Extreme Couponing

Have you ever watched the show, Extreme Couponing?  It is on the HGTV network, and shows people who spend lots of time clipping and organizing the coupons, then pouring over the sale ads to see who has the best sales on items that match their coupons.  Then they take friends or family with them in at least one vehicle, sometimes with a trailer or oversize van to stuff with all they purchase.

I have been disturbed by three major points with the premise of the show:

1.       How stores can allow stacking of coupons (using more than one coupon on the same item)?  I have checked local stores and none in my area allow this occurrence.

2.      Do these people eat meats and fresh produce?  Their shopping carts rarely have any of these foods in them since they do not have coupons for them.

3.      How can anyone ever make the space to store and in some cases, even use the massive quantities of items they redeem with coupons?  One episode had a college aged male getting free female hygiene items.  He had no idea what the product was for and had no one planned to give them to.

In the end, their goal is to spend as little money as possible on the stock pile after spending hours collecting these items in multiple carts.

Having a friend who works in the grocery industry; the thought of coupons makes those working in the grocery industry cringe.  They hate them because they create too much work, that they actually lose money because of all of the man hours they put into redeeming coupons.  But if they do not accept coupons, they lose customers – it’s a love hate relationship that they must accept.

Some points to know about me:

1.      I am a coupon clipper, only cutting ones for items our family will use.

2.      The stores where I shop do not allow stacking of coupons, so I do not stock pile large quantities of coupons.

3.      I do spend time each week reviewing the sale ads, whether from the newspaper or online.

4.      I purchase generic items when possible, with few exceptions.  If I try the generic option and do not like it, I am willing to spend the extra money on a name brand.

The quickest place to get coupons for food, health and beauty, and cleaning coupons is the Sunday newspaper.  Yes, you pay for the Sunday newspaper, but this is just one of the many features of the newspaper.  Major coupon inserts from the Sunday newspapers include:

¨      Redplum – coupons are also available at Redplum.com

¨      Smartsource – coupons area also available at Smartsource.com        

¨      Proctor and Gamble - pgeveryday.com –web site only shows you what coupons will be in newspaper and in which ones by entering your zip code, however, they offer quarterly free samples of items such as shampoo

After you cut the coupons you plan to use, share the coupon inserts with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  If someone has a cat and you do not, offer them those coupons.  Our church recently began a coupon pantry, where someone cuts the coupons and places them in two small labeled plastic mini filing drawers.

In my next installment, I will continue the topic of coupons with more options on where to locate coupons.