You all know I'm a frugal one, right? Last night after work I was having my Sleepytime tea and channel surfing for something to watch until the tea kicked in. I settled on TLC's Extreme Couponing show and was intrigued. It is amazing how these shoppers can buy thousands of dollars of goods for hardly anything, or in some cases come out with a gift card for $57.00 because their coupons were more than their total. Totally fascinating! There were a few things that stuck out in my mind though:
* How many bottles of hot sauce does one household really need? One has lasted way beyond it's expiration date in this house!
* How many papers do I have to buy to get all those coupons?
* Are all the checkout people going to take a break when they see me coming?
* Where am I going to put all that stuff? My pantry and cupboards are already pretty full.
I know I could save more if I put a little more effort into couponing, but how much time will preparing for this take? Do any of you coupon to the max? Guess I could parlay those savings into fabric purchases. How about coupons for notions...that's something I could jump all over!
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8 comments:
I've watched this show a few times and had the same thought. Some of the "extreme couponers" have had to add pantries or other structures to their home. One shopper was storing things under her daughter's bed, in a walk-in closet -- I'd probably forget what was where. I do want to get better at using store coupons, but I seriously doubt I'd have the mental energy, time or resources to get to the "extreme" level. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has had hot sauce or salad dressing expire in their pantry. :-)
Cynthia
Extreme couponing is not going to be allowed soon. The stores are setting up their coupons so people cannot do that, and empty she shelves. I just saw that story on GMA this week.
I don't go for couponing, and I really question whether these extreme couponers are just buying stuff they'd never use simply because it's got a coupon. I buy by the case, make a lot from scratch, and am glad to feed anywhere between 6 and 11 people for under $250 per week (steak and roast beef included). Then I'd also have to ask how much time this practice takes up, and couldn't you earn more per hour doing anything else?
I think it's crazy. Especially because it seems so many of them are buying and storing things they don't really use. Many of these people spend 8 hours a day cutting coupons. and then hours on shopping day. it's crazy. g
In my early money strapped years of marriage I did some serious couponing, or so I thought. I decided to recently take it up again and find it is just not worth my time. It is very rare I find something I really like and need. We don't eat processed anything and I cook all from scratch. Add to that family preferences for toothpaste, toilet paper and such and it just doesn't work for us this time around.
Well, if you are truly frugal, you don't have to buy any newspapers at all. See, you get up really early on the trash recycling day and you go up and down the streets digging through your neighbors recycle bins for those pages in their discarded coupon pages.
And thus, not only allowing you to save more, but getting a little exercise at the same time.
I used to coupon more when the kids were home. New items just out had a coupon to take the sting off. All of their lunchbox items were usually with a coupon too. Now that they are gone, it's just the two of us. With my major food allergies - nothing I can eat has a coupon for it.
What I still do though is watch my three store ads. When Safeway had $10 off of a $50 purchase (coupon), they usually ran that with a meat sale. As long as you only buy up to $50, then you are saving. My Thriftway has TP on sale about once a month. Bimart has certain dry goods on sale also. Most stores do a rotation sale ad. My goal now is to stock up on the basics when the price is as low as I can find.
You aren't saving if you are putting it in the bedroom. - or the garage.
Back when my older children were young, and I was a single parent I could really coupon, hit sales, use doubling, etc, but I still didn't get the results they show on the TV show. I have realized that my family enjoys certain brands, and items that just aren't always on sale or covered with a coupon, and I no longer want to go to multiple stores for the best price. Some couponing is doable for me, but not to this extreme. I too wondered about expiration dates on all those goods!
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