I saw “Extreme Couponers” last night, too. Fascinating. Like other posters here, the stores in my area don’t do the “double-couponing”, either, and a lot of the coupons I get have limits of “valid on one item per household”, so there’s no way I could buy a hundred sticks of antiperspirant all at once like the folks on the show. Neither do I buy a lot of processed foods — it looked like all the extreme couponers were stocking up on some fairly unhealthy packaged goods.
One thing I noticed was that, while the extreme couponers say that their groceries are “free”, more than one of them mentioned hiring a “clipping service” to send them multiples of coupons. One couple said that they regularly bought ten copies of the newspaper in order to get multiple copies of the coupons. More than one couple said that they bought extra insurance to cover the value of their “free product stash”. Maybe I’m just nitpicking, but to my way of thinking, the stuff isn’t entirely free if you had to pay to get it or keep it.
(Having said that, I enjoy finding a good, useful coupon in the newspaper or online myself!)
Am I really the only one who misread the thread title as “Extreme Coroners”? :smack: The actual show sounds much more boring than what I was imagining.
For the Canadians, there is a small but vocal group of people who go crazy over making the most of Shopper’s Drug Mart Optimum points. Like going to multiple stores in the same day CRAZY. I learned a lot of tricks from http://www.frugalshopper.ca/phpbb2/index.php they know so many tricks that I wouldn’t have ever thought of.
I’m too cheap to have cable, so I’ll never see that show. Sounds good, though. I’m not exactly extreme in my couponing, but I do really well at the grocery stores. My average savings is about 45%, on a good day it can be as much as 70%.
I’m not one of those wackos who buys a roomful of shampoo and all processed junk, either. I look at the ads and make a menu plan for the week around what’s on sale and what I have coupons for. Coffee, cereal, cheeses, sour cream, soup, beans, rice, salad dressing, condiments, juice, pasta, sauce, bread, yogurt, and many others. I have coupons for these things all the time.
I guess I’m really lucky that all the stores around here double coupons under a dollar. I thought that was normal. Once a month or so Tops puts 4 “Dollar Doubler” coupons in their ad, turning it into a $2 coupon. They only let you use four per purchase, but if I’ve got lots of good coupons I’ll load half the groceries in another cart and send my husband through the line. Kinda gaming the store with that tactic, but hey, I’m poor, it saves $8, and I can get a lot of food for $8.
Another good trick is B1/G1 sales and $x off two coupons. As far as the register can tell you arent getting the second item free youre buying it for zero dollars so go ahead and use the $x off two on a bogo (sorry for the horrible grammar slash punctuation i think my keyboard just hit the terrible twos as its suddenly and without warning very defiant)
The Co-Op has member dividends, so you’re kinda getting your savings once a year with your dividends cheque. Depending on what you buy, this can be amazing. My Uncle is a farmer, and they try to buy as much farm-related stuff as possible there (remember the Co-Op hardware stores), and when all the kids were still living at home, groceries for a large farm family added up. If I had to guess, their dividends cheque is what paid for them to go Cancun recently!
As for Shoppers Optimum points, they have one huge advantage: they apply to pharmacy purchases. I pay out-of-pocket and get reimbursed by my insurance. So there’s a couple hundred bucks a month I’m getting points on. My Mom lets me transfer her points to my account, and it adds up. I got my copy of Wii Fit that way, and a big discount on a digital camera.
I Just saw the show NATE show on using coupons. Were to begin? :smack:
First–I am stunned that (Joanie?) keeps her groceries in the garage. From what i read on the web- from food scientists–the worst places to store food are in a garage and an attic due to extremes of heat and cold. In other words–there is a loss of vitamins/minerals when cans are stored in places subject to extreme heat.
Exception is if both these places have temperature control systems that can keep the temperature between 50-80 degrees. Cans/jars should be maintained at relatively normal/constant temps.
2nd-I tried this type of extreme couponing for about four weeks a few years ago. While it is easier for someone who doesn’t work (or is retired) to do this–it is much more challenging and not cost effective for those who have a job.
It took me countless hours of clipping and “hunting down” coupons followed by 2-3 hours at a grocery store comparing prices to determine if product on sale and with coupon was a better deal than the store brand. In most cases it was not.
Still i paid only about $27.00 on what should have been a $130.00 bill at one point. But did i really save? NO. :mad:
When i calculated the time involved in hunting coupons followed by three shopping runs of 2-3 hrs a piece whatever savings i would have had went out the window when i calculated the TIME i spent (at the time worth $25/hr self-employed salary at the time) into the equation.
Third–there are many grocery stores in this country that no longer have “double and triple” coupon days and they are imposing stricter policies as to how coupons can be used. Some stores don’t even allow coupons in conjunction with items on sale for example. Thanks to “coupon/food hoarders” like the one you see on these “extreme” shows-the manufacturers are racing to significantly restrict how many and how one uses coupons.
Fourth–What is saw smacks of a mental “illness” such as hoarding and/or OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). OCD’s tend to be very “orderly”, organized and obsess when something is out of place or they don’t have enough of something. Trust me i know. I had an OCD roommate for about 6 months when i was single.
Cleanliness and collecting food cans/ food boxes was her thing. And if you think that’s a good thing–ask the trail of boyfriends, roomates, employers and family that gave up on her cause they couldn’t “take it”. Virtually all her free time was devoted to cleaning and collecting food.
Finally–there are better ways of saving on groceries besides extreme couponing (which in most cases is done by mothers that don’t work outside of the home) and maintain a healthier lifestyle in the process (rather than buying mostly unhealthy processed food which is at the heart of this type of hoarding).
Things such as Food Cooperatives, buying local, learning recipes to make family dinners for less than $8.00, eating healthier with less meat in diet, staying clear of store bought frozen dinners and junk food, buying in bulk from warehouses (Costco, Sams) and buying at discounted aftermarket stores such as BigLots can go along way to substantial savings on groceries.
Our family of four spends an average of 250 a month on groceries (down from what we used to spend- ~450.00) doing all that i mentioned above.
I do use coupons from time to time but i don’t obsess over them like Joanie and some other mothers or singles(without kids) out there because i simply don’t have the time.
Once upon a time when i was a Stay At Home mom i had the time to engage more in couponing–but not now. I certainly won’t sacrifice time with the kids and hubby.