I know a few of us has written about the show Extreme Couponing.
I am wondering if it is all fiction or if folks are not good at addition. I know one can save some money using coupons. I feel great if I save a few bucks off my bill. I never get a ton of stuff free though. A lot of the coupons are for items we don't buy. I'm not saving money if I buy stuff I'm not going to use.
We were watching an episode last week and this family was "saving" to move out of their bad neighborhood and wanted to move to Hawaii. She had a huge stockpile.
As the story went on, it said she bought either 200 or 300 newspapers. Our little paper here in town costs over a dollar on Sunday so even if they get theirs for a dollar, that's still quite a few bucks to shell out for coupons.
As the program progressed it talked about how the family helped and how their had a huge stockpile of items...laundry detergent, toothpaste, fruit drinks, soda pop, etc.
This shopping trip took 9 hours from start to finish and at the end, they closed the store as they loaded a trailer with their haul.
Pretty cool on the surface, eh?
But then my dh and I were discussing it. Did they have to rent the trailer? And who wants to spend 9 hours in the grocery store? Not to mention all the time and effort and money for those coupons? Did they really save anything?
I guess I wonder about that stockpile...does any of that stuff go bad before they can use it? And if they are saving to move, wouldn't it cost extra to move all that stuff?
I guess being a pragmatist isn't a good thing. I'm wondering how they are coming out ahead...she spends fortune to get the coupons, they stockpile all that stuff so it looked like they spent money on new shelving, and then the trailer...Did they really come out ahead?
It doesn't add up...
October 22nd, 2011 at 12:37 am
October 22nd, 2011 at 02:55 am 1319252141
The bigger/better question, IMO, is how does she plan to get the stockpile to Hawaii???? Does she know you can't drive it there? And the shipping costs would be astronomical, to say the very least. She ultimately is spending as much, if not more, than she's saving.
October 22nd, 2011 at 03:28 am 1319254103
October 22nd, 2011 at 05:32 am 1319261525
All that time they spend on their couponing is more precious to me than a stockpile of candy, TP and soap.
October 22nd, 2011 at 01:58 pm 1319291887
October 22nd, 2011 at 07:42 pm 1319312531
Couponing does pay for me, but mostly on non-food items, and I don't buy dozens of items - usually 3 - 6 each, and I donate a lot of the food items I get free/cheap.