Your Thoughts on "Extreme Couponing" TV Show?

I saw the show 1 time. I was shocked at the amount of money this woman saved. She gave herself a budget of $100. Her items came up 2 about $2100. With all the coupons she had, her total was $103. I was shocked. I have to agree with you though. Who really needs 30 jars of mustard?! Lol. A lot of the items that are on sale, I don't eat, and I'm not going to buy, simply because it is on sale. The show is enlightening for people with big families. Its definately entertaining.

If they were using it to donate to food banks, shelters, etc., that would be one thing, but this is just silly.

I think the women on there have a problem and need professional help. 'nuff said!

I find it amazing, and I use coupons some, but I think these people have issues like you said. I understand stocking up things like toilet paper, etc., but the show would be better if more of these people would donate this stuff to a food bank or to the homeless. Also, do they not buy meat or produce? Diapers? There are some things that you HAVE to pay for!

I agree with you.
They make it seem easy and practical but that is not the way normal people shop.

I like to use coupons sometimes, but I'm not going to steal them or get them in a way that is not proper. I am also NOT going to spend all my time clipping / printing coupons. I would rather chase my kids around and play, play, play with them. = )

In our house we have a saying " FAMILY FIRST ".......

There is one guy who was buying in bulk to make care packages for the troops. Now that is a wise way to spend your time. But the people who buy 200 bottle of mouthwash just to stock pile in their basement - rediculous. At least give it to the poor.

I think it's just a strange hobby - that really gets you nothing but 15 minutes of fame.

I watched two shows because I'm a bargain hunter and all my kids called to let me know the shows were coming on. I recorded some of them on Tivo.

What I noticed is that these people have a hobby gone amuck. Its like the shot glass collector that has 3000 shot classes from all over and one wall of his home is just shot glasses, or the doll collector, or the hunter, or anything else collector that gets out of hand. I'm a dollar bill collector and keep them in my bank account ;-))

I also noticed that if I got a part time job and used the money from the part time job to buy groceries, I could do just as good or maybe even better than the coupon collectors. AND I wouldn't have 4000 tubes of toothpaste stacked against a wall or the batchellor that has 140 boxes of maxipads in his closet.

At least it appears to be a harmless hobby. Its not like the old lady that had 68 cats in her house. Good luck to you and yours.

Just a few thoughts:

I have had several family members who have gone through spurts of extreme couponing. It is time-consuming- 6+ hours a week of grocery shopping plus all the clipping and organization time- so they usually stop after they have built up a decent sized supply of food storage.

For some couponers, couponing is their "job", the way they help with the household finances.

My mom will donate items to the food bank if she gets more than she can use.

Sometimes I feel jealous of those who have made couponing work for them, but I just can't devote that much time to it without hurting other areas of my life :)

From what I have seen, most of the people that do the extreme couponing donate all the extra food to charities and food banks. I'm all for that. It may not be the best food out there but sometimes it is more than what some people have.

It is all junk. Why else would they have to discount it to sell it? I have a friend who coupons (10 kids) and she admits their diet is not good...but her husband loves the fact that she coupons. Some people say don't buy food just your other household items but I've found my online shopping for consumables is cheaper than Walmart and any coupon that anyone puts out. It's simply a marketing technique. If you eat junk you can save some money. If you want to live healthy, you'll rarely find coupons for it!

My two cents!

M.

I pretty much am the feeling the same way you are. I loath the fact that 90% of what they buy will go bad before they get around to using it. I watched only one episode and could only handle the one. I watched the one with the student pastor or something use his to buy items for the needy. Now that I can get into. Not it just sitting in a basement going bad.
I think that it is a great way to get "food" (overly processed meat by products!) but it severely cuts down on the quality of life. So obsessed that you get freaked out for paying $2 for $300 worth of food, is nothing to get mad about IMO. Or teach decent etiquette to your children when in the general public.

I caught a few minutes the other night. They were buying Nightimie Pm pain reliever and making .50c per box, so they bought150 and made $50. I've never seen a coupon that allowed you to walk away with money. There's usually a limit per household, per coupon, and per visit. AND coupons usually say - no cash value - or something to that effect. I wish someone would pay me to take something out of the store! If that was real, that's amazing. But seems off to me.

I feel the same way you do mostly!

I, too, have noticed that most of the food is processed and/or filled with sugar.

I suppose you could re-sell all that stuff??

They think they are saving SO much money, but they are just wasting it on unneeded items. I saw a lady on a different show (also about couponing, it was an online show) and a lady bought 60 packs of diapers and had no baby. They could spend the same amount at the register, for things they will actually use. I use coupons for things like milk, that I need.

People Please, if you personally know someone who coupons consistently to this extreme, would you please speak up. Its Exaggerated for television. If you want to get all indignent, how about those shows like Sweet Sixteen when Parents throw a party for their teen that costs more than my wedding, or how about that show Cribs that shows off millionares houses, who need 34 bathrooms with tennis courts in them. These things don't represent the majority of the population.

If you are curious about couponing, check out some blogs and learn more about your stores policies and research how to legitamately use coupons. There are coupons for organic items, and there are many many non food items that assume most people spend money on monthly. If you tuned in to try to learn how to save money, then take what you can from the show that fits your lifestyle and move on.

Do i think it is quality television? no but there is a heck of alot of other garbage out there too.

I have seen one episode. And the guy admitted he has 1500 tubes of toothpaste--or was it 15,000? And then he made a special trip to get things for our troups overseas. That is great but why does he need that much. yes i can see stocking up on certain items just in case a job loss or something. My grocery bill is mainly veggies and fruits. Where do they get theirs? One woman stocks up on diapers--with no kids in the immediate future. How does she know she will be able to use them? What if her kid is allergic? I would love to stock up on Chef Boyardi since I think it is better than chips for when the kids get home from school but 50 cans? 60 bottles of mustard? I cut coupons and look for specials but I don;t see the point i nbuying something that will probably sit on a shlef for quite some time--and then buying more. Actually, most of the stuff they bought would be donated to a shelter or something if I could spend $5 for $1000 of food.

I think this type of couponing is too time consuming, not to mention it takes up a ton of living space to store all the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love a good deal especially for stuff that I know I will use. However, there is no room in my house to store 60 bottles of mustard or 100 packages of Maalox. I also have better things to do with my time like spend it with family.

My thought was that if they are getting $1000 worth of groceries for $20, then it will probably cause the prices to go up for the rest of us.

I have watched it a few times I also questioned it they have many coupons for the same items how are they getting them because when I go to print off online coupons there is a limit them it will let you know that your print limit is reached,news paper inserts why would you pay .50 a paper to get as many as you can with coupons,then theres the FREE couons how can they obtain so many of them.They must have several people helping them collect coupons.I really don't spend hours & hours doing so I clip coupons & have scored many deals & free items & i'll keep doing it it saves me money.There are limits on some sale items not all if your store has a limit thats it but these have no limit on the items they are buying.
All things have a shelf life & having more than 10 items of the same thing is a waste to me let me see 1 deodrant can last me a month,toothpaste 2-3 months,shampoo 2 months,mouth wash 1 month in the mean time i'll buy it when it is on sale plus a coupon to = free I do stock pile things but I also have to toss some products that I had when my 7 yr old was a baby because I didn't use it.I guess if I had all those coupons that were free items I would stock pile them I have room in the basement for all that.I would like to know how they get all them coupons.I have signed my email & home address to most websites that I buy products from but still it doesn't equal out to the amount of coupons they have on the TV show.Maybe they dumpster dive to get the recycled newspapers

I'm with you too. I find the show fascinating but come on are you really every going to use 40 deoderants? Why do they need that much stuff? Are they expecting the end of the world? I saw one guy who does it and then either send it overseas to soldiers or gives it to the local shelter. That I find amazing. And do they ever buy fresh fruit or vegetables instead of all that processed food? There's definetely some sort of hording going on there.