Extreme Couponing

[DeaverTex]

Dumpster diving for coupons?

Stick 'em up! Gimme all your coupons!

Need coupons. Anything helps. (on a piece of cardboard)

I've wondered where they get all the coupons myself. I know you can print off coupons from the internet, but at least half of those are just marginally legal phishing schemes to get your data for "targeted sales opportunities". Also known as spam.

And yeah, it's hoarding wearing a bow tie.

 

[rwdavis2]

i have a friend who is like these (crazies!) on the show - she does the "coupon" thing (as well as just plain hoarding), but hoards it ALL - it's quite disgusting, all over her house, basement, garage - when i suggest she's got a "problem" and possibly she's a "hoarder" she gets all defensive and nasty - "i'm a pack rat!" is her answer - uh, same thing: pack rat = hoarder (just a "cutesy" name for it)

it's like a disease, an obsession for her - her son moved out due to the mess, and her daughter is also packing to get out of her house - all due to the crap she's been hoarding/couponing/whatever

should mention, my friend's mother did the same thing - and when her mother died (in 1976) i was there with my friend, cleaning out that "hoard" - history is now repeating itself...

After watching "Hoarders" it's seems that hoarding can be some type hereditary mental illness. Genetic or behavioral. But yes, your friend is mentally ill. After watching the show I've concluded that there are some people that can be helped with intensive therapy and maybe medication. Others are just plain bat-***t crazy and need to be institutionalized for their own (and sometimes their children's) safety.

I've got a friend who's wife is on that road and he just says, "it is what it is". I feel bad for them.

 

[ols386]

These folks must have a lot more time on their hands than I do.

It seems like it would almost be a full-time job, in order to do this.

 

[Nayan]

These folks must have a lot more time on their hands than I do.

It seems like it would almost be a full-time job, in order to do this.

There's a number of them who said that they coupon as their job, doing it for hours a day.

 

[bethbuchall]

I think I had a .75 off coupon and Frank's (a decent size bottle, by the way) was on sale for 2.15. It was triple week, so they paid me a dime to take it. I only have one day left of super doubles, it ends today, and I haven't had time to go!! Teeter is doubling up to $2.00 and I need some Alleve!

This explains a lot to me. I was always wondering how people do it.

We do not have a store anywhere around here that ever triples coupons. No stores even double anything at $1.00 or more.

Also, almost every coupon in our paper is $1.00 off 2 or 3 or more. Therefore, it doesn't even double, and you must buy multiples to even get that $1. For instance $1.00 off three boxes of cereal. That means $1.00 off of ~$9.

I'm not saying coupons don't help, but I never could figure out how people were getting so many free things. I'd be lucky to get $1.50 off that Frank's hot sauce (if I had a $.75 coupon that doubled), but most likely, I'd get $1.00 off two bottles.

ETA: And most stores will not accept any coupons printed from the internet.

 

[ols386]

There's a number of them who said that they coupon as their job, doing it for hours a day.

I could believe that.

 

[joviroxx]

That show is a bunch of hoarders and not really educated couponers. If you know what you are doing and are educated in the process and willing to put in the work, you can do very well, save loads of money WITHOUT hoarding.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

This explains a lot to me. I was always wondering how people do it.

We do not have a store anywhere around here that ever triples coupons. No stores even double anything at $1.00 or more.

Also, almost every coupon in our paper is $1.00 off 2 or 3 or more. Therefore, it doesn't even double, and you must buy multiples to even get that $1. For instance $1.00 off three boxes of cereal. That means $1.00 off of ~$9.

I'm not saying coupons don't help, but I never could figure out how people were getting so many free things. I'd be lucky to get $1.50 off that Frank's hot sauce (if I had a $.75 coupon that doubled), but most likely, I'd get $1.00 off two bottles.

ETA: And most stores will not accept any coupons printed from the internet.

WOW! The Teeter doubles to .99 all the time, but they are normally more expensive than other stores. About once a quarter they do triples and about once a quarter they do super doubles up to 1.98. This week was a big deal because they are super doubling up to $2, so that $2 off any Revlon face care item with some decent mascara on sale for $3.99 = freebie for me! That's why I might get that bottle of Frank's even if I have half a bottle in the fridge. I like Teeter, I enjoy good beef and seafood and they do a great job with that. So since they are more expensive I really try and take advantage of the coupons.

That show is a bunch of hoarders and not really educated couponers. If you know what you are doing and are educated in the process and willing to put in the work, you can do very well, save loads of money WITHOUT hoarding.

THIS!

 

[jrmasm]

Yup, organized hoarders and re-sellers mostly. Around here, there are a lot of yard sales selling food, paper products and toiletries purchased with coupons. You also see people at the flea markets selling it and ads on craigslist. People will clear the shelves and then sell their loot for cash at a big discount to their neighbors, at yard sales, etc.

People on the budget board do that....

 

[Coconut36]

Dumpster diving for coupons?

Stick 'em up! Gimme all your coupons!

Need coupons. Anything helps. (on a piece of cardboard)

I've wondered where they get all the coupons myself. I know you can print off coupons from the internet, but at least half of those are just marginally legal phishing schemes to get your data for "targeted sales opportunities". Also known as spam.

And yeah, it's hoarding wearing a bow tie.

People go nuts over coupons. My DH and I deliver newspapers for extra money (bridges our income gap when I became a SAHM) and the number of Sunday papers that disappear is not pretty. We of course get penalized (and not paid) for those missing papers when in fact we know for certain it was delivered. People who get 2 or more papers on Sunday (obviously couponers because there is no other reason for that many) have the highest "theft" rate..either because people think "they will not miss it if I take one" or because they are scamming for another paper for more coupons.

 

[MrsPete]

I agree. I think some of them are just organized hoarders. It doesn't have to be a mess to be hoarding. Having 300 bottles of ketchup you will never be able to consume is hoarding.

The ones that really annoy and irritate me are the shelf clearers..they think nothing of buying every single item and dumping bins and clearing end caps..so then your average consumer gets absolutely nothing because of their selfish crazy behavior.

My 18-year old daughter has been "into" this show lately, and we used that same phrase -- organized hoarders -- yesterday.

It's downright foolish and wasteful to have 300 bottles of ketchup. Or cake mixes, or Hamburger Helper, or salsa. Stuff like that does have a shelf life. Not too long ago I cooked a box of mac-and-cheese that had gone past its date, and it was quite nasty; the powdered cheese wouldn't "melt" and no one would eat it. It prompted me to clean out my pantry.

I saw a show once, but I can't remember the name -- think I saw it twice. It was about cleaning out hoards, and several of the episodes were about cleaning out food hoards. I remember one woman who was so proud of her hoard: She had food in every crevice of her kitchen and then stuffed into a big room in her basement. Several big freezers with unlabeled, freezer-burned food. Of course she showed it all off so proudly, touting her couponing and shopping skills. The show people helped her bring it all out to the table area, and they sorted through it, returning to the shelves only what was still good. She was just about in tears when she saw that MOST of her hoard was expired and had to be thrown away. Fortunately she was reasonable enough NOT to want to feed her family old food, but she was clearly heartbroken to realize that what she thought had been saving money was now wastefully going straight to the dumpster. The show people had her start to write dates on her items for the future, and I had the impression that she'd not return to her old ways.

 

[MrsPete]

In regards to the show, a lot of it is set up. Lowe's Foods here in NC admitted publicly that it broke it's own rules while being featured on the show to make it look more extreme.

Yeah, I suspected that. I mean, the people say they spend two hours at the register . . . show me a store that's going to be happy about tying up one cashier for the exclusive use of one line for the exclusive use of one customer who's going to pay pennies.

Often I buy groceries for my elderly grandmother. When I get to the register and say, "I need to do this in two transactions -- this first set is for my grandmother's groceries", often as not, the cashiers roll their eyes. Ditto for the customer behind me. I can't imagine what they'd say if I proclaimed I'm going to complete 20 transactions.

 

[rwdavis2]

My 18-year old daughter has been "into" this show lately, and we used that same phrase -- organized hoarders -- yesterday.

It's downright foolish and wasteful to have 300 bottles of ketchup. Or cake mixes, or Hamburger Helper, or salsa. Stuff like that does have a shelf life. Not too long ago I cooked a box of mac-and-cheese that had gone past its date, and it was quite nasty; the powdered cheese wouldn't "melt" and no one would eat it. It prompted me to clean out my pantry.

I saw a show once, but I can't remember the name -- think I saw it twice. It was about cleaning out hoards, and several of the episodes were about cleaning out food hoards. I remember one woman who was so proud of her hoard: She had food in every crevice of her kitchen and then stuffed into a big room in her basement. Several big freezers with unlabeled, freezer-burned food. Of course she showed it all off so proudly, touting her couponing and shopping skills. The show people helped her bring it all out to the table area, and they sorted through it, returning to the shelves only what was still good. She was just about in tears when she saw that MOST of her hoard was expired and had to be thrown away. Fortunately she was reasonable enough NOT to want to feed her family old food, but she was clearly heartbroken to realize that what she thought had been saving money was now wastefully going straight to the dumpster. The show people had her start to write dates on her items for the future, and I had the impression that she'd not return to her old ways.

The freezer things sounds like my inlaws. When we cleaned out their house the chest freezer had stuff on the bottom what had been there more than 5-10 years.

 

[MrsPete]

i have a friend who is like these (crazies!) on the show - she does the "coupon" thing (as well as just plain hoarding), but hoards it ALL - it's quite disgusting, all over her house, basement, garage - when i suggest she's got a "problem" and possibly she's a "hoarder" she gets all defensive and nasty - "i'm a pack rat!" is her answer - uh, same thing: pack rat = hoarder (just a "cutesy" name for it)

I've known other people who've used "cutesy" names to excuse away bad behavior. I'm thinking of a friend of my daughter's who clearly has some rather severe mental issues; when they were in early elementary school, her mom used to say, "Oh, ___ is such a wild child. Such a free spirit." All the rest of us were thinking, "No, she's a spoiled brat who needs some discipline." Now that she's older, we all realize that there's more going on than lack of discipline, but her mom was always very quick to explain it away in positive terms.

And I'm thinking of another friend who had a big problem with overspending. She'd buy expensive clothes she couldn't afford, always drove a new car that she couldn't afford, kept rolling her car payments "forward" into yet another new car 'til it reached the point she couldn't borrow anymore. Anyway, she described herself as "particular". She'd say that other people can buy any old piece of clothing from Target, but she just can't be happy with that -- she's "particular" about having the newest and the best. And she'd laugh as if she'd just said she doesn't like chocolate, as if it were just a quirk. Her spending was one of the big things that led to her two divorces.