Extreme Couponing. I don't get it.

[Charity]

Does anyone else think the people on extreme couponing are defeating the pupose? I watched it last night and every one of these people have invested in shelving units, special despensers for canned goods that give you the oldest cans first and various other things to deal with the stash of stuff they have.

One person last night actually bought 93 bottles of hot sauce. Who could possibly use that much hot sauce. I get that some of them give away stuff to food pantries. That's a noble thing to do. But some of these people seem to do this just for the thrill of the hunt.

Admittedly I don't do the coupon thing. The reason is that I found myself buying stuff I really didn't want or didn't use. I can't help but think it's the same with these people. They're like highly organized hoarders.

[KayLR]

I agree. They do seem to have similar traits to hoarders. I rarely, if ever use coupons because I don't use many pre-prepared foods and of the brands featured on coupons, I can find generic brands just as acceptable, but less expensive despite the discount of the coupon.

[benhyr]

Well, mom had a beat up ol' table in the basement and she'd buy canned goods when they were really, really cheap (store brand on big sale, double coupons, whatever). Us kids would stock the new stuff to the back and pull the old stuff forward. It was the best way to get healthier food to supplement the bit of staples from the food shelf.

but, if you're into buying special gadgets to organize your stash and you're buying lots of stuff you don't go through in in a year, let alone a month, then yeah, it's probably hoarding or at least the thrill of the hunt.

[kally]

here in Canada we can't do that sort of couponing. Probably a good thing.

[SoSimple]

Most of the stuff I buy never has coupons on it anyway. When was the last time you saw coupons for fresh fruit? Or dried beans? I'll use them to their fullest extent, but I won't buy what I wouldn't normally buy just because it's "on sale".

[flowerseverywhere]

this show is like hoarders, you get sucked in knowing it is really nutty, but there are some good tips. What I do after seeing this show is pay attention to the toothpaste, baby, soap, deodorant, shampoo and shaving stuff coupons. If I can match them to the ads and get really good prices or close to free they are great for your food pantry. It only takes a short time and they really appreciate it in my town.

as sosimple posted, 99% of what I eat on a vegetarian diet never has a coupon.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Admittedly I don't do the coupon thing. The reason is that I found myself buying stuff I really didn't want or didn't use.

Well coupons are designed to get you to buy more. So if you manage to spend less using it, well it's not quite like beating the house at a game of slots, but more perhaps like winning at poker (takes skill) but you are still playing on the houses turf so to speak.


She'll have 15 rolls of paper towel and 20+ rolls of toilet paper in a closet. I get it in that yes, eventually they'll use it, but personally I'd rather just get a roll one or two at a time and not take the time to find the coupon, cut it out , organize all of them, take the extra time to load and unload the excess, then the time to put it away and organize it.

I hope this is also in addition to trying to use less paper towels (I mean if you only use them for the truly distasteful jobs - cleaning out the garbage disposal when it gets stuck or whatever (eww), 15 rolls is going to last forever). Couponing is very mainstream frugality, it is not a challenge to the premise of consumerism. And yes such stuff always seems WILDLY popular for inexplicable reasons.

Couponing fits with certain spending patterns and not so much with others. So you eat mostly unprepared foods, you aren't going to have a lot of coupons of course (even less if you are eating organic or shopping the store brands at Trader Joe or the farmers market or etc..). But everyone needs some household products, yes but if you start getting into the green products like toilet paper made with recycled paper, you are not going to find many coupons for it. Oooh less toxic dishsoap - yea try to find a coupon for that. And that's just yuppie-greeny, green consumerism (which for all that is probably better than the alternative more toxic products - people are only human - changes are hard - this is probably progress). Of course by the time you've gone completely over the deep end and are making your own products you are probably pretty far beyond couponing (though maybe once in a blue moon you'll find a coupon for the raw ingredients).

[catherine]

Yes, I totally agree. All those coupons are for convenience foods and processed, packaged foods. How often do you see coupons for fresh vegetables? Whole grains?

Sometimes, if I have time, I will look at coupons to see if there are any for things I use all the time (like condiments). I'll cut them out. Half the time I forget I have them and then they expire.

[kib]

I find the show disturbing in that, like so many shows, it's trying to subtly re-frame our perception of "normal" to include hyper-consumerism of manufactured products. We're supposed to be so engrossed in how much is "saved" that the idea of buying 93 bottles of hand sanitizer at once starts to seem (subconsciously) unremarkable, and the idea of not buying it at all shifts subconsciously from normal to vaguely wrong. We go from, "you might want to try hand sanitizer" to "Everyone on earth should clearly have at least a few bottles on hand" as the shifted, uncontested starting point.

I think this is the underlying "danger" in this show. Not that everyone is going to rush out and buy anything by the truckload, but that these (IMHO) environmentally, hygienically and nutritionally undesirable products will become automatic additions to millions of people's shopping lists because their frame subtly shifts.

[Tenngal]

I never find coupons that make the item less than the store brand which is what I usually buy. I can remember many years ago using them for disposable diapers, but I would think the store brand on diapers is pretty good quality these days. I just can't wrap my mind around how the whole system of couponing works.

[ljevtich]

I think couponing started with trying a new thing for a cheaper amount of money. They tried to get you to like it, then you would buy it without the coupon. At least that is the way it should work. But it now has become a business for some people. You can buy coupons on the internet and within coupon clubs. It is crazy.

I do not use coupons. I tried it out in the past, but with most grocery stores now only allowing $0.50 doubling. If you are extremely lucky, you might find a store that does triple couponing, but not here. And like others have said, I have NEVER seen a coupon for say, apples or lettuce, but I might see it for packaged salad dressing or fruit roll-ups. Since we make everything from scratch, shop at farmers' markets and natural food stores, and the occasional Walmart and Costco/Sam's Club, there just is no need for couponing.

[Gina]

The people on extreme couponing are showing another form of addiction/compulsion - just like compulsive shoppers, gamblers, drinkers, eaters... They have arrived at the stage where it's no longer a choice, it's taken over their lives and they have to do it. It's all they can think about.

I used to use some coupons, but now I rarely do. Too much time, and what you can buy I don't use.

[porcelain]

No stores in my area double or triple coupons or allow a credit to be applied to other items during checkout. As a vegan who buys primarily store brand anyway, it makes the notion of coupons pointless.

[iris lily]

I've since learned that the couple from St. Louis featured on that first show are real *holes. For what it's worth. The guy is posting rude nonesense on our neighborhood chat list and what a jerk. Controversy and rudeness is unusual on our neighborhood chat list because we all are in physical proximity of each other, can't afford to PO a neighbor.

[Laurel]

jill cataldo has blogged about this show and the overall consensus is that many of the featured people are cheating the system.

on rosie o'donnell's sirius/xm radio show, she talked about chatting with peter walsh at an OWN network event and that peter felt that Extreme Couponers was "organized hoarding".

i like a good coupon for laundry detergent or toothpaste or coffee, but the high these people seem to get from their planned shopping day AND the amount of time they burn in a week devoted to the clipping/organizing/hours in the check-out line seems peculiar.

[Zoebird]

like many have posted, i don't buy things that would normally have coupons. If i happen to find a coupon for a product that I use, then yes, I'll use it.

i have always felt that clipping coupons was peculiar behavior, a waste of time. I mean, you spend an hour or so and clip several coupons. those coupons save you a combined value of a few cents (if you can consider what your actual use vs waste rates are). therefore, your value your hour at a few cents (to a few dollars). i value my hours anywhere between $60 and $125 per, depending upon the activity that I'm doing in those hours, so couponing is not worth my time.

in addition, as a previous poster mentioned, the things for which their are coupons are usually not healthy for you. of course, most people have no idea what is in their food or products that they use. maybe they don't care either. So, they'll flip brands and whatever because at that level, it doesn't really matter.

but to me it does. I do not want to get just any toothpaste. I use an all natural ayurvedic toothpaste. my MIL thinks it's silly that I pay "so much" for toothpaste, becuase "it's just toothpaste." but then i looked at hers and pointed out the various chemicals in it, their origins, and also their connections to all kinds of organ problems, cancer, etc -- all information available in the safe cosmetics databases. I pointed out that the only two chemicals in it that were not harmful were sugar (arguable, but i wasn't going to get into it) and fluoride (which, on the surface of teeth is not at issue. it's only when you swallow it in your drinking water regularly that it's a problem). and everything else was on the list.

she then freaked out that the government owuld never let it on the shelves if it was "that dangerous." and I pointed out that I didn't really care, I just didn't want to put chemicals into my body if it could be avoided, so I buy ayurvedic tooth paste, for which there isn't a coupon, which is why it matters to me to stay with that toothpaste.

when we do happen to get a coupon, it's awesome. but it's rare.

[crunchycon]

As a former couponer (though not of that ilk, certainly), I find this program rather repellent; I'm about preparedness and having a certain amount of food in the house, but I don't think scooping 112 flavored waters off the shelf really addresses that need. I Haven't used coupons in a long while, as, like others, I haven't seen much for the foods I prefer.

[Karma]

It is an illness. I got involved in couponing at CVS/Walgreens back when they had so many good deals. I did it on a smaller scale then most but it still became a game that was addicting. I was on a message board that was just for couponing and that ended up pushing me over the edge and quit. I was so disgusted at the attitudes and bad behavior that went along with this. People would buy coupons off of eBay and then be able to buy 50 shampoos, some just hoarded the items and others sold the excess. When asked if it was ethical and meant that others couldn't get the shampoo because they got it all the posters would get upset and attack.

They also posted their pictures of there hoards and it was gross, tons of stuff we would never buy or use. How long before those items go bad?

[jennipurrr]

I got in to couponing for awhile, and yes...my grocery bills were really low. I started as encouragement to eat out less and make a game of it. I ended up amassing a huge pile of stuff I didn't need that I got for free. It was getting out of hand, but I was nothing like the TV show...I hate clutter, so it probably wasn't as bad as I make it out to be. We had the storm hit here in April and I gave it all away and reigned myself in from the couponing. I am the kind of person who needs "something" to occupy my mind, and I had finished school and kind of had a void...so I would spend several hours a week reading the boards, printing coupons, prepping for the next week by buying on ebay. I did well to not buy junk food or crap I didn't need unless I was paid to buy it...but I was using so much brainpower to coupon! It was a huge time suck and waste. So, now I've cut back the couponing except reading one site one time a week before I shop...and I am going back to school for my doctorate to keep me busy.

[creaker]

I wonder if couponing is like the idea of a "gateway drug"? Regardless of how much money you might save, it is still hyper-consumerism. And I wonder how many end up hooked on the shopping?

[Tiam]

I think couponing started with trying a new thing for a cheaper amount of money. They tried to get you to like it, then you would buy it without the coupon. At least that is the way it should work. But it now has become a business for some people. You can buy coupons on the internet and within coupon clubs. It is crazy.

I do not use coupons. I tried it out in the past, but with most grocery stores now only allowing $0.50 doubling. If you are extremely lucky, you might find a store that does triple couponing, but not here. And like others have said, I have NEVER seen a coupon for say, apples or lettuce, but I might see it for packaged salad dressing or fruit roll-ups. Since we make everything from scratch, shop at farmers' markets and natural food stores, and the occasional Walmart and Costco/Sam's Club, there just is no need for couponing.


I don't know of any store in my area that still doubles coupons. And many of those that matched other store coupons have stopped doing that as well.

[Zoebird]

yes, a coupon is actually meant to get people hooked, and sometimes it works.

to get our yoga studio off the ground, we offered a special on a group-voucher web site. That has formed the foundational "crew" for our studio -- those students now pay full price. New students are coming in every day, and they also pay full price. Our classes are currently half to 2/3 full because of this.

We also used it to kick start our brand recognition with a massive massage deal in November (when our brand relaunched), and we have done several since then too. But, we are now pulling back from using them, because we find that we are getting people who repeat *only* when we have a deal on the voucher system. as a collective, we have decided to halt on all vouchers and special deals for the time being. I think it's a good plan, honestly.

[puglogic]

I think there's a vast difference between someone who clips coupons and uses them wisely, and the extremism you see on that show.

I have a family member who is addicted to extreme couponing. Special racks, special binder, stays up 'til 3:00am organizing coupons, and has dozens and dozens and dozens of containers of shampoo, shaving cream, lotion, toothpaste, flavored water, processed junk food, etc. It's a little scary because she is normally very rational and clear-minded.

As someone who subsists mostly on non-toxic household products, organic fruits/veggies/meats, bulk-bought grains and legumes....even regular couponing is of limited value to me, but I'll occasionally find a bargain that I like enjoying.