Did you happen to catch tonight’s show called Extreme Couponing on TLC? I haven’t watched it yet but I did set my DVR. I’m anxious to watch it and hear what you think!
I did catch a teaser on Good Morning America (and posted this on my Facebook Page)and I can say I think what they are showing is very unrealistic and probably hard to attain for most folks – especially if you have outside interests or jobs!
**Update: I’ve finally watched the show and was even more disappointed by what I saw than when I originally posted this. This is obviously the “Extreme” couponers, which is realistic to the majority of hard core couponers. I also agree with the commenter who said the total saving were not true when they didn’t add in the cost of what they paid to order the coupons. This cost should ALWAYS be factored into your bottom line!
I do not miss events with family and friends to spend time couponing. I do not spend 18 hours a day couponing. I do not spend 8 hours at the grocery store. I shop reasonably and save BIG! I have a decent stockpile and I don’t feel the need to have the biggest or best shopping trip. Each person has to do what they can with the time they have. I strive for 50% grocery savings. This is realistic for me and my time!
I did enjoy watch the Coupon Diva shopping! She was hilarious helping people while she was shopping!
I think most people can save HUGE on their grocery bill but a realistic goal is going to be 50% saving. You can see my methods and learn how to get started in the 15 Days of Couponing. You can also get started by printing coupons or searching the Coupon Database for more coupons.
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What do you think about extremely extreme couponers?
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whats up with these people why get a hundred cans of dog food and wow some of those women r just plain weird how can they use coupons on stuff that its not intended for i have never seen one in a store hope i never get behind one why get so much they r hoarders they just want to be on tv hey tlc enough with all the crazy shows i rate it right up there with amish show
On this week’s episode they showed a lady who bought 99 bags of croutons and 100 something bottles of aspirin. What do you do with all this stuff. I agree with everyone’s comments on here. I think these people are hoarders. I like to save as much as the next but not getting a ton of stuff I would have to store and never be able to use that much of before it expired!
OMG ! I would not want to be in line behind one of these coupon nuts ! If you never use a certain product and you can’t save at least a dollar on item you normally use..WHY BOTHER W/COUPONS!! I only use coupons if it’s for a $1.00 or more. I would never drive across town to another store to save..what’s the point with the price of gas now. How about the self life of certain products? Some items gets bugs or go stale..there goes any saving if you end up tossing it ! These people are hoarders not savers. It sound like it’s just about the rush you get on what they save off the total. What a waste of time ! Believe me I’m all for saving money these days, but they have gone too extreme!!
I thought it was entertaining. I don’t have that kind of time to organize like that. I shoot for 50 percent savings. I can see where the hoarding can get started…the first time I bought Kraft cheese for $1 per block, I was desperate to go back and get as much more as I could. I also went a little overboard on pasta and spaghetti sauce when I first started, because I got an adrenaline rush from it. I have a small house, though, and my husband made me stop.
I love how they gave us a look at the extreme side of couponing, and grocery shopping! If the show had been of a lady using her 50¢ coupon for pasta and 25¢ coupon for margarine…there probably would have been very few viewers.
I thought it was entertaining, and I will be watching April 6th for the series premiere. In the future, when I find a great sale I’ll be donating mine to our church’s orphanage drive.
I’m so glad you commented on that …I’m about 3 weeks into this and I’m having fun but I wondered whether I was really saving…I’m getting about 50% savings in my trips and my mini stock pile is growing so I really felt better seeing your comments there. I have a full time job, two kids and can’t do it like they do on the show! I’m focusing on 1 grocery and 1 drug store. Going to play around with maximizing that and see how it goes. thanks for making me remeber that I’m really doing very well at this point even though I can’t be and don’t want to be extreme.
what geats me i to the the troulbe n find good coupons from name brand wed site s and the were good so i send my hubby with list to pick up that we would use all good coupons and that lady at Jerry lees in pasacgoula made my hubby feel so bad he she said the dont take them kind of coupons only out the mail or new paper . made him look dum and he no way dum what you do when you know you got good coupons and you know the store takes coupons and show up wit them to use do buy the stuff on leave it there . my hubby has to do almost all the shoping i so happy when use the coupons as we had no prob at walmart with our coupons the place i got the coupons send note tell me how sorry the was and the wote altter for the store i have give to them cause i dont think the care . by the way my hubby still shops there i wont if i dont have . i love very good coupons and it not like we but 300 tubs of somethis it was just soups and well know brands , oh well no rush to use coupons unle i the one goes with .
My grandmother said it the best. The majority of these people were on the wrong show. They met all the requirments for ‘Hoarders’. It gives all of us “minor league” couponers a bad name.
I agree there is no need to be greedy!! I mean come on ~ now, others may want some as well. I would love to be able to save alot of money, like they do. How can you use that much stuff up, all while you continue shopping, before the stuff goes bad? And I also would worry about having it in the garage, where the temp. goes from one extreme (freezing) to another (HOT).
I really like what you said about your striving for 50% savings. While I love to get a good deal, some of these people can become obsessive. There is a difference between stocking the pantry and spending all day planning on how you will take down the store. lol. I personally love to use social coupons…as I like to go out and do fun stuff. Adding a little savings into it is the cherry on top! :) I love using http://www.imin.com – it’s a new groupon like site. Check them out if you haven’t already.
i was shocked that the store let them shop that way. my stores have cracked down so much that it is almost impossible to get more than 3 items at a time or even have more than one coupon double for the same item at a time. And yes the stock piles were crazy stupid. I have one for the items we use and run out of regularly. otherwise i stop getting things even if they are free. I also would never clear a shelf, that is just plain rude.
The show did omit a lot of things but no way do I have the kind of time, energy, or even the space, to shop like the people in the store were doing. It’s not worth it to me to end up with thousands of unusable items, sitting in storage year after year. Also, I live in a small town and there is no waythe stores here would allow that to happen, they have limits…usually two, on what a person can buy! All I see happening now, is more people will buy coupons off of the internet and end up with stacks of unused coupons they’ve invested money in but can’t possibly use!
My thing with this show is around here u cant use but like 20 coupons max at the store and they dont double but a certain amount….please explain that…
I finally watched the show ( had it taped) and I must say I was speechless. My goal is to be able to buy around 100.00 worth of items for next to nothing. I don’t buy coupons, just print and cut what I need, and buy what I need. Now if something is free or a few cents and I don’t use that item I still buy it and donate it to the food pantry, mission, shelter, etc.
The stores I shop, like most, have a limit and if you read the coupons they too, at times, have conditions.
Once my system was set up I only spend about an hour a week, which includes, looking at the ads, checking the internet for coupons, clipping coupons and making out my grocery list.
But I do have one tip for everyone – do not hand over all your coupons to the cashier – I have experienced them dropping them, not scanning them, etc. Hand one coupon at a time and that way your coupon is scanned and you can easily check for the correct amount.
well i have SIX kids…ALL boys!!! my mother is an extreme couponer but she sets limits to what she needs and she showed me how to do this and it is VERY useful. it IS true, the sales are free OR they PAY YOU to take them off the shelves!!! but, yes…DON’T BE GREEDY!
that’s awesome! I agree! Don’t be greedy and don’t let it become an addiction!
I was a bit upset at this show. Although they do show some good pratices like using charts and schedules and things, but they do not go into detail with what the stores actually takes. In my area of the woods many stores have a limit of products. (like Limit 5) So I dont understand where they are able to buy like hundreds of the same product. Maybe someone can explain this to me??
I agree. Most of my stores will only double 2 Like Coupons. however the stores they were shopping at OBVIOUSLY made an exception for these couponers, which is NOT realistic for most folks! Plus, many of the stores have implemented limits on items so that people can’t clear the shelves like they are doing on this show. I think the stores are shooting themselves in the foot because when I go in can I say, I saw it on extreme couponing show..you let them do it… LOL
I just watched and I stopped after the first one, hording is sad and was any counseling going to happen? Did anyone question her motives? I was sad to see that. Won’t watch again. She needs to be on Intervention.
I agree about intervention. I think she really has a problem if she is missing life to save money.
I wish they would explain how they do it. I am a couponer too but i have never saved this much. Please give us the sources these people use. thanks
You can check our my grocery store or drug store lists and be sure to check out the 15 days of couponing to get started!
https://bargainbriana.com/tag/15-days-of-couponing/
http:/bargainbriana.com/tag/grocery-store-deals
https://bargainbriana.com/tag/drug-store-deals
I WATCHED THE SHOW LAST NIGHT, SOME ITEMS THEY BOUGHT
SO MANY OF WOULD SEEM TO EXPIRE THE GUY HAD A GARAGE FILLED WITH STUFF, THERE IS NO NEED FOR ALL OF THAT DONATE
IT TO THE FOOD BANK. I USE COUPONS FOR GROCERIES AND ALL
OTHER THINGS RESTAURANTS ARE GREAT FOR FREE MEALS IF
YOU BUY A MEAL. THEY ALSO MENTIONED THEY BUY COUPONS,I
JUST THOUGH SOME OF WAS TOO MUCH. I ALSO PRINT FEW EXTRA
COUPONS AND WILL GIVE THEM TO PEOPLE IN LIKE LIKE JCPENNY
HAD ONE BATH AND BODY WORKS HEY LET THEM GET A FREE ITEM
OR $10.00 OFF.
I think all good things should be in moderation!! 1st lady seem little nuts, what is she going to do with all that……she did not even mention if she uses free items for donations or gives them to family and friends. Atleast the male coupon clipper said he donated the “free” items to church and food bank. And is it free anyways if you are paying money for coupon clipping services and stockpiling for things you are not going to use up in years??? The way that guy has everything stock piled in his garage, he can think about making a buck out of it by doing garage sales……or else I think all that cheese in his garage fridge is going to grow fungus on it! LOL
Why don’t they work with local charities and give away the stuff that they know they will NEVER use? Hoarding doesn’t make sense to me, but I guess I don’t know what it’s like to be that way.
One of them said it is their legacy and their stockpile is what they want to will to their fav child!! lol
I did watch it, but when i saw all the stuff they have accumulated and the first lady had rooms filled of all this stuff and needed more room, it made me sick to my stomach. I believe this show should have been called coupon hoarders. I was very dissapointed that the guy with the cereal was the only one donating some of the cereal, the others all they did was hoarding it. I am a strong believer on passing on the blessing, and helping those less fortunate it.
Good point about the show needing to be called Coupon Hoarders! :) I does make me a little sick to my stomach to see that much stuff stockpiled. I doubt all the salad dressing would be able to be used before it expires!
This show is really the extreme. We find that we by ethically couponing we end up with more shampoo and toothpaste that we can can use in three years. We use the extra shampoo as bodywash and donate the toothpaste as well anything else we can’t use within a couple of years.
Although now that I am working again I can’t coupon like I did before and find that my husband doesn’t appreciate or respect how much we save from efficiently using coupons. He actually threw out my P&G coupon circular. Then tried to buy a Sunday paper as the CVS circular reported that the coupons would be out later than they actually were. I couldn’t help but show him that there not only were no P&G coupons but there were no coupons period for the $2.25 investment.
I caught part of the show… my daughter was flipping through channels and there it was! My heart started beating faster, I stopped working, and made her leave the remote alone. It was pretty cool – I was very impressed – but I’m not sure I’d ever be organized enough to go that far. I had to cheer, though, when the guy brought his $500 grocery bill down below $50. So exciting!! :)
I watched the show and feel they are not quite being honest. At the end of the shopping trips they are showing how much they saved & paid but they do not include the cost of what they paid for the coupons some of them purchased from services. I remember one of them had bought 70 dollars worth but they didn’t work that into the final numbers.
I am sure they can still get great deals but not as good as it was made to look.
Good point about the purchase of the coupons not being added into the final cost. Still significant savings yet not quite what they are portraying on tv.
I think that the people in the show are shopaholics who coupon. Most couponers don’t have the time to spend hours just planning to go shopping. They used extreme examples for something that can help every person to save money.
Good point about shopaholics who coupon! At least they are doing it without spending much money!
I watched it and it made me realize how normal I really am. My husband just kept telling me I was a rank amateur. :)
The lady in Philly was the most realistic and probably the most like what I would do on a really, really good week.
I think you have to be realistic! and don’t compare! If you are saving your family money, then you are doing good! :)
I definitely think the first lady leaned more towards hoarding. The other 3 werent so bad, but I think the most realistic was the lady in Philadelphia.
Yea , I liked the lady in Philadelph ia too….. She was smart, she did not pay extra to buy coupons from coupon clipping services, she got them free from her neighbores on her morning walk. Works for her and it sure beats going through the garbage bins!!
I just finished watching it, and was a little saddened. I stockpile 3-6 months of things for my family, and save 50-75%. I hated seeing how they made it look like a problem, and I def didnt like seeing people with 1,500 bars of deodorant sitting in their garage. Why not pass that on to a mission, because I KNOW it won’t all be used by 2 people! I think Joyce’s story made the most sense, and was the msot realistic. I have reached a point with HBA products that I am not getting more until I use 1/2 of what I have, or if it’s free, I pass it on. Hoarding is not helping anyone! :-)
The title fits – EXTREME. However I picked up two things from this program. First, the one thing they had in common was a strategy. They researched, made lists, and organized themselves to match up to the best deal. The difference between them and me is the time spent to do it. Secondly, I noticed that you had to pay attention and watch the register as it scanned each item and coupon. Several times I have either been overcharged or my coupon wasn’t applied and it was a real drag to drive back to the store to make the adjustments.
My only request for these types of extreme couponers is DON’T CLEAR OUT THE SHELVES AND LEAVE SOME FOR ME! LOL!
folks, realize it was set up to LOOK extreme for the show..several of the people on there, including joanie and nathan, donated all or almost all of their trips to their local foodbank, and PRE_ORDERED the amount of stuff they bought so a…s to not clear the shelves,the stores knew about this and co-operated… the show asked the stores to put it on shelving for the show… so take it as a TV show…they did not really play up the parts about all being donated, or about pre-ordering..i do think 70 hours a week is alot, and if it interferes with fmaily life, that is a problem..IMHO,
It appeared there was more to the story and a lot had been cut out of the show. Definitely looked like everything was set up to make the show EXTREME to fit TLC’s theme this season.
The problem is…is your store going to pre-order and allow you to do that??? Probably not! Most stores will only double two like coupons in one transaction in my area and I doubt they would bend to that special request. I think the stores are shooting themselves in the foot with by doing that special for the show!
Looking at the positive side of things…this is an opportunity to provide more education about the strategy of couponing.
I agree because like nathan said there is a strategy to making sure you are getting a good deal.
I watched most of it. The first couple featured couponers were hoarders with no discrimination except the final $ price at the register. The last fellow was pretty good though. He was calm, never got frantic at the register. He probably planned ahead with the store, just based on the sheer quantity he got. However, he donated a large portion of his deal to a local food bank. Really, do you need 4-5 years worth of a product in your garage, considering sales cycle every few months? Why not get what your family needs and then donate to help those who need it. He was by far the most positive role model for couponers shown in the program.
One thing that the show does not tell you is that they told the couponers to go to the absolute extreme for the show. That is, if you would normally get 10 of an item, go for the max that you think you can get. Nathan and Jodie (krazy coupon lady) both donated all or a large portion of what they got. It was all done for the extremism of the show, not necessarily how these people “everyday shop”. Jodie has never been in a dumpster before this show. She will reach in and pull some out, but this was done for the show.
I’m sure there was some stuff done for the extreme. However, I know I’ve read about one of them buying 1,000 boxes of Jell-o before, though…so it’s really not that unusual for at least one of them! :)
This will just make more people look at me like I’m a fool when I say it’s easy to coupon. :/ Unfortunately greed is greed whether it means you you hoard money or toothbrushes. I think what most disturbed me was the woman who found security (her words) and her identity (my inference) through couponing. At the end of the day free is awesome but toilet paper is not more important than people (not even White Cloud ;) ).
I think at some point it is hoarding and not stockpiling! I know I’ve gotten to the point when I first started that it did become a slight addiction! I’ve tapered myself off and really haven’t done any major stockpiling for awhile! :)
and where is the FREE TP! I never see that deal!
You and your TP. ;) I definitely think there is an addiction/chemical/physical response when you pull off a really good deal. I get the same sort of feeling after a good run or an overindulgence in something yummy. It’s all about control. Our house is too small to stockpile and I don’t have any issues when it’s done realistically. Just not 1000s of deodorant (unless you have a really bad BO problem, HA!).
I def get a couponing rush! However, at some point it does become a problem if you are skipping out on LIFE to do it! However, that can happen with a number of things…the addiction could be much worse than saving money!
Hi, my names Amanda. I have a big family. not to mention financial problems. Im 21 years old, It would help me and my family so much to learn how to coupon. Can you email me with any tips? I in no way am trying to be a greedy person. Or am I trying to hoard. Im in college and it would help to get some pointers. Thank you so much. :)
yes I caught the last few mins, and it made couponers seem foolish! Unless you donate all that “extra” stuff to charity….300 toothbrushes? I am all for saving money, but from some of the blogs I visit and the comments on them, the first couponer was ridiculus. And the dude cleared out the shelf..big no no in my opinion!
I agree. I think you need to be reasonable and respectful of other shoppers! Clearing the shelves is def a big no, no in my book! :) Unless there is only 2-3 items on the shelf! :)