilet paper coupons (sometimes free).

Now that hubby works nights and doesn't eat dinner at home on the weekends I'm not able to save quite as much because the way we cook/eat has changed. But the coupons for lunch meat, microwavable soup and other packable items have been really helpful.

 

[bettymae1121]

There are many ways they get them:

Dumpster diving (in paper recycling dumpsters)

Friends/Family

Buying multiple Sunday papers

Buying from clipping services or ebay

...or your DH works for the local paper...

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Hi twin!

Lately I am not happy unless I save at least 40% off my bill. Thank goodness for Shoprite!

This is the first year that we took a "hit" with the economy. DH is a CPA and unfortunately a lot of his clients are construction companies - no construction, no accounting!

I hate to admit it but I never even used to use coupons - now I have the "binder" and I've signed up for every product that we use and will buy 3 or 4 newspapers if it's a good batch of coupons.

I figure that whatever I'm saving on couponing is Disney money!!!

ITA with you about ShopRite - they have the best sales!!!!

 

[Marionnette]

I usually save between 33-50% off almost every grocery shopping trip. If I don't I feel like I've done something wrong - that or all I've bought is milk, fresh vegetables and meat which are all darn near impossible to get many coupons for. I clip my local coupons, print what I can and then I order the rest from a coupon clipping service. I've been using her for years. She does have minimums on some coupons (5) but a lot of her coupons you can buy as little as 1 and sometimes as many as you'd like. She also warns the regulars when she posts coupons and before new episodes of extreme couponers airs so we can get in and get the good ones for our families first. I do try to keep a small stockpile, and let me tell you it was a godsend when we were on foodstamps, not to mention being able to stretch the foodstamp dollar and cut down on the price of non-food items like dish detergent, shampoo and the highly coveted toilet paper coupons (sometimes free).

Now that hubby works nights and doesn't eat dinner at home on the weekends I'm not able to save quite as much because the way we cook/eat has changed. But the coupons for lunch meat, microwavable soup and other packable items have been really helpful.

This is where minding the catalina deals can work to your benefit.

One local store had a deal where you got a catalina for a free gallon of milk when you bought 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal - raisin bran, mini wheats and raisin bran crunch @$2.99 ea.

I also got catalinas last week for $1 off when you spend $5 in various areas of the store. There was one each for bakery, deli, produce, seafood and meat.

I bought canned dog food yesterday. It was on sale. I had B2G2 coupons. I paid under 35 cents a can for a name brand dog food. And got a $2 catalina that can be spent on produce for next week's order.

Another deal two weeks ago offered a $10 catalina when you bought $30 worth of P&G products. Easy to do when you're buying paper towels and toilet paper. That $10 catalina was used to buy chicken last week.

I've also gotten coupons for organics by going to the company's facebook page or website and requesting a coupon. I've gotten eggs, yogurt, strawberries and lettuce for next to nothing just by requesting coupons. No, I don't get those coupons every week but even once in a while helps.

And yes, I've gotten coupons for telling a company how much I like their product. I don't do it often but there are a couple of products that I really like but I never see a coupon for them. I emailed the companies and within 2 weeks, I had high value coupons for their products via snail mail.

 

[java]

This is the first year that we took a "hit" with the economy. DH is a CPA and unfortunately a lot of his clients are construction companies - no construction, no accounting!

I hate to admit it but I never even used to use coupons - now I have the "binder" and I've signed up for every product that we use and will buy 3 or 4 newspapers if it's a good batch of coupons.

I figure that whatever I'm saving on couponing is Disney money!!!

ITA with you about ShopRite - they have the best sales!!!!

Ok not funny but I am right there with you. DH lost his job in January. Thankfully is back to work just last month. I started couponing with my pink binder in tow back then. I too think money saved is more money for Disney!

Here's to a better 2012!

 

[NYCDiane]

Hi twin!

Lately I am not happy unless I save at least 40% off my bill. Thank goodness for Shoprite!

Don't forget to check your "Family Points" on your receipt and then go to their website --- I never checked this before and decided to check it yesterday. I qualifiy for a "$10 off your next shopping order"!!! I'm going to print it out tonight when I get ready for my shopping trip tomorrow!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Ok not funny but I am right there with you. DH lost his job in January. Thankfully is back to work just last month. I started couponing with my pink binder in tow back then. I too think money saved is more money for Disney!

Here's to a better 2012!

Yes - hopefully 2012 is the year we meet up again!!!!
We haven't booked yet because we're going back and forth. The kids are thinking they'd like to go to Univeral and do a split stay. Unfortunately are APs expired last August so we have to buy tickets at both theme parks. Our other thoughts are trying the Dolphin or just picking either Universal or Disney this year. Definitely no CL for us this year though!

My dd almost passed out when she saw my binder - she said "OMG don't tell me you've turned into an extreme couponer!". It got worse when I made them use coupons at Dairy Queen!!!!

 

[MEM]

I am a devoted couponer - nothing extreme about me - and I caught a few minutes of EC last night while channel surfing. I even said to DH, how does that woman get 242 coupons for the same item? The clipping services I use limit you to 10 'like' coupons per 7 day period. This was the woman from North Carolina who bragged about clearing shelves. I wonder if she also removes coupon inserts from other people's newspapers? She did not reveal her sources.

To all of you coupon newbies, please realize this TV show does not reflect reality. The stores' coupon policies were waived during the filming of these episodes - if you want to read more, I suggest you check out slickdeals.net's grocery store forum, the thread titled "thoughts on the TLC show". There is a woman who writes hilarious re-caps of each episode on that thread.

 

[BoogasMom]

Some people will put in enough change to open the Sunday Paper box and then take out multiples or steal the coupon inserts from the other papers. This was happening so often that a lot of the stores now only sell the papers inside the store and not in the newspaper box outside.

What a shame.....

 

[WildabouttheMouse]

Don't forget to check your "Family Points" on your receipt and then go to their website --- I never checked this before and decided to check it yesterday. I qualifiy for a "$10 off your next shopping order"!!! I'm going to print it out tonight when I get ready for my shopping trip tomorrow!

I did not realize it either and quick used $6.00 off my next order last week. My husband was so surprised, we did not have to print it, as it went right on my Price Plus card. Now I already qualify for my free Turkey. Gotta Love it!

 

[disneyofcourse]

First: people who steal like that suck.
Second: You should have videotaped it when you gave the person the old Shock and Awe of surprising them, put it on youtube. there are actual videos of this same thing on there. It had to be have hilarious the expression on their face.

I like the way you think!

 

[mandynee22]

Well for two weeks someone stole my coupons out of the Sunday paper until one day I waited for them and said something. It stopped. That's one way to get them lol.

As a person who delivers papers, I'd like to thank you. We get charged like 3 bucks a piece when someone complains to the company even if it's known that the thing is being stolen LOL