OK - so who is watching Extreme Couponing?

[clh2]

I swear these people will be on the next year's Hoarder's shows.

What in the name of grocery shopping does 1 family need with over 50 bottles of mustard? Cuz - you just have to think that there are already more bottles of mustard at home.

 

[Cinderella94]

I was just thinking of starting a thread on this!

You can tell they love the whole organization aspect of it...why not get a job where they can do that and be productive?

 

[almburr]

what about the lady who had to look wealthy when she shopped?!

 

[sunnyday123]

The one with her own can-rolling shelves that held 700 cans and had 1400 rolls of toilet paper stuffed under her sons bed. What the heck??


Did anyone notice they didn't buy a single fresh fruit or vegtable? Yay, 7 boxes of Texas Toast, but how about an apple or two??

 

[Lil Bo Peep]

That was just a crazy show, here in Canada we don't get near as much coupons as Americans do. I do have to add I was excited this past week when the grocery store I work at had yogurt for .99 and I had a .75 cent coupon lol

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I didn't see it - have to catch a rerun. But I am interested...I mean who wouldn't be when the ads have one-liners like "I don't want to pay anything." I used to clip coupons, but I found they just made me buy things I normally wouldn't (and isn't that the point?), and I refuse to pay a fee to join coupon sites.

 

[dislaney]

I only saw part of it, but just couldn't help but think heaven help the poor person who gets in line behind one of them!

 

[almburr]

They are organized hoarders! I like to save money when I shop, but I do not need 300 toothbrushes and 1500 sticks of deo.

What about the food items? will they use them before they expire?

 

[cruiserkaren]

I was overwhelmed just watching the show. It's impressive but wow.

 

[rchristiansen]

I used to clip coupons, but I found they just made me buy things I normally wouldn't (and isn't that the point?),

Me too! Now, I'll use a coupon here and there if I find it. Before, though, I would clip coupons and do my shopping around the coupons I had. But, I ended up buying a lot of junk food and over-processed meals. I also found myself throwing out a lot of stuff.

A couple months ago there was a woman in line in front of me that had her cart filled with gallons of chocolate milk, pre-sliced pizzas (side note: frozen pizzas are processed enough, do you really need them pre-sliced?), sugary cereals and other items like that. She was very proud of her coupon purchases and kept telling me about how she saved so much money with her coupons and pestering me about how I should really get into it.

I think people like to feel like they saved money. I heard a saying once that you can go broke "saving" money - shopping at too many sales, etc. I think these uber-coupon people will end up drowning "saving" money.

 

[Guy Incognito]

They are organized hoarders! I like to save money when I shop, but I do not need 300 toothbrushes and 1500 sticks of deo.

What about the food items? will they use them before they expire?

so do they just get 10,000 of certain items and never have to buy them again, or do they keep going back week after week buying whatever is on sale/they have coupons for regardless of whether they 'need' it?


as for food, here's my theories:

1. they basically got 1000 jars of mayo for free, so if they only use 20 of them and waste 980, no big deal since they were 'free'.

and/or

2. most coupons for food items are for processed garbage laden with preservatives, so the true 'expiration' date is actually around the year 4598; so there's no danger in it going bad.

 

[allison443]

I know whenever there are coupon threads here, people say they get coupons for produce, meat, and healthy items, but when you watch these shows the extreme couponers do seem to purchase mainly overprocessed food.

 

[MELSMICE]

I watched part of it. There is no way those people could use all the merchandise they had.

I'm all for saving a $. I do go through the ads each week & match coupons to sales so I get some good bargains, but why does someone need 60 bottles of soap? 40 boxes of pasta & sauce?

There was only one guy I saw that was donating all the cereal he had to the food pantry. Did anyone else donate anything? I'm all for their obsession if they're going to donate the food to someone else in need, but to put it on a shelf & let it go to waste is ridiculous.

 

[rchristiansen]

I know whenever there are coupon threads here, people say they get coupons for produce, meat, and healthy items, but when you watch these shows the extreme couponers do seem to purchase mainly overprocessed food.

Oooh! I hope those people join this thread because I'd like to know how to get those types of coupons.

I did see a segment on the Nate Burkus show that had some crazy coupon ladies on and they said they get coupons for some items for. more than the purchase price. Then, they use the difference to buy fresh items. But even with that logic, you still need to buy the junk first. Also, those crazy coupon ladies weren't buying the organic produce, they were buying the cheap potatoes.

So I'll all ears if you can tell me how to get a coupon for fresh healthy stuff

 

[PebblesMK]

I ran into a lady at Target who was buying like 12 large things of Tide laundry detergent, probably 20 or so deodorants and quite a few toothpastes. She ended up spending about 7 dollars. I asked if she has a storage unit in her home to store a lot of the stuff. She told me that when she coupons, she will keep a few things, but the rest she donates. The extra food goes to food banks, and toiletries go to a group that makes packages to send to our troops overseas. I truly hope that these extreme couponers help others as well.

 

[m&m's mom]

I did not watch it tonight but I watched the original Extreme Couponing.
I am sure my opinion will not be well received but... I don't think it is right/moral to take advantage this way.
We all know this is not the manner the coupons are intended to be used and the store and the manufacturer are being taken advantage of. Just because you can does not mean you should.

 

[allison443]

I ran into a lady at Target who was buying like 12 large things of Tide laundry detergent, probably 20 or so deodorants and quite a few toothpastes. She ended up spending about 7 dollars. I asked if she has a storage unit in her home to store a lot of the stuff. She told me that when she coupons, she will keep a few things, but the rest she donates. The extra food goes to food banks, and toiletries go to a group that makes packages to send to our troops overseas. I truly hope that these extreme couponers help others as well.

I think some do...but it seems some sell their "stockpile" of deodorants, toothpastes, etc. at yard sales.

 

[S. C.]

Would be great if they donated what they can't use to feed the hungry.

 

[charming23]

I am all for saving money but this is crazy. Who needs all that food or health and beauty items. My favorite was the lady who bought over 30 bottles of maalox, my mom and I both commented at the same time that of course she needed al of them because you would need to take them daily to combat all the junk they eat.

I do coupon but not extremely. The last time I used more than 1 coupon was a few weeks ago when our local grocery store had my favorite laundry detergent on sale for $3.99. I ended up with three $3 off coupons thanks to family, so I got each of them for $.99. I only did that because it is one of only two detergents that do not bother my alleriges and are usually $5.49 a piece. I had the room to store them, cupboard in laundry room, and they will last me three - four months.

 

[PebblesMK]

We have a grocery store that will double coupons, but only up to 5 coupons, and you need to spend 25 dollars minimum and THEN anything after that can be used with the coupons.

Somebody mentioned that it's not moral to coupon like these people are doing. I completely agree. Wouldn't this extreme couponing eventually bump up the price of everything? If companies are virtually PAYING people, costs must rise in the long run?