Extreme couponing on TLC

[Debi]

Just a heads up that Extreme Couponing on TLC is turning in to a series and begins on April 6. Am I the only one looking forward to this show?

 

[akenneson]

I will be watching. I'm sure I'll be shaking my head at some of it because who needs bedrooms full of stuff they'll never be able to use, but on the last show I thought it was really great of that guy to donate all those boxes of cereal.

 

[momof2intx]

As a borderline "Extreme" couponer myself......I'm really excited to watch the show! I have it set on my DVR already to record the series.

The only downside is, once people start watching and they figure out how to do it.....better get to the store as soon as the sales start or all the shelves will be bare!!

 

[Mic]

I've only watched half of one show, where a lady sent her CHILDREN dumpster-diving for coupons...for a minute I thought I was watching Teen Mom! Another lady had stockpiles of things all over her house. She almost had a breakdown at the register when the computer/cash register would not automatically give her the discount on the last 100 boxes of pasta. The store manager stepped in and manually gave the discount...making the pasta free, and making the lady look like a fool. I figure we'll see her again...on hoarders. But at least no children were harmed in making her segment. I was hoping it would be more informative, but the two people I watched seemed more disturbed than anything. I hope I saw only the two worst cases.

 

[momof2intx]

I too wonder about the ones who live alone or just with one person and they have all that stuff. Do they really need it? Will they every use all of it?

Now I don't buy anything without a coupon...and yes, I have about 23 bottles of soft soap and about 12 boxes of cereal in my cabinet along with a ton of other stuff. But believe it or not, we use it all! I feed my family of 4 on about $65 a week and have a full medicine cabinet and are stocked for a few months on toiletry items etc...

What I didn't understand while watching the show was how were all 100 boxes free. Unless she had $1 off coupons and the pasta was on sale for $1....I just didn't get it.

My Kroger only doubles/triples up to 4 coupons of the same item. My Tom Thumb will only do one! All of those people must be lucky enough to live near a store that does not have limits on their coupons.

As much as I would love a $700 shopping trip for $5, that has yet to happen to me. The closest I've gotten was about $400 for around $75.

Even though I love couponing, I get exhausted just from cutting 20 coupons at a time nevermind 100!

 

[ELLE-TN]

I will be watching. I'm sure I'll be shaking my head at some of it because who needs bedrooms full of stuff they'll never be able to use, but on the last show I thought it was really great of that guy to donate all those boxes of cereal.

Great guy? If he was donating why on earth didn't he go straigth to the pantry and unload? Nope! He took it home and unloaded! A little research will tell you that he re-sells this stuff and that's how he got out of debt. Now, I'm not saying that it is wrong of him to use his talent for shopping to better himself financially because seriously you do what you have to do.

This show is absolutely ridiculous! The shopping trips are pre-ordered and pre-arranged with the stores. Almost all stores limit the number of coupons you are allowed to use at one time. I am an semi-extreme couponer myself and I will tell you there is absolutely NO way on earth you would be able to do these shops without television cameras.

If you've ever followed an extreme couponer you will know that one key to low O.O.P. is they do small transactions and shop frequently.

The only thing this show does is make couponers look like a bunch of lunatics. And shut down Kroger Double/Triple coupons in Texas....which will most likely spread like wildfire across the country. So Thanks TLC and Extreme Coupons.

And, NO I am not jealous that I am not that great of a shopper LOL. I am NOT a packrat let alone a hoarder.

 

[ELLE-TN]

As a borderline "Extreme" couponer myself......I'm really excited to watch the show! I have it set on my DVR already to record the series.

The only downside is, once people start watching and they figure out how to do it.....better get to the store as soon as the sales start or all the shelves will be bare!!

Sorry momof2 if you are indeed in the Houston/Galveston area in Tx you will not have to worry about shelves being cleared as soon as sales start as of April 13th Double/Triple coupons @ Kroger are NO MORE

 

[budafam]

I love it and am looking forward to it. If someone takes all the time to cut coupons and shop like crazy, who cares what they do with the stuff? It's like a job for them. I think it's amazing when they spend pennies for hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. The best I have ever done was $105 worth of stuff for $6 which I consider pretty good.

 

[disneychrista]

I'll be shaking my head at some of it because who needs bedrooms full of stuff they'll never be able to use.

Yeah I don't get that either.

 

[disneychrista]

The only thing this show does is make couponers look like a bunch of lunatics. And shut down Kroger Double/Triple coupons in Texas....which will most likely spread like wildfire across the country.

Haven't had double coupons here since the very early 90's.

 

[Purseval]

What I didn't understand while watching the show was how were all 100 boxes free. Unless she had $1 off coupons and the pasta was on sale for $1....I just didn't get it.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2679733

That's one way to do it. Even though an individual could only print out enough coupons for 12 free boxes a determined person could easily have gathered up enough for hundreds of boxes.

More puzzling is why the manager let her get away with it. If you look at a typical sales circular it states that they have the right to limit quantities. I would have told her to hit the road. Perhaps he was intimidated by the tv cameras.

Too bad the cameras didn't stick around to see the looks on the faces of people legitimately trying to stretch their dollars looking at the empty shelves cleaned out by one person and get their opinions of extreme couponers.

 

[EMHDad]

What I didn't understand while watching the show was how were all 100 boxes free. Unless she had $1 off coupons and the pasta was on sale for $1....I just didn't get it.

Its possible. Last week I was paid $1.04 for 52 boxes of pasta. The combination of sales and cantinas and coupons made it happen. I was able to take about 10 bosex each to inlaws and brother in law. Now we have about 30 boxes that should last my family about 4-5 months. My boys love pasta, so its really nice.

I got into it a few months ago when the show aired. I like how couponmom.com sets it up. I just buy about 6-8 Sunday papers. Then I dont cut any coupons, just date the inserts and file them. Then I have a few websites that will, each week, show my the deals I can get that combine the sales and coupons. The sites will even tell me what week and insert to look. They will also have the links to any online coupons. (Those are limited. I can print 2 of any online coupon.) I spend about 30 minutes a week planning the shopping.

In the end I save about a consistent 40-50% of my groceries. I know that this is not the 90% they show on tv. However, I have a staple of needed foods like fruits and vegtables and items the family loves that I buy. The Couponing of many items combined with buying the items we want gives me the 40-50% average.

I also try to operate with a few rules. I try to stick with a few rules. I really only need a 4-5 month supply at the most. I don't need beyond that. If I can get a lot for free, like toothpaste (I have been able to get about 40 tubes free in the last few months), I just pass them around to family and my food pantry. Second, I dont get things just for the sake of getting deals. I have my family's shopping list on excel that spells out the items needed for the month and stick with that. So, if there is a great sale on cherrios, Ill buy 6 bosex. Kids love it, and its better then most cereal. If ready made meals are on sale for a quarter, I skip it, because we dont eat that stuff, even if its 90% off and a fanastic deal.

I remember that show, and the final 3 people seemed to coupon out of lifestyle. However the first woman (whose register broke on her shopping trip) just seem to show multiple signs of addiction in her shopping. She was spending 40-50 hours a week on it, driving everywhere, looking for any deal just to feel that 'high' and feeling anxiety when not extreme couponing. Also, our extreme couponing did appear to be leading to hoarding tendencies.

I was examinging how she got like $1000 in grocerys for like $50. The reason was not that she got a well balanced assortment of needed items, but got a huge bulk of a few items for free. Who needs 400 butterfinger bars?

All in all, extreme couponing should be used as a wonderful tool to really save a family money, but not at the cost of overtaking one's life, one's home, or a well balanced diet.

 

[BoogasMom]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2679733

Too bad the cameras didn't stick around to see the looks on the faces of people legitimately trying to stretch their dollars looking at the empty shelves cleaned out by one person and get their opinions of extreme couponers.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I saw this show. What about the people who come behind those who cleared the shelf of 60 boxes of spaghetti only to hoard it all for their family....sadly that's how Americans think...."get all I can get for myself before someone else gets it all." Oh yeah.....and I am an American so I can say that. People who follow couponing know that sales cycle around every 6 weeks or so....buy enough for your family for 6 weeks and wait until the sale comes around again. Then, everyone can enjoy the pasta on sale.

The guy who showed his bins of deodorant and stated that he had enough of it to last for the rest of his life and then went out and bought another crate full of deodorant did me in.....I had to change the channel. That guy has a hoarding problem. Not to mention the lady who bought all the candybars JUST BECAUSE SHE HAD COUPONS for them! That's craziness!!! What did she do with all of those candybars before they went bad???

 

[ELLE-TN]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2679733
Too bad the cameras didn't stick around to see the looks on the faces of people legitimately trying to stretch their dollars looking at the empty shelves cleaned out by one person and get their opinions of extreme couponers.

 

[momof2intx]

EMHDad, that pretty much is how I coupon too. The first lady on the show did seem to have a developing addiction-type problem.

I read that about double/triple coupons being done away with at Houston Krogers. I'm actually in the DFW metroplex so it hasn't hit here yet.

The day it does will be the day I sit down and have a long, hard cry!

 

[Jessica527]

How do they get so many coupons!!??

 

[momof2intx]

Lots of them buy multiple papers however a few of the people in the show would go through dumpsters or walk around and pick up unused newspapers in the neighborhood. One lady had her neighbors save theirs for her if they weren't going to use them.

 

[mhconley]

Yet another case of TLC showcasing the (possibly borderline) mentally ill to our voyeuristic society for their own financial gain... so sad.

Martin

 

[ELLE-TN]

EMHDad, that pretty much is how I coupon too. The first lady on the show did seem to have a developing addiction-type problem.

I read that about double/triple coupons being done away with at Houston Krogers. I'm actually in the DFW metroplex so it hasn't hit here yet.

The day it does will be the day I sit down and have a long, hard cry!

Mid-Atlantic region here! I know what you mean. The day they stop doubles will definitely be a BAD day. It will also be the last day I ever step foot in Krogers as it is the most expensive store in town

 

[weheartdisney]

I've not seen the show, but plan to watch it...at least once. It sounds like it might be like watching a train wreck - so I might be one and done.