Thursday, April 21, 2011

Extreme Couponing

So recently there has been a lot of talk about the new show Extreme Couponing. I have mixed feelings about this show.

I completely understand using coupons and getting a great deal. I use coupons myself and believe me when I say I grew up with the queen of extreme refunding. (That's a story for another day.) If you can avoid paying retail then go for it.

Here is where I have a problem. Some of these people have so much stuff in their houses and storage areas that they will never use it all. I have seen some that have stocked their paper products in their shower. I don't know about you but I have two bathrooms and we use them both.

So why can't these people then take the extreme excess and donate it to charity. There are plenty of homeless shelters, food banks, churches and so on that would love to have a portion of that stuff to pass on to those less fortunate.

I did see a recent commercial for the show that showed a man with 1000 tubes of toothpaste. He has the right idea though. He is donating a ton (literally and figuratively) of items to military families. He is keeping what his family can use in a reasonable amount of time and the rest is going to a wonderful cause.

How do you feel about this new craze? Do you coupon, extreme coupon or not use them at all?

Stacy

7 comments:

Steph said...

I've been thinking about blogging on this subject too. :)

I'm a couponer. I got real serious about it back in December 2009 and made myself a goal of spending $5200 on groceries in 2010. I figured $100 was less than what I was doing and I could be happy with that. I almost did it too, I ended up spending $5725.58, so I averaged $109.82. I was pretty pleased with that, considering what I had been spending previously!

I got very involved in couponing sites and message boards and I found that there are a whole lot of people like me...happy to save their family money, but not preparing for nuclear winter. There are some people who just buy, buy, buy and you know that stuff is never going to get used.

The thing that bothers me about the show is the obvious fraud that one of the participants committed and that that individual actually teaches couponing classes. Sad. It's going to make it a lot harder for legitimate couponers in the future. :(

Sorry I'm so long winded! I had more thoughts than I, well, thought. :)

unwashedflyer said...

that sounds like that primarily american wide television show called the price is right hosted by drew carey. i happened to be thinking about that show the other day.

i can't comment about the show you were talking about.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that is a story for another day.

BKO

Unknown said...

I love couponing and getting a great deal, and I've stocked up so the price hikes won't hurt so much, but I'm talkin' 3 pkgs, not 300!! I think those people have a problem. Remember when GP got hooked on getting free shampoo?? There is a lot I do on sales, etc, because coupons are hard to come by for things I use, but those people make me hurt for them..

White Hot Magik said...

I use them if they match what I want to buy. I used to not care which brand but this diet rules out so many processed foods and I find that is what most coupons are for. As far as having a ton of extra stuff I would hate that, good if they donate I guess.

Dory said...

I was just saying to Shannon the other day that the ONLY way I can see any good from that kind of extreme couponing is if it was my JOB and I worked at some sort of homeless shelter or something. Where I spent my time collecting/ organizing coupons and then made a weekly big trip to stock the pantry at the shelter. Otherwise, it's nothing but hoarding to me. Hoarding b/c they can get a good deal on it.... not because they NEED it.

The Gaelic Wife said...

They remind me of hoarders. Yes, they're neat and orderly with their loads of stuff. But still, when will they ever use all those bottles of shampoo? It's borderline addiction. In my opinion.