Extreme couponing
 

Does anyone watch that show? I was in shock watching one woman pay $46 for over a $1000 worth of groceries!

I think it is just another name for hoarding. Those groceries will reach their expiration date long before you will be ready to use them.

I think its a bit excessive especially when people are just storing all that stuff that they buy. The thing is if you use what your family consumes and you save on some of the other stuff, it would be an ideal choice to take some of that stuff to a food pantry, shelter or to someone who may need it. Even you could go in with a neighbor and make it a co-op type thing where everyone can benefit. I agree that if you're couponing just to go to the store and save like this show presents you're bound for the next reality show: Hoarders: Buried Alive.

I agree with Rachael. WHo needs 20 boxes of Fruit Loops? I would never have the patience to do all that couponing and research as to what is on sale.

I do good to save $5 or $6 with coupons when I shop. I don't have the patience to do more!

I wonder if some of them buy things they really don't need -- not just in quantities they don't need -- because of the thrill of "scoring" on a discount. Kind of like the high some get from gambling. It must be very validating of one's intelligence & resourcefulness to see those register tapes & to think you've used your wits to successfully game the system.

I know I'm happy when something that I use a lot goes on sale & I also have a coupon for it. (But that convergence happens -- I don't know -- once a month at best? For a stick of deodorant, or sugarfree Jell-O pudding cups, or maybe a carton of Eggland's Best? Or, if I'm really, really lucky, for a cup of Fage?)

But what do I know? I live in a NY-sized apartment. I've got a kitchen slightly bigger than a galley kitchen, with no room for a table & chairs, & I haven't got a lot of pantry storage & my fridge isn't even as big as many suburban folks'. So I cannot live like the Extreme Couponers or I'd have food piled in my bedroom & living room & etc. And I don't want to live that way. Quality of life: Serenity that comes from space & a few nice things, carefully placed, with air circulating around them. That's my priority over "scoring" at the grocery store.

Our stores do not double coupons but what I have seen of this show is wierd. Who needs a whole room for toothpaste. It seems to me these people buy a whole bunch of stuff they are never going to use before it goes bad. I think these people will end up on hoarders next.

A lot of them do donate their excess, particularly when they buy things that they don't use (in one case, Walgreens was basically paying people $5 a piece to take a blood glucose meter out of the store after rebates and coupons and etc, so a woman bought 10 and donated them to a free clinic). Most of the sites that these couponers use have a "charity" designation - a flag indicating a deal that is free or near-free to pick up and donate to charity. Many of them will pick up free toiletry items and make kits to ship to troops.

I disagree that it is hoarding if well-managed. The idea is to buy as much as you can use before expiration at a rock bottom price. Now SOME do have some hoarding type behaviors (buying diapers if you don't have kids yet, etc), but on items that don't go bad (paper towels, shampoo, deodorant, etc), it makes sense to buy them when they are really cheap or free, store them, and then use them as needed...if you think about it, you use a LOT of paper towels if the timeline is "over a lifetime". On food items, if you get a free/very cheap price, it makes sense to buy as much as you can use before the item expires. That's how these people get the sort of % off they get...each week, they don't NEED to buy cereal, bread, etc. They only have to buy things that are nearly free or free because they have everything they need in that stockpile at home.

You can't "extreme coupon" without a stockpile...it's necessary to have items you use regularly on hand (obtained cheaply) so that you never have to buy something at full price. And most people who coupon like that are vigilant about food not going to waste, and will manage those stockpiles so that things don't go bad, whether that's by accurately guessing what their family will use, or donating to food pantries a month or two before expiration dates come along.

I questioned this last season. I saw an episode where one man had shelves built into his basement for all his stuff. He literally had shelves and shelves of deodorant and body wash (for men) and shampoo to last him the rest of his life. Hundreds of containers. And he was in his 40s or 50s. THEN he went to the store, because shampoo was on sale, and bought more.

They didn't say he donated it. To me, this constitutes hoarding...buying keeping more than you would ever use in your lifetime and buying more just to sit on a shelf. At some point, it's wasting money. Even if they're paying $5 for a cubic ton of shampoo, that's $5 for something they will never, ever use or give to anyone. To me, that is a waste of money.

We had a discussion thread about this a few months ago. I, too, think it is a form of hoarding. Last season, 1 guy bought several hundred boxes of cereal because he got them free and donated ALL of them to his church's food pantry. That's cool.

One woman last season even admitted that her family is not allowed to touch anything. It was like a trophy for her.

I love coupons. None of the stores around here double. I don't spend all day on the computer looking for them. I use them for what I need at the time. I would use them to buy extra TP, paper towels and zipper baggies. I don't need 100 tubes of deodorant.

I think they may have some compulsive shopping tendencies, but "hoarding" is a specific term that indicates both collecting items that have little or no value and collecting items to a point that it causes distress and results in significant clutter such that living spaces cannot be used for the purposes they're intended (for example, all the showers in the house filled up with stuff). A well-organized stockpile in the garage of useful items, even if it's filling empty spaces in the house, under beds, etc, doesn't meet the definition, even if the items are purchased compulsively.

What about the woman who used every single closet filled to overflowing? She had kids and she didn't seem to mind telling all of us that they, the kids, were not allowed in their closets because it is her stash. What did they do with all their clothes?

Last season, one guy was discussed by the fact that his wife was now taking over his room. She used the entire garage, spare bedroom, living room and was now taking over his space. It was only the 2 of them. She bought hundreds of bottles of soda that even he said they'd probably never drink.

Again, some of them are undoubtedly deviating into hoarding by taking over useable spaces in their house, as I said in my first post. But the fact that some hoarders use coupons to hoard doesn't make extreme couponing just another form of hoarding.

exactly. I'm all for coupons, but that is ridiculous.

I agree with the hoarding comments. In order to use coupons you have to buy the items the coupons are for and what if you don't really need it or need so much of that one item? How come there are no coupons for the stuff I need? And you save even more money if you don't coupon on the stuff you don't need.

I agree that, if let's say a couple with no kids has a mass stash of food that is more likely to go bad before they consume it, is hoarding. One couple I watched last night organized the food by exp. date so they were actually eating the food they purchased and they would use the extra money to go traveling. But I also noticed the mass amount of soda and candy some of these people purchase!

The amount of time they go through to find the coupons, organize, etc. For some people was equivalent if not more to that of a part time job! Personally I would LOVE to save that much on groceries and go get hauls that big once a month maybe or as I'm running out but I can't see myself dumpster diving, going door to door picking up coupons, stealing them from other peoples Sunday paper, or sitting in front of the computer looking for them!

Not touching the hoarder vs non-hoarder behaviour . . . I have to give these people MAD credit for getting that done.
The organiztion, dedication, time spent collecting and formulating a plan . . . Kudos to them for that.

I find the show interesting, but would never have the patience to sit down and clip coupons for hours to score a better deal.

I just started using coupons. My husband and I have foodstamps, so if I can find a way to stretch our budget even thinner, than I'm all for it. Our kroger doubles any coupon under .50 cents, but you can only stack 1 manufactures coupons with 1 kroger coupon. I'm not sure how they're saving so much when you can only go that far.

But I'll bet you aren't buying 100 of something. Sounds like you are buying what you need.

I get annoyed when they completely clear the shelves. I understand wanting to get a good deal, but leave something for the rest of us who NEED the items!

My fiance and I don't usually watch tv (we're more about dvds and youtube clips, or entire series on dvd), but when we were on our trip last month we watched extreme couponing. We were horrified. It was like watching a trainwreck. I know I won't watch again, as I know I will never watch hoarders. I just find it sad.

So true!

If they are going to buy 100 of something, why don't they order it and have the store set it aside? That way, there would be stuff on the shelves for the rest of us. In fact, I would like to see some of the stores implementing that policy.

Did you notice last night's episode? The woman had divided her shopping into 2. Her husband was going to buy half and they would check out separately. Some woman at the store informed her that the coupon policy for the store wasn't per shopper but per household. I found that odd. If there was another couponer in there, would they accuse them of being on the same block? I don't understand the stores position. They get reimbursed plus a few pennies for each coupon.

One of the major things I see is much of the food purchased is over processed junk. No, not always but much of it is. You don't get coupons for carrots and lettuce. So, this isn't their only food bill unless they eat very unhealthy. Even if they do purchase other produce, meats, etc. that's still a crap ton of sugary, fatty, over processed food to have in one house. And god, the condiments! I had the save average size bottle of mustard for a year, that's right, A YEAR! To warrant clearing the shelves of mustard or mayonnaise, I hope they're donating or bathing in it.

I've never seen anything this over the top in real life and probably won't so long as I live in this same area. Stores DO NOT double coupons and you rarely get store coupons. That's what it's going to end up like all over the place, notations on coupons not to double, changes in store policies and fewer and fewer coupons overall. They'll kill their own "cash cow."

That said, I don't really care, though I do find it.... odd. Of all the thrill seeking behavior to get a "high" I'd rather just ride a roller coaster and save myself time and clutter. :)

I always wonder if this is real. Where I live we rarely have coupons available and there are strict rules. Gosh when I use a coupon for 75 cents off cream the cashier practically takes a magnifying glass to it. No double couponing, limits of 4 items at a time, only one coupon per purchase etc. Really don't think it is possible here in Canada.
I am a little fascinated by the idea. I like the idea of paying less for groceries and toiletries for sure. I wait for sales.
I have seen on the show they mainly buy crap like cake mix or flavored water. I don't want these even if they are free. But free toilet paper yes. It is expensive here.

I saw one show that showed a lady's house before she went on her nexr shopping trip in her own words she said she had enough feminine products to last her into menopause.....in the nest shopping trip she bought more. There is a rationale there that I don't understand. I like to save money and try to shop sales and use an occasional coupon but I can't see buying enough to last me into the next century.