Extreme Couponing

bloominautumn · April 2011

I caught an episode on TLC after reading this post on Apartment Therapy:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/weighing-in-on-extreme-couponing-144237

.. and I immediately set it up to automatically record on my DVR. I am hooked! A part of me is jealous because they get to bring home $1500 worth of groceries for 5 bucks, but then I realize that they're crazy because who really needs that much Top Ramen and Apple Jacks?

Does anyone else watch this show?

hersheykiss · April 2011

My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.

sm23 · April 2011

I caught an episode of this show a couple of weeks ago and couldn't tear myself away... I think saving money is great but these people take it to a whole new level that seems unhealthy to me.

The whole concept kind of takes bulk shopping to the extreme, and really kind of emphasizes people's addiction to accumulating stuff. It's a type of emotional security blanket for some people, I guess. My other issue with shopping that way is that it looked to me like a lot of the food is processed/unhealthy. It's hard to stock up on things like produce and milk...

mrswall84 · April 2011

I'm all about saving money but does anyone really need that much stuff? Looking from the outside, I see it as a form of hoarding. I also look at the things that they are buying and most of the food is extremely unhealthy. Can't they clip a few coupons for fruits or veggies? There's lots of coupons out there for frozen fruits and veggies which are just as healthy as fresh. I've also heard that there is some fraud involved. If the store knows that they are going to film the show there, the store will make exceptions and break some of their coupon rules.

bloominautumn · April 2011

I totally agree about a lot of their "stockpiles" being full of processed foods. I was looking at the circulars this weekend and the coupons I saw were for fudge covered oreos, potato chips and other unhealthy junk. It does make me sad that the children in these families rarely ever eat fresh produce. It seems like all their vegetables come in a can. Gross.

Also, these families probably don't have a lot of variety in their meals. If the parent just got 80 cups of yogurt and they need to eat it all before it goes bad, the family of 4 has to eat yogurt twice a day for the next three weeks. I wonder how much of their stockpile end up being tossed because they couldn't consume it all before it expired.

bloominautumn · April 2011

hersheykiss:
My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.

All that space! And the electricity! They must spend all their savings on running the two refrigerators and two freezers just to store their stuff.

I also saw that there was a woman who bought hundreds of bags of cat treats because she had a coupon to get three for a dollar. She doesn't own a cat.

StefandTodd · April 2011

I've never seen the show, but think based on what I'm reading here and have heard from others, it's a shame they're all basically hoarders and not capable emotionally of doing it as volunteer work for their local food banks and shelters instead of for themselves.

pink.dutch.tulips · April 2011

bloominautumn:

hersheykiss:
My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.

All that space! And the electricity! They must spend all their savings on running the two refrigerators and two freezers just to store their stuff.

I also saw that there was a woman who bought hundreds of bags of cat treats because she had a coupon to get three for a dollar. She doesn't own a cat.

not neccessiarily (sp?) .. most coupons are for non perishable processed food. you can store 99% of it in your garage.

i don't get extreme couponers and in some parts of the country, umm bay area, few stores douple and/or triple coupons and while they'll let you stack a store coupon w/ a manufacturer's coupon, there is no way in hell they'll also let you use a competitor store's coupon too !

bloominautumn · April 2011

pink.dutch.tulips:
bloominautumn:

hersheykiss:
My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.

All that space! And the electricity! They must spend all their savings on running the two refrigerators and two freezers just to store their stuff.

I also saw that there was a woman who bought hundreds of bags of cat treats because she had a coupon to get three for a dollar. She doesn't own a cat.

not neccessiarily (sp?) .. most coupons are for non perishable processed food. you can store 99% of it in your garage.

i don't get extreme couponers and in some parts of the country, umm bay area, few stores douple and/or triple coupons and while they'll let you stack a store coupon w/ a manufacturer's coupon, there is no way in hell they'll also let you use a competitor store's coupon too !

This is probably why I'd never heard of these practices (coupon stacking? what?!) until I saw this show.

RoxysMama · April 2011

I agree that buying a bunch of crap you don't need just to save money or for kids you don't have is totally nuts. But I have a friend that is an extreme couponer and she buys that much stuff and donates it all to food banks and shelters. Maybe these people should consider that if they don't already do it.

sm23 · April 2011

RoxysMama:
I agree that buying a bunch of crap you don't need just to save money or for kids you don't have is totally nuts. But I have a friend that is an extreme couponer and she buys that much stuff and donates it all to food banks and shelters. Maybe these people should consider that if they don't already do it.

Now THAT'S something I can get behind.

Mrs.BoomBoom · April 2011

We watched a few episodes. I have really mixed emotions about it. On one hand, it's totally cool and I'm really jealous because we don't have double/triple coupons around here like they do (I used to do much better when we had double coupons and they'd take expired coupons. Now they expire so darn fast that I can't seem to link them to the store deals.) On the other hand, I was really weirded out by the food hording crazies (and the stories of insecurity and lack of control that lead them to start hording food)

Mrs.BoomBoom · April 2011

hersheykiss:
My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.

I saw a lot of "oh, I'd love to do that and donate it to charity!"

Passanie · April 2011

Mrs.BoomBoom:
hersheykiss:
My coworker and I were just talking about this show last week. She mentioned there are women buying boxes and boxes of diapers and they don't have kids. That to me is excessive to buy diapers for the future babies they don't have. Just think of all the storage the people on the show must need for all the stuff.
I saw a lot of "oh, I'd love to do that and donate it to charity!"

They're still better off donating cash to food banks. What is it, every buck they can essentially turn into seven?

Anyway, I'm a couponer, and frankly, I hardly get the chance to use them. 80% of the time the generic or Target brand is cheaper. That and I don't have a family of six to feed so I don't need 10 yogurts that will spoil before I can eat them.

mrs.moosie · April 2011

sm23:

RoxysMama:
I agree that buying a bunch of crap you don't need just to save money or for kids you don't have is totally nuts. But I have a friend that is an extreme couponer and she buys that much stuff and donates it all to food banks and shelters. Maybe these people should consider that if they don't already do it.

Now THAT'S something I can get behind.

I agree! That's great!

Extreme Couponing

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