Extreme Couponing

[tortoise]

There is a show on TLC right now about Extreme Couponing. Holy crap! Amazing. I am truly inspired.

$1, 175.33 ...

down to ...

$51.57

Can you imagine spending 6 hours on a grocery shopping trip?!

Truly amazing!

http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

There is a show on TLC right now about Extreme Couponing. Holy crap! Amazing. I am truly inspired.

$1, 175.33 ...

down to ...

$51.57

Can you imagine spending 6 hours on a grocery shopping trip?!

Truly amazing!

http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/

Good grief!
We do not have great coupons up here.
On top of all that, we buy very little in the stores.
I don't think Azure Standard takes coupons
I just read the article.
I could not pull it off.
We do not eat any processed foods and i make our toothpaste and soaps.

 

[Wannabefree]

Yeah if I could get THAT kid of deals I'd clip and resell the itmes I wouldn't use to family and friends for a fraction of retail. That way I would make money AND get free stuff. Just can't do it round here.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Does this fall under Hoarding?
Cause it really sounds like a sickness with how much time is spent and how much is being packed away in their homes...

Just saying

 

[Denim Deb]

I could not do that for a few different reasons:

1. I don't have time to spend hours on the computer (or running around to stores) trying to find the best deals.

2. There's a limit here as to how much they'll actually take off w/a coupon. Even w/a double coupon, the most they'll take off is $1.00, unless the face value is for more.

3. The majority of the coupons that I see are for items that I don't or won't use. If you look at what the majority of the people who use a ton of coupons are buying, it's all prepackaged meals, candy, soda, etc.

 

[patandchickens]

But what did that $51.57 *buy* -- was it things that I was genuinely going to buy without the coupons, or is it, like, Lean Cuisine Frozen Entrees and Ding-Dongs and a large screen tv?

Pat

 

[tortoise]

The one guy bought over 1,000 boxes of cereal for super cheap and donated it all to a food bank.

 

[FarmerChick]

I kinda tried to do this but real fast I couldn't stomach the time to organize, time date, etc all the coupons....and it was for products mostly I never buy...lol

so I gave up....my time was more valuable than what the coupons offered.

now I clip a few coupons on items I use, match it up with a great sale price or buy 1 get 1 situation and save at least $30-60 of any grocery bill. I shop sales. I never buy the full price item unless absolutely necessary.

besides, I hate shopping so extreme couponing sure isn't for me

 

[freemotion]

A friend and I used to do that quite a bit, when I ate junk and used crappy cleaning products. I would collect unused coupon fliers from my mom and her friends who lived in another state where double and triple coupons where not offered. The stores here were quite competitive for a while and doubled all manufacturer's coupons under $1, and offered 5-6 triples per week, too. The fliers in my mom's area offered $0.75 coupons and the same week, my fliers offered a $0.25-50 coupon for the same item. We would double and triple those better coupons.

We would make multiple trips, take dh and hand him a list with a handful of coupons, and on good weeks, go to the next two towns over and go to their stores, too. Sometimes we had to grab a little produce to "absorb" the coupon savings, as we would often save more than we had to spend, and the computer didn't like that. Refunds didn't happen, but add a bunch of bananas, and you got all your coupon savings.

It was a lot of breakfast cereal and cleaning products! All junk, mostly stuff I would not use today if it were free. Back then, it mostly was free, so I used it. When dh and I first got married, our average grocery bill was $15 per week, including catfood, toilet paper, whatever we got at the grocery store. We NEVER ate out then, either. That was 15 years ago. I got a phone salesman to hang up on me once, he was selling home-delivery meat, and I told him what our grocery bill was. He hung up on me!

I no longer even waste my time looking at coupon fliers. My grocery bill has gone up, but is still far lower than anyone I know.

 

[FarmerChick]

I think also when you take it to this level it becomes a true hobby.

I saw on tv a lady who entered every single contest she came across.

her biggest win--the $1 million dollar prize from some company
a few trips to Hawaii and other exotic places
money, free items, cars, and more

she won alot of stuff...lol...but she committed unbelieveable time to this hobby but it sure paid off for her big time