"Extreme Couponing" TLCs new show.

[carmely]

So some of the ladies on my facebook have been talking about this show. They admire this show, wishing they could do the same. I am around 10 minutes into this first episode and I'm absolutely disgusted. This is a sheer display of greed and materialism. Is it necessary for a person to have 150 rolls of toilet paper and 70 bottles of mustard? And they talk about how they have sacrificed all this space to put their hoarded items but what I can't understand is how you can have this much in your home and not feel the need to give excess away?

How can people condone this type of behaviour?

[Believer1997]

I have two friends who have done 'extreme couponing' for years. They've showed others how to use the coupons to the family advantage as well. Now that they are 'empty nesters' they still use their couponing techniques for.... 2 local food pantries. The large amounts of condiments, tuna, peanut butter, bread, etc. they collect go to feed over 50 families. Many coupon fanatics share their finds with others. There is something else that may disgust you more just the flip of a channel....

[Guest LadyC]

i'm also amazed that anyone would be disgusted by couponing. let's see, if i could stock up on 150 rolls of toilet paper and pay almost nothing for them, i'd do it in a heartbeat. that many rolls in my house would last about 4 months. it's going to be used, it's not going to just take up space forever. if it's things you use, or things you want to give to someone else who uses them, what's the problem and why is that anyone else's concern for judgment?

i have a friend who i used to work with at the food bank. his wife is a shop-a-holic, and does extreme couponing. that woman can go into CVS pharmacy and come out with four bags of stuff. she usually pays no more than a few bucks for all of it, and one time she told me that she'd actually gotten money BACK, having paid nothing. she came to by the food bank and donated most of it.

as long as the items are not going to waste, meaning they're going to be used either by the person buying them or by other people that the buyer gives them too, we should be admiring their good stewardship with what God has given them.

[Fez]

What on earth is extreme couponing? And how can I get my hands on a ton of sugar with it? (there can never be enough sugar...)

[Guest LadyC]

it's basically an art-form, in my opinion, of how to get the best deals possible. you just work the system. key word there is WORK. and that's why i'm not suited to this type of thing. but i bet if you wanted to learn, the new tv show will give you some good tips!

the most work i'll do to save money like this is to compare all my weekly sale ads from all the grocery stores and mexican markets, make my shopping list accordingly, then take the whole list to walmart neighborhood market where they'll match anyone else's advertised price. that takes all the effort i can muster.

[Fez]

it's basically an art-form, in my opinion, of how to get the best deals possible. you just work the system. key word there is WORK. and that's why i'm not suited to this type of thing. but i bet if you wanted to learn, the new tv show will give you some good tips!

the most work i'll do to save money like this is to compare all my weekly sale ads from all the grocery stores and mexican markets, make my shopping list accordingly, then take the whole list to walmart neighborhood market where they'll match anyone else's advertised price. that takes all the effort i can muster.

Sorry LadyC, perhaps I am not understanding because we don't have the TV program here, and coupons are not a big deal in our supermarkets. The occasional coupon, (so much off a bar of soap, two per customer is about as good as it gets), so I don't get the excitement or the concept.

[Believer1997]

Honestly, I wonder what is the secret. When do they go to the store, and where to they find these coupons at. I need some help with this.

Organization is key. Getting friends and neigbors to give you Sunday paper coupons that most people toss, are a huge help in getting started. Organize the coupons according to type (vegetables, dairy, pasta, etc) and now that most store 'circulars' are online - it is easy to find what's on sale and start matchng coupons to things that are onsale ... that is the basis - My husband is the coupon king and we save about $50 a month on things that we use frequently and things that are non-perishable... toilet tissue, etc. The real hard-core couponers get into coupon clubs with others and do something called 'groupon' - Also, they do a lot of rebating - if you read some of the products you buy - there may be offers for $2 off if you send them a number of UPC codes and fill in the application - I was never that devoted. When I see good sales, I do buy extra and the food bank benefits often from our special finds - soups, pasta, cereal, etc. I am not an expert or as dedicated as many are to the art of saving money and feeding your family and others as well....

[MorningGlory]

I love this show and watch it every time it comes on. As for greed, no, I don't think so. If you pay attention to the circumstances surrounding these people, most have lost their jobs and are on a VERY strict budget. The one man who was on the show almost completely feeds his family this way and donates the extra to his church food bank (over 2,000 boxes of cereal was donated on the show) and one of the women dug her way out of $10,000 in credit card debt by couponing instead of spending her money. For Fez; many grocery stores in the U.S. will double or triple coupon values, all stores issue their own, all newspapers carry inserts of coupons and there are people who are so good at this that they pay almost nothing for food and household products. One woman ran up a bill of around $1,900 and, after coupons were taken off, paid about $50. I wish I had the time to do this but, I'm single, it isn't a necessity for me.

[Guest LadyC]

and some stores, like CVS, have other incentives... when you buy certain products, they give you "cvs bucks", which act as coupons towards anything in the store. like, for instance, one day i went and they had sodas on sale. i paid like $3 per 12-pack, and got an additional $2 in 'cvs bucks' (or whatever they call them.) i could use those cvs bucks the next time i was in there... i'd bought 4 12-packs, so that's $8 on my next purchase of anything. now me, i don't shop there often enough to really reap the rewards of that, but the woman i mentioned earlier, she shops there so often that she's might get $50 of free "bucks" to use on her next visit. and if she buys what happens to be on sale, use a coupon, AND buy merchandise which gets more free bucks, then it's a perpetual cycle, and the store is essentially paying her to shop there. she earns her free 'bucks' even if she paid for it using other free 'bucks'.

for people who have the time and dedication to do it, it's awesome! i wish i had that much initiative, but like i said, i just don't want to spend that much time. her husband has told me that it takes her twice as long to prepare for a shopping trip than it does to actually shop. and since she's a frequent shopper where i work, i KNOW how much time she spends shopping on her outings! i can't imagine spending twice that long getting ready for it!

[carmely]

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? - Matthew 6:24-26

To further expound on my disgust for this display of greed. Because that's what it is, greed. I don't condone a deal- but when you are proud of the fact that you are storing away 70 bottles of mustard, rolls of toilet paper and ridiculousness such as this, it makes me sick. A woman complained that she had to sacrifice her space to her groceries-- what about the empty cupboards of the poverty stricken? What about the children out there who could use diapers, the ones that this woman so proudly claimed she had to give her bedroom away to? 10.00 for bathroom tissue that could have been spent on MORE groceries for children and the homeless? I guess, since I've been at that point where watching my parents face the shame of having to beg from neighbours' for food-- I find these displays despicable.

Edited April 23, 2011 by carmely