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Sunday, May 22, 2011

I wish I had a coupon for everything in this world

Who has two thumbs and is staying home on a Saturday night and got sucked into a marathon of Extreme Couponing?
  
This girl!
This show is crazy! I don't know how they do it for multiple reasons. I love coupons whenever available so I'm hoping to learn a few tips.  If it's not dorky enough that I'm watching TLC on a Saturday night, I'm going to blog about all the things that baffle me on this show:
  • How do they keep their coupons organized? It seems impossible to keep track of coupon expiration dates in conjunction with grocery store sales each week.
  • How do they use multiples of the same coupon during a purchase? Don't most coupons say "limit one per item per purchase"? One woman has 10 printers in her home so she can avoid limits of online coupons, but how does it all ring up without a glitch?
  • How do they know ahead of time how much each item typically costs? Stores change at the grocery store all time time. Do they just really pay attention to each time they're at the store so they always know exactly how much they'll save? The narrator always says what they expect their order to cost and what they expect to spend after coupons. 
  • What do they do will such massive amounts of discount items? They hoard these items into secret underground rooms and there's no way they could go through it all! Nathan just displayed 1000 tubes of toothpaste! AND in this current purchase, he's purchasing another 20 tubes! Get real dude! There's just no way! He's not married, however he also had bulk amounts of tampons...sketchy. Just because it's on sale, doesn't mean you need that much! 
  • When they show the final purchase, it is usually the most random, impractical quantities and types of food. No family needs 93 bags of croutons, bags upon bags of candy, and 150 bottles of powerade. If you're trying to feed a family, that is not nutritionally acceptable. There's only so much you can do with a bag of croutons. Yes, they may be spending $2.75 on items that should cost $1,000, but if you're not getting well-rounded meals out of it, I really don't see the point. 
  • I think it's fantastic that some people spend this much time and effort to get all of these items for nearly free and then donate them to troops over seas or charity.
  • One couponer dumpster dives to find coupons. Seriously. 



  • This same couponer spends 60 hours a week at this "job" and has a schedule her week for prime times to dumpster dive. She also has limited time to socialize because she's so busy couponing that she invites her friend to grocery shop with her so they can "catch up". 
  • I did actually learn something valuable, especially for me, who buys for one person. When you have a coupon, use it for the smallest size in that item because then you're spending the least amount of money. I would take a smaller tube of tooth paste for free and it will still take me a little bit to go through. Makes total sense. Thanks Couponers!
  • If these couponers are stay at home moms, but they turn couponing into a job, do they end up paying for daycare anyway? Who is watching these kids?! Especially the mom that spends 60 hours a week doing this!
  • Lastly, when they get to the register, these people are complete wrecks! Are there usually serious coupon errors that completely ruin their lives? And if the cashier can't accept a coupon, they freak out over a few cents. I absolutely get that cents can really add up eventually but even if you spend a WHOLE dollar (gasp!) more than you expected, you're still getting $847 worth of groceries for at the very most $30. Calm down people. 
  • Couponer Stephanie subscribes to 30 newspapers a week, totaling $2000 a year! She also prints multiple coupons from online and ink is not cheap! Is it really worth getting 200 bottles of water and 43 boxes of cereal? It mostly seems like a waste really, especially since she buys cereal that her kids don't even like.
Anyway, kudos to these people but the show doesn't seem that realistic. Additionally, no one lives in New York and I think they would be singing a whole different tune if they did. I'm glad I did learn at least a little something though.

Hope everyone had a much more interesting Saturday night!

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