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

[GinnyEmma]

I think the show is, exactly as the title says "Extreme." And I think that very few people are using coupons & stockpiling to that extreme. But I also think that the Extreme-ness is magnified for the sake of the show. Because lets face it "Sensible Couponing" wouldn't make for great entertainment!

It is TV, like all reality tv it should be taken with a grain of salt. & if it really annoys you, change the channel.

Or use it as a subject for discussion...They are affecting the reputation of the reasonable couponers, and the regular couponers are sticking up for them. Kind of funny.

As you said it is reality tv. They put themselves out there for a buck and 15 minutes of fame. They seem to think that any attention is good attention.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

How do people get fresh veggies and meat for free? Here's how:

Its called overage. say the product they are buying costs $1. They have a coupon for 75 cents. Say the store is doubling coupons so they get a $1.50 off. Some stores will allow the extra 50 cents to be applied to something else they are buying, i.e fresh veggies. If they have 50 coupons they will get
$25 in overage to cover non coupon items.

Yes, I do this often. Another way is earning register rewards for buying certain items. I average about four large hauls per year with the RR's. Here is an example of one of the deals from last year. There was a deal that if you bought 10 cans of Healthy Choice soup you received a 10.00 register reward. There were "blinkie" coupons right there by the soup. After coupons the soup cost 7.00. Therefore I was "making" 3.00 on every ten cans of soup that I "bought". After my inintial investment of 7.00, I would get 3.00 worth of produce or whatever I wanted, along with another ten cans of soup and kept "rolling" the register reward. Needless to say at the end of that week, we had A LOT of soup and tons of other food for free. (It got to the point that I couldnt use all the soup, so I would drop it off in the donation bin at the exit.) it was a lot of work doing all the transactions, but for me it was time well spent and we had a fridge/freezer that was quite well stocked. I wont even say how much fruit/produce/meat/staples that I got that week, but it was A LOT!!!!!

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I think the show is, exactly as the title says "Extreme." And I think that very few people are using coupons & stockpiling to that extreme. But I also think that the Extreme-ness is magnified for the sake of the show. Because lets face it "Sensible Couponing" wouldn't make for great entertainment!

What she said.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Or use it as a subject for discussion...They are affecting the reputation of the reasonable couponers, and the regular couponers are sticking up for them. Kind of funny.

As you said it is reality tv. They put themselves out there for a buck and 15 minutes of fame. They seem to think that any attention is good attention.

I havent read this whole thread so I havent read the posts about the "regular couponers" sticking up for the extreme couponers, but I know that all the coupons/deal sites that I use (around 7-8) I havent read one comment of support for the people on the show, its quite the opposite actually. And no I dont feel like the people showcased on the show affect my couponing reputation in the least!

 

[bartleby1]

I do not extreme coupon, but I do coupon as much as I can. I do agree that the people on the show are the extreme of the extreme and I could not and would not want to have the stockpiles that don't even fit in the house, LOL!

However, that said, I do think that couponing and stockpiling is a way of thinking that some people get and others don't. To truly get the best prices, you do need to build a stockpile to some degree so that you are never paying full price for items you use. Of course, you can't do this with most perishable items, but you can do it with a lot of items. This is why couponers stock up when they can. For example, we go thru a ton of ketchup. If I get a good deal (free or close to free), I'll buy enough for a year or more, depending on the expiration date. Once you build a stockpile, you never have to pay full price which frees up your money for perishables (fruits, veggies, milk, etc).

Also, what many people don't realize is how much of their weekly or monthly "food" budget is actually being spent on cleaning products, paper products, health and beauty products, etc. Once you stop paying for items like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, cleaning products, dish soap, etc, you'd be surprised at how much extra money you have to spend on actual food. I've had many people tell me that they don't find coupons for the fresh healthy foods that they eat. I agree that healthy food coupons are harder to come by, but just cutting out the cost of non-food products would greatly reduce most people's grocery bill. Everyone I know uses toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, soap, etc. I haven't paid for that stuff in years due to stocking up when I can get it for free. I don't have 50 toothpastes in my house, but I do keep 8-10 on hand at all times. Never run out, never pay for it (thanks mostly to CVS).

Our supermarkets don't do "overage" either. However, you can still find money maker deals every so often. For example, at shoprite this week, a $4 catalina coupon was printing out at the register for buying 4 reach toothbrushes. I purchased 4 toothbrushes for 99 cents each and used a dollar off coupon for each one which made them free. However, the $4 off my next shopping order coupon still printed out at the register so now I have $4 to apply to real food next week. I also purchased two bottles of folic acid which were $2.19 each and used a $3 off 2 coupon. Therefore, I paid $1.38 for both. However, at the register, I received a $3 off my next order coupon. So, I actually made $1.62 which can be applied to real food next week.

It does take time to coupon, but for many sahm's, it is a great way to help out financially without having to put their children in daycare. I couldn't let myself get to the point of storing stockpiles in the bathtub though, LOL!

 

[eliza61]

I get the concept, but it's kind of like a row of Dominos: A number of things have to fall in line perfectly for that last "free" Domino to fall into place. You have to have 50 of the right coupon . . . and you have to have a sale at the same time as the coupon . . . and you have to have a store that doubles . . . and that store has to allow for overages . . . and that store has to allow 50 coupons per transaction.

So while it's possible to get those fresh veggies with coupons, it's not going to happen 1) without effort and 2) every week. And even if you can create that perfect-storm scenerio, you're still coming home with a CARTLOAD of the junk food and a piddly $25 of the fresh veggies.Me neither. That must've cut into the profits.

That's it exactly MrsP. My store does double but only up to 1.00 so they will never allow you to use the "extra" 50c on some thing else.

If you have a coupon for 1.50 they will not double it or give you any other markups.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I do not extreme coupon, but I do coupon as much as I can. I do agree that the people on the show are the extreme of the extreme and I could not and would not want to have the stockpiles that don't even fit in the house, LOL!

However, that said, I do think that couponing and stockpiling is a way of thinking that some people get and others don't. To truly get the best prices, you do need to build a stockpile to some degree so that you are never paying full price for items you use. Of course, you can't do this with most perishable items, but you can do it with a lot of items. This is why couponers stock up when they can. For example, we go thru a ton of ketchup. If I get a good deal (free or close to free), I'll buy enough for a year or more, depending on the expiration date. Once you build a stockpile, you never have to pay full price which frees up your money for perishables (fruits, veggies, milk, etc).

Also, what many people don't realize is how much of their weekly or monthly "food" budget is actually being spent on cleaning products, paper products, health and beauty products, etc. Once you stop paying for items like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, cleaning products, dish soap, etc, you'd be surprised at how much extra money you have to spend on actual food. I've had many people tell me that they don't find coupons for the fresh healthy foods that they eat. I agree that healthy food coupons are harder to come by, but just cutting out the cost of non-food products would greatly reduce most people's grocery bill. Everyone I know uses toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, soap, etc. I haven't paid for that stuff in years due to stocking up when I can get it for free. I don't have 50 toothpastes in my house, but I do keep 8-10 on hand at all times. Never run out, never pay for it (thanks mostly to CVS).

Our supermarkets don't do "overage" either. However, you can still find money maker deals every so often. For example, at shoprite this week, a $4 catalina coupon was printing out at the register for buying 4 reach toothbrushes. I purchased 4 toothbrushes for 99 cents each and used a dollar off coupon for each one which made them free. However, the $4 off my next shopping order coupon still printed out at the register so now I have $4 to apply to real food next week. I also purchased two bottles of folic acid which were $2.19 each and used a $3 off 2 coupon. Therefore, I paid $1.38 for both. However, at the register, I received a $3 off my next order coupon. So, I actually made $1.62 which can be applied to real food next week.

It does take time to coupon, but for many sahm's, it is a great way to help out financially without having to put their children in daycare. I couldn't let myself get to the point of storing stockpiles in the bathtub though, LOL!

I agree with everything you have said!!! Your exactly right when you said that "stockpiling is a way of thinking that some people get and others dont" I stockpile for sure, although not what I hear described about the show. (I have never seen the show, our cable company doesnt carry it.) And I to, have not paid any real cash for any health/beauty items, toiletries, cleaning supplies and a good portion of food items for over three years. By not having to spend cash on those items we have more cash available for things that are not covered by coupons, therefore leaving us with a pretty small weekly grocery bill. Couponing is NOT for everyone.......it takes some work as well as a different way of thinking to wrap your head around the various deals. I also don't have to store things in my bathtub!!!!!!!

 

[jcemom]

I sure wish I could get $1000 in groceries for $40, LOL. Around here, the stores that double coupons will only accept 3 or 4 of the same coupon per transaction. They also don't give any overage. The coupon will only double up to the cost of the item. I've gotten some toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, and shampoo for free. I've gotten some boxed taco kits and instant potatoes for almost free. LOL. That's about the best I've done so far.

 

[aceys_h0ney]

My extreme couponing paid for my gas, tip money and souvineers for a Disney trip once. I stock piled shampoo, toothpaste, hair dye, razors that sort of stuff and sold it at a flea market, plus got gas cards with overage from some stores. That said it took me close to a year to;
A) admit that I had too much crap and decide to donate and sell it off
B) have enough crap to actually make any money
At the end of the day, I cleared $1,000 from going to the flea market for 2 weekends, this was after my cost of buying the items (most items I made money 'buying' them initially anyway and used my overage for diapers, I didn't buy diapers for 6 months) and buying extra coupons.

Would I get to that point again? No, it took over my time and I have a full time job. It took over my house. I had a wall of rubbermaid bins that lined my entire dining room wall (like 20-30 bins). I had TP to the ceeling in our big bathroom and diapers fell out of a closet if you opened it. I drove my family and myself insane. However I truly did save money on things we used, 'buying' the things we don't use it where the problem was. I was at the point where I would rush out to get free denture cream because it's free. I don't know anyone with dentures. I knew at that point I had a problem.

What I see on EC is a lot of the above, buying items you won't use and don't need. It's not a savings if you don't need it.

Now I coupon for what we use, like others I do still have small stockpiles. I recently bought all our condiments for the summer because the sales were good and so were the coupons. We are talking 5 of each item max though, not 80 mustards. My savings hover around 50%. Overall I just learned smarter ways to shop for all my items. I still have to go to like 3 different grocery stores for my staples. 1 for meat, 1 for produce and 1 for everything else.

Anyway as a recovering extreme (hoarder) couponer there are some things to learn from the show but it's mostly smoke and mirrors.

 

[GinnyEmma]

Interesting aceys. I'm glad you got to have your trip.

 

[Suz D]

So, I watched this show again, and I'm convinced that these folks don't understand the difference between saving in theory and saving in reality.

The couple on the show I watched had no children, and their second bedroom was jam-packed with well-organized food storage. LOADS of food for two people. Probably more than a year's worth.

They explained that travel is their passion, and they coupon so they can travel -- fine, I can understand that. They wanted to take a cruise for the husband's birthday. After checking their accounts, the wife announced that they could afford the cruise IF they could save $500.

So what's the LOGICAL way to save $500? It seems to me that any reasonable person would say, "Well, we've stockpiled this food for just such a purpose. We will not spend anything at the grocery store for the next month or so" -- or, more realistically, "We'll just allot $10 per week for fresh things like milk and eggs. By not spending anything at the grocery store, we'll painlessly accumulate the $500 that we need."

INSTEAD, they headed to the grocery store and spent -- I might be wrong on the exact number -- $540 on groceries and only paid $40 for them. They announced that they had "saved" $500 and now could go on their cruise.

In what parallel universe does this make sense? Yes, they have more food for their hoard, but they do not have $500 to give to the cruise company (unless they're sailing on a cruise line that accepts Ramen Noodles as payment). In fact, they now have $40 LESS in their checking account. Yes, they have more food in their already-large stockpile, but it doesn't bring them closer to their immediate goal of taking the cruise.

I personally call this "spaving" -- spending to save. Or spending so you can claim you saved.

I think this is an excellent post that brings up a very valid point. It's also worded in a way that makes perfect sense. We have done food storage for at least 20 years (not the same food saved for that time of course ) and we have it for that exact purpose. When my husband's job was in jeopardy, we ate more out of our food storage and didn't replenish it very much. We stockpiled $$ instead of food. Then when that crunch eased, we replenished our food storage and continued to shop as we did before the crunch.

When we had our first child and my husband was still in graduate school, I was the breadwinner. The problem was that she was an 11 inch long 1 pound preemie and there was NO way she would be put in daycare. I took 12 weeks off with no pay when she came home. We ate mostly out of food storage during that time. Again, it was a financial life saver for us.

Thanks for posting this! It's lots of "food for thought".

 

[Suz D]

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!

AND you're living on croutons!

 

[bradyloganmom]

Family member of our nephew's wife stockpiles free toiletries, etc. with coupons then has tent/yard sale. Made $3,000 cash last month! Doubt they'll report that to IRS, huh?!

 

[brerrabbit]

Over the years we have used coupons and got some good deals and I think they can be a reasonable part of any one's budget. I just don't agree with the way so many people calculate their "savings" or their claims that they "made" money.

I look at my budget and our spending this way. There are certain things I have to pay, mortgage, electricity, water, gas, insurance, and car to get to work and where I need/ want to be. Beyond that (and I am sure I forgot something but you get the idea) everything else is a want. Food is sort of in between. What I mean is you can opt to eat out every day of your life, or you can eat at home every day and pack your own lunch. But within those two extremes there is a lot of discretion and choice. DW and I are in a different place than many because our kids are both out of the house so it is just her and I. Because of my helth situation we tend to eat very healthy and grow a lot of our own food. We freeze the excess from the spring season and eat it till it runs out. Flat out what we have found is that the vast majority of the stuff that you can get the great deals on are things we can't/ don't eat. One of the extreme couponers got 63 packages of Budding meat. That's great for her, but I cannot eat processed meat so I cannot and would not be able to take advantage of that.

So now lets talk about what we really save, or actually cut from our budget and can claim as true savings. If I pay off a vehicle, I take the money I was paying on the loan and put it in savings, thats real money. If I refinance my mortgage and put the savings away, that's real money. If on the other hand I reduce my grocery bill by say 20% then for that to be real I have to take that money and make sure I put it in savings. But that doesn't happen with most people because most (or a least most should) pay themselves first by putting money into savings, and then live off the rest. Grocery money to me comes out of "the rest" so those savings rarely manifest themselves into real dollars.

I don't know, its in a way the same thing as listening to a person who just got back from Vegas saying they won $900. Dig in to the story deeper and what you usually find is they hit a jackpot of $900 at some point during their trip but they fail to mention the $1,000 they lost up to that point. So the question is did they really win $900 or did they just lose $100. The same goes for extreme couponing, did you really save/ make $900 or did you just lose $100 because you have to store stuff for 10 years to use it all and spend money to make money? Money you might not have spent to begin with.

 

[Purseval]

Family member of our nephew's wife stockpiles free toiletries, etc. with coupons then has tent/yard sale. Made $3,000 cash last month! Doubt they'll report that to IRS, huh?!

No, probably not. But they do perfectly illustrate my theory that most extreme couponers are neither mentally ill hoarders or angels of mercy who feed the helpless with their kind efforts. The vast majority do it for the money.

 

[tlbwriter]

So now lets talk about what we really save, or actually cut from our budget and can claim as true savings. If I pay off a vehicle, I take the money I was paying on the loan and put it in savings, thats real money. If I refinance my mortgage and put the savings away, that's real money. If on the other hand I reduce my grocery bill by say 20% then for that to be real I have to take that money and make sure I put it in savings. But that doesn't happen with most people because most (or a least most should) pay themselves first by putting money into savings, and then live off the rest. Grocery money to me comes out of "the rest" so those savings rarely manifest themselves into real dollars.

I agree with much of what you said, but not this. To me (and I realize this is my own opinion) if I was going to buy it either way, and I managed to buy it for less, then I saved money. It doesn't matter whether that $1 I didn't spend on mustard goes into savings or goes toward a new pair of shoes, I still saved money.

On the other hand, if I wasn't going to buy it, but I did because of the "savings," I didn't save any money at all. If I have no intention of buying mustard and I'm not sure I'll ever use it, but I see I can get a $2 bottle of mustard for $1 so I buy it, I didn't save $1 on mustard. I spent $1 that I didn't need to spend.

 

[talulabelle]

I have a lot of problems with the people on this show, and what they consider "saving", but my biggest issue is probably the time they spend on it. They spend all week preparing for a trip , and then up to 6 hours in the store, 2 hours at the check-out etc. Some spend time dumpster diving for coupon circulars, or driving around town (using gas) to steal papers off of driveways of foreclosed homes .Then big-whoop - they save $400. If they did the math , they are probably making less than $10 an hour. And that would be if it were all on items they will actually use or buy anyway. I watch all the time going into getting 500 bags of croutons they don't need or enough deodorant to last 500 years (it will be dry and no good by the time they get to it) and I think, "gee, why not get a job at McDonalds and make $10 an hour - it would be easier". My time is worth money to me. I figure how much I could be making at work per hour, and pretty much, all of my time is worth that much to me. If I am not making that much an hour selling on ebay, or clipping coupons, then it's just not worth it to me. I rather walk in a store, pay full price, and still have time to get to a real job and make $30 an hour.

The only things I bother clipping coupons and looking for deals on are diapers, formula, and laundry detergent. Only because they are expensive items, and it makes sense time wise for me to spend a few minutes looking for printable coupons or sales to cut the cost. Other than that, forget it - .10 off mayo even if it is double coupon day ain't worth my time. So, in looking for these coupons and deals, I do spend about 5-10 min a week checking a couple of the coupon forums -and geez have I seen some posts by some dumb people. One woman was so mad at her husband for buying the larger "lunchable" rather than the smaller one with a coupon and therefore actually spending $.50 rather than getting it for free, that she made him drive across town to exchange it because she was so mad that the bill didn't come out to $0. She was just obsessed with getting something for free, but try as I might, I could NOT get her to realize that he was probably spending $5 in gas to go across town to get his $.50 back. Nuts. Some people need a reality check on reality TV.

 

[DawnM]

I firmly agree that I would never spend the time on this that they do. I spend about 30 min. on the clipping per week and about an hour in the store tops.

However, the arguement that they should just work at McDonald's is a bit flawed. If they have children they would need childcare. Couponing allows them to stay home if they wish to do so. Also, working at McDonald's may be $10/hr but does have taxes, SS, and some other items deducted, so it isn't a true $10/hr. Saving $10/hr for their time is a true $10, not taxable.

I think what they do is ridiculous and I would never do it, but I would prefer saving $1,000/mo to working at McDonald's anyday.

Dawn

I have a lot of problems with the people on this show, and what they consider "saving", but my biggest issue is probably the time they spend on it. They spend all week preparing for a trip , and then up to 6 hours in the store, 2 hours at the check-out etc. Some spend time dumpster diving for coupon circulars, or driving around town (using gas) to steal papers off of driveways of foreclosed homes .Then big-whoop - they save $400. If they did the math , they are probably making less than $10 an hour. And that would be if it were all on items they will actually use or buy anyway. I watch all the time going into getting 500 bags of croutons they don't need or enough deodorant to last 500 years (it will be dry and no good by the time they get to it) and I think, "gee, why not get a job at McDonalds and make $10 an hour - it would be easier". My time is worth money to me. I figure how much I could be making at work per hour, and pretty much, all of my time is worth that much to me. If I am not making that much an hour selling on ebay, or clipping coupons, then it's just not worth it to me. I rather walk in a store, pay full price, and still have time to get to a real job and make $30 an hour.

The only things I bother clipping coupons and looking for deals on are diapers, formula, and laundry detergent. Only because they are expensive items, and it makes sense time wise for me to spend a few minutes looking for printable coupons or sales to cut the cost. Other than that, forget it - .10 off mayo even if it is double coupon day ain't worth my time. So, in looking for these coupons and deals, I do spend about 5-10 min a week checking a couple of the coupon forums -and geez have I seen some posts by some dumb people. One woman was so mad at her husband for buying the larger "lunchable" rather than the smaller one with a coupon and therefore actually spending $.50 rather than getting it for free, that she made him drive across town to exchange it because she was so mad that the bill didn't come out to $0. She was just obsessed with getting something for free, but try as I might, I could NOT get her to realize that he was probably spending $5 in gas to go across town to get his $.50 back. Nuts. Some people need a reality check on reality TV.

 

[mrodgers]

If you could go to McDonalds and make $10/hour, I'd guess there would be far less people slaving away in manufacturing facilities in the 115-120 heat and high humidity for $10/hour like where I work.....

 

[talulabelle]

If you could go to McDonalds and make $10/hour, I'd guess there would be far less people slaving away in manufacturing facilities in the 115-120 heat and high humidity for $10/hour like where I work.....

I used McDonalds as an example - I meant any low paying job...and pay is regional....McDonalds does pay up to $10 where I live. By that example, I just meant that I think their time would be wiser spent at a job and not clipping coupons. As far as people who need to stay home with their kids - I get that, but from what I have seen of people on the show - they either don't have kids, or are spending so much time on their coupon clipping that if they are spending any time with them it's at the kitchen table having them help clip the coupons.