Now at first this seemed like a good idea. Who wouldn't want to get 90% of their groceries for free? Being a SAHM, who is responsible for the grocery shopping but not being the one supplying the income, saving money where I can is always good thing.
But as I watched this show, I started to cringe. This particular episode, the couponer got 20 of each flavor powerade, 150 king-size butterfingers candybars, I dont know how many bags of cookies. She ended up with Nine carts - NINE!! I myself have only ever completely filled up ONE cart a handful of times in my life!
Another woman was piling her cart full of 2-liter Soda bottles, chips, and other processed junkfood. Her goal was to purchase $1000 worth of items for under $55.
I had only 2 questions after watching this:
How do you manage to consume all of this (such as 50 2-liters bottles of Pepsi) and WHY would you want to?!?! I don't care how much savings there was to be had the food was just plain unhealty!
It lead me to wonder if the couponing craze has become somewhat of a sickness for some. It seems like some of these people are steps away from being hoarders (another show that makes me cringe).
Now don't get me wrong I have friends who are couponing queens and my Aunt, well, She is a couponing genius. I myself love it when I have managed to save a large portion of my bill using coupons. The difference here is that what my friends, aunt and myself buy are things we actually need and use. I tend to wonder with the TV Extreme Couponers, if they are buying these things because they actually need them or because of the thrill they get from getting a deal. Another question is: are these Extreme Couponers the reality or are the producers just really creative in their editing?
Readers, what are your thoughts on this? Are you an extreme couponer? Does this show do justice to couponing?
Photos courtesy of www.stockvault.com
4 comments:
I think the show is disgusting, but that's just me. I shouldn't judge - but whatever. Personally, I think it gives an unrealistic view of couponing and quite frankly, makes me think that stores/products are going to stop accepting and/or distributing coupons. I know up here - Shaw's & Stop & Shop both have limits of how many MFCs you can use on a product (the answer is 6) - so even if I did dumpster dive and beg my neighbors for coupons, it really wouldn't help me grab 93 packs of croutons for free if I was given that opportunity. Plus, my stock pile is my cabinet storage. And that overwhelms me. I couldn't imagine having my basement or another room dedicated to a stockpile. Maybe I'm just not that hardcore. Or maybe I'm lazy. Or maybe I just don't give a rat's ass of saving that much money. Speaking of which - I scored 6 cans of chickpeas for dirt cheap and I'm at a loss as to what to do with them. Maybe I'll attempt to make my own hummus here soon. I don't know - but even with that "extreme" purchase on my part - I'm at a loss of what to do with my "find". Oh well.
On the flip side, I did go on a coupon binge a year and a half ago and scored $518 worth of groceries for a net of $43.29. $260 of that pre-sale/pre-coupon stuff I donated to our town's food pantry and it cost me a whopping $6.75 out of pocket. For real shizz:
http://bargainbecky.blogspot.com/2009/10/fill-food-pantry-shaws-cat-summary.html
So I guess I can be kind of disgusting like those people at times. And you know me! Ha! ;)
I too think that the coupon craze is very much a sickness for some. In a time when we all really need to start looking at what is in the food we are eating it seems ridiculous to purchase and eventually consume 150 butterfingers and 50 bottles of Pepsi (whilst to a constantly craving junk food pregnant girl seems lovely).
Yeah, that show is a bit crazy and so are some of these ladies. I've been known to fill 2 cars once or twice a month, but we have 6 kids and I've never saved more than 60% on a grocery bill. That's because I am NOT gonna kill myself so I can get free ding dongs for 6 months.
Glad you found your coffee pot :)
Sharon at voiceBoks
www.sharon-moms-madhouse
I think you have to keep in mind that the participants in the show have been asked to put together the biggest, most impressive shop they can. It doesn't mean that this is what they normally eat, or that they always fill three carts. It just means that they have the skills and collect enough inserts to come up with a huge shopping trip for the cameras.
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