Extreme couponing show: Saving in theory vs. saving in reality

[aprilfoolwed]

I can take of leave Extreme Coupons, and while I do use coupons sometimes, I am by no means extreme.

But I did see the episode you are talking about, and I believe their deal was that with their big coupon shop done, they would not have to buy any groceries that month, leaving them with an extra $500 at the end of the month to put towards their trip.

I still question how anyone can buy EVERYTHING they need by couponing. Sure, you can get lots of cereal, toothpaste and shower gel, but that doesn't feed the family for a month.

Even if you can get tons of pantry staples, you still need milk, fresh veggies/fruit, bread etc. Unless, of course, you have a terrible diet.

But I am constantly running to the store for perishables!

 

[clh2]

Anyone care for some mustard with their anti-acid tablets? And then we can wash that all down with the flavored water.

YUM!!!

The extreme couponers are going to be the next generation of Extreme Hoarders.

 

[Rantybaby]

What I don't get is purchasing just cause its free- 40 or 50 bottles of Maalox. Since my January trip, I save by using coupons & savings card. Add the saving difference and take out money to the bank. If I spend $15.00 for a pizza & wings, I'll add that amount to my pig. Once I reach $100, piggie is taken to the bank.

 

[mrodgers]

lol, totally agree!!

Also, I couldn't understand the lady last night who has a budget of 80/month for 6 people. She spends 30 hours a week couponing. 30 hours a week, go get a PT job. I'm sorry but the logic isn't very logical

Going by food cost without couponing where I'm at, my family of 4 spends about $200/week. That puts the family of 6 at about $300/week. A month and that is $1200.

30 hours a week couponing is 120 hours per month. At $10 part time wage (that's really pushing it) you are looking at making $1200 for the month, same as food would normally be. But, there are taxes and stuff, so figure a guesstimate of 25% taken out for taxes, now you are looking at $900 wages for the month spending that couponing time at a PT job instead. They spend $80/month so save $1120 in groceries vs. making $900 in wages.

No working the closing shift and getting home at midnight at your part time job just to wake back up at 4 am to open because the one who schedules is an idiot. No having to worry about how you get to work and half the people called off leaving you with 1 other to work with all night while needing 7 stations manned. Sounds like to me she has a pretty good thing going on rather than spending the 30 hours slaving away at a part time job as a nobody for little pay.

 

[speedyf]

I'm not a couponing expert...but, how do these people get all these coupons?

I mean...if you are buying 60 bottles of mustard...where did you get 60 mustard coupons?

You can't buy 60 newspapers and not factor in the cost of the newspapers. I realize you can "buy" coupons from people who cut them and "sell" them...but, you are still paying a few cents per coupon.

Just curious...

Speed

 

[Marionnette]

I'm not a couponing expert...but, how do these people get all these coupons?

I mean...if you are buying 60 bottles of mustard...where did you get 60 mustard coupons?

You can't buy 60 newspapers and not factor in the cost of the newspapers. I realize you can "buy" coupons from people who cut them and "sell" them...but, you are still paying a few cents per coupon.

Just curious...

Speed

You must have missed the episodes where the extreme couponers did the following:

• dumster diving at the recycling center
• grabbing the newspaper from the driveways of forclosed homes
• knocking on the doors of neighbors and collecting their inserts every Sunday
• getting chummy with a newpaper deliveryman and getting his extras

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

You must have missed the episodes where the extreme couponers did the following:

• dumster diving at the recycling center
• grabbing the newspaper from the driveways of forclosed homes
• knocking on the doors of neighbors and collecting their inserts every Sunday
• getting chummy with a newpaper deliveryman and getting his extras

There are also online sites that sell coupons. I liked the one woman who said God gave her the coupons...

 

[speedyf]

I really don't watch the program regularly. I happened to catch it one night and was just wondering. That explains it, though.

Speed

 

[ThisIsTheYear]

and if anyone finds a cruise line that accepts toothpaste or ramen noodles let me know.

 

[DawnM]

Here's what always gets me: Many on this show admit to spending 30-40 HOURS PER WEEK on couponing.

You can only actually consume so much, the rest has to be hoarded, I mean stored.

Dawn

 

[marie1203]

What bothers me about this show is that is not reality. Most of these people do not buy like that every time. In fact for some those are their biggest bills, of course they only do it for the show. I do agree that you can save a lot of money with coupons but you can't get everything for free. I am a Pescetarians and eat a lot of produce, we rarely buy anything frozen. I save around $50 a month in coupons but honestly I never found an amazing deal (free) for anything that we buy, I have tried coupon cutting websites, ebay, the newspaper and no luck, so I do question how healthy they eat.

 

[PudgetteD]

I coupon but not to that extreme. We are a family of 4 +3 (me, DH, DS11, DD18 plus 2 cats and a very big dog). I've cut our grocery spending from about $250 per week to $100-$125 every 2 weeks (not including fresh produce which runs me about $10-$15 per week) by using coupons. I use coupons especially for all of our pet food/treats/litter/toys which saves a bundle. DH and I went to Kroger today and before coupons our total was $253. We paid $124, and that included fresh produce and about $25 dollars for steaks for DH's birthday dinner on friday, not to mention the gas savings with fuel points earned. Saving 90-95% is just not realistic unless you only eat frozen stuff, cereal, ramen, canned soup, and soda.

 

[Purseval]

I watched that same episode and thought the same thing! If you get 63 pkgs of croutons for free, that you never would have paid money for in the first place, then you have zero money to put in the vacation fund! So strange!

If you turn around and resell those 63 packages of croutons you get whatever proceeds you make to put in the vacation fund.

I live in an area that has tons of yard sales every week. A weekend doesn't go by where I don't see at least one house selling their stockpile from shopping trips.

 

[Kycha]

But they don't need 250 for food for the month as they have a years worth of groceries already in the house.

I never said they needed $250(my hypothetical figure) for food a month. I said that is what they budgeted. You seem to have a real problem with this show. Why do you watch it?

I still question how anyone can buy EVERYTHING they need by couponing. Sure, you can get lots of cereal, toothpaste and shower gel, but that doesn't feed the family for a month.

I imagine that they use coupon overage to get anything else they need. For example, a couple months ago my grocery store had a sale on pasta for .49. Plus, there was a coupon available that was $1 off. So for every 10 boxes of pasta that you bought, you'd get $5.10 back in coupon overage. Not only did you get free pasta, but the store paid you $5.10 to take it out of the store.

Oh, and another thing, some people do garden and don't have a need to purchase fresh fruits and veggies from a grocery store. Or maybe they buy that stuff at a farmer's market. Just wanted to put that out there.

 

[Swimalie]

TLC's next reality show "Extreme Couponers Turned Hoarders".

 

[Marionnette]

Here's what always gets me: Many on this show admit to spending 30-40 HOURS PER WEEK on couponing.

You can only actually consume so much, the rest has to be hoarded, I mean stored.

Dawn

You have to wonder where the line is drawn between thrifty consumers and outright hoarders. Here's the TLC description for tonight's episode:

May 18, 9:30 pm

(30 minutes) Extreme Couponing
Chrystie & Treasure
TV-PG, CC

Chrystie, a newcomer to couponing, has a stockpile that is slowly taking over every spare space in her small home. Meanwhile, Treasure started couponing to save the family business, but now has a stockpile worh over $35,000.

I totally get the idea of taking advantage of big savings when you can. But I don't understand shopping until your home is packed floor to ceiling with Cheerios and Powerade while your bathroom shower is stuffed with toilet paper and your child sleeps above a stockpile of oatmeal.

 

[DawnM]

Yeah, if it starts taking up actual living space, that is a problem for me!

Also, I will not buy things I KNOW I won't use.....I have no babies in my house anymore, so I have no need for diapers/wipes/baby items that will just take up space and not be useful.

I am all about savings, but I want to be practical in all of that too!

Dawn

I totally get the idea of taking advantage of big savings when you can. But I don't understand shopping until your home is packed floor to ceiling with Cheerios and Powerade while your bathroom shower is stuffed with toilet paper and your child sleeps above a stockpile of oatmeal.

 

[packofjedis]

I can't even understand what these people are thinking.

The one that got me was the woman with the family of 6 (?) and the $80/month grocery budget. She walked out of the grocery store saying she was set up for 2 weeks as far as groceries. So for 2 weeks, they're going to eat ramen noodles with croutons in it. Not exactly healthy. She didn't have any "real" food that you could see.

(Anybody want some croutons with that? We're pushing croutons this week....)

 

[huey duey & luey]

Going by food cost without couponing where I'm at, my family of 4 spends about $200/week. That puts the family of 6 at about $300/week. A month and that is $1200.

30 hours a week couponing is 120 hours per month. At $10 part time wage (that's really pushing it) you are looking at making $1200 for the month, same as food would normally be. But, there are taxes and stuff, so figure a guesstimate of 25% taken out for taxes, now you are looking at $900 wages for the month spending that couponing time at a PT job instead. They spend $80/month so save $1120 in groceries vs. making $900 in wages.

No working the closing shift and getting home at midnight at your part time job just to wake back up at 4 am to open because the one who schedules is an idiot. No having to worry about how you get to work and half the people called off leaving you with 1 other to work with all night while needing 7 stations manned. Sounds like to me she has a pretty good thing going on rather than spending the 30 hours slaving away at a part time job as a nobody for little pay.

you're right and I hope she got some healthy lettuce to go with her 96 bags of croutons and who knows how many packages of processed noodles.
let's not also forget her husband only works seasonally, so atleast child care wouldn't be an issue

 

[herdtoDisney]

The crouton lady, I was actually impressed with-minus the croutons! She has the $80/month budget, and she also grows her own veggies and they hunt meat. In her segment, she also purchased milk and fruit (bananas). I still think the croutons are ridiculous, although I suppose you could grind them up for breadcrumb coating. Her hoard seemed to be not too entirely crazy. Still, it's a hoard.

I think that family's choice to have the mom stay home and save money couponing, works for them. She seems to use methods other than couponing-they garden, can, hunt, and seem to live in a low cost of living area.

When I was a SAHM, we had a small home and we just weren't willing to fill our one bathroom with stacks of paper goods or keep huge cans stacked up all over. So I never did get into the stockpiling. I always did pretty good with Aldi's, Price-Rite, and cooking from scratch. Now that I work full time, I don't do so much scratch any more (I enjoy it though) but I still stick to my bargain grocery stores and cook at home as much as I can, and we have chickens and a garden (although I'm still learning to grow stuff successfully).

My dh specifically does not want me to pile up stuff or take all that time from my family to extreme coupon! However, I love this show and admit to some quirky envy over it I like Vitamin Water and treat myself to it about once a month (I work outside so need hydration-I usually pack ice water). But I could not have gotten 40 free-Stop & Shop only doubles 4 coupons per item so I could only have gotten 4. Plus, I would have had to buy papers, and take an extra trip to get the vitamin waters.