Extreme Couponing on TLC Tonight (and some personal thoughts) #extremecouponing #coupons
Click on over to see TLC's Extreme Couponing preview for tonight. I am going to DVR it (because I would rather watch Idol) but let me tell you that I have some fairly strong thoughts about the show. You know that here on Consumer Queen, we love to tell you how to save money and use coupons! TLC's Extreme Couponing appears to feature only those with dedicated rooms and/or storage buildings for their overstock. The normal person (without a TV crew from TLC) could not go into Kroger and purchase 1000+ boxes of cereal with coupons. Most stores policies have limits on how many like coupons you can use…or just # of coupons per transaction in general. I love that TLC is putting time and energy to show people that they can save tons with coupons, but I think featuring people who are in tears about how life has passed them by due to their Extreme Couponing just doesn't seem to set well with me. I must say that I snickered thinking about the one who pays for insurance on their stockpile, or think of the ones who can't park in their garage because it's their storage area. So park the $20,000+ minivan out where hail can beat it, and put the FREE toothpaste in the garage…doesn't make sense.
If you would like to step up your couponing and save even more…follow these simple steps:
1.) Print coupons from coupons.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com, and couponnetwork.com
2.) Use clipless coupons when you can! (upload them from cellfire.com, shortcuts.com, and Kroger.com)
3.) Match the coupon to the item when it is on sale to get the biggest bang for your buck, and price match when you can!
4.) Learn the sale cycles and purchase enough to get you thru to the next sale (Chicken Breasts usually go on sale every 3 weeks…so buy for three weeks at a time and never pay full price)
5.) Don't go store to store shopping…keep your coupons with you and if you are passing by, then stop. You won't save if you are out burning up gas…which is SO expensive right now.
Check out our posts on Coupon Etiquette, Are You Really Saving Money, Coupon Fraud, and Coupon Tips. Follow us on Facebook for more deals.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to know you fit couponing into your life?
It always makes me feel like I am not doing enough couponing and that I should work harder to get to where we “need nothing”. The truth of the matter is -I HAVE A LIFE! I have a beautiful two year old I stay home with, an amazing 14 year old (her birthday is today, boy how time flies!), and a wonderful husband that I like to spend time with. So, I will be a happy camper when I go to the grocery store and spend $60 on $140 worth of groceries! I don’t have a huge stock pile of items, BUT I have a stock pile of love…and that is what I need!
I just read your article and I totally agree with you. I do not have the time to stockpile my stuff and I do not want to have to buy something just because I have a coupon for it and I really do not need it. All those boxes of cereal that they buy ahead of time… you cannot tell me that does not get stale before they can get to it, especially if they are storing it in a hot garage. I am interested in seeing what they have to say, though.
I agree with you CQ~! Seems wasteful to overstock on items. I plan on watching tonight but “Mr.Coupon” and his 1,000 boxes of cereal really put a bad taste in my mouth for this show. Feeding a family of 6 is expensive and bargain shopping is exhausting. I don’t coupon because it’s fun (although it is rewarding), I coupon because it’s necessary! Nothing is MORE frustrating then driving 20-30 miles (we are in the ‘country’) to discover that someone has scooped up all the deals~! You can be frugal without being SELFISH~!!!
It’s totally extreme and takes up a lot of time. I don’t have the space or need to stockpile tons of items, nor do I have a team of people clipping coupons with me.
I do love using discount codes when I shop online and will wait till there is a really good deal before pouncing on it. Basically, strike a balance. Save where you can, but if you have to pay full price for something, then just do it.
Since I have started to comment on blogs and do more FaceBooking, I have vowed to stay positive with my comments. Especially as women, we need to support one another.
I do have an opinion on this subject and will try to keep it in a supportive light. I support couponing, it has been a blessing to our budget now that I stay at home. I also support those who buy a little extra every time to help those in need.
I do believe this show, however, will make us couponers look a bit off the wall. When my husband and I are at a gathering and the subject of groceries or saving money come up, I mention that I coupon. My husband then supports my comment. Almost every time people say something about how they saw this show on TLC and it is crazy and there is no way they have time to coupon. This show does not show everyday diligent couponers saving money. The ladies who are on the show even said they met ahead of time with the managers with a special list or they had to call corporate for clearance. Although this makes for good ratings, it is not realistic and therefore I believe the show (not the participants) will shed a negative light on couponing and make it look too difficult and off the wall for most people to attempt.
I applaud the women on the show for taking their technique to the community and for donating to the shelters. This is really what it is all about, bettering women and the lives they provide their families through saving money!
Have a blessed day everyone!
I have been a professional couponer and rebater for over 20 years, and I can tell you this show is very unrealistic to true couponing–even what is realistically extreme. I’ve seen the pilot for this show, and truly believe there is a lot …of manipulation and staging for the sake of ratings. I believe they also secured store cooperation for the show and may have also supplied many additional coupons–I couldn’t even get that many from the recycling center! The bottom line, it’s a reality show; and reality shows have a certain amount of scripting and staging. Unfortunately, a show like this, if successful, may have a negative effect on the future of couponing.
I also want to add that, after seeing the pilot, there is not much in the show in way of learning how to coupon. So, I personally don’t believe anyone is going to learn couponing from this show.
I realized that this has to be extremely edited for TV. I have been couponing since the first show aired. I was completely motivated after watching the show, but I learned that it doesn’t work as “easy” as they make it out. When I re-watched the original show about 2 months after I started, my biggest question was the taxes. I started pausing the screen when they showed the end totals on the receipts. The totals that came out to $2 to $5 are totally wrong. You always have to pay the tax, and tax on a $200.00 check out would be about $16.00. So aside from being able to use that many coupons, while doubling them all, avoiding the taxes just shows that its fixed.
These people are crazy. Sure you save money but you have wasted so much money and time on things you do not use. It becomes an OCD thing and some people need help!! It is fine to do coupons but getting hundrends of items to stockpile? Stockpile for what the end of the world?
In the pilot, and I don’t know if anyone else picked up on it, I spotted something of a blooper. One of the shoppers just dumped whole baskets of product into their cart without counting them out first to make sure they had the same amount as they had coupons for it. That makes no sense unless it was staged.
Another one I noticed was the husband and wife that shopped together with the nine carts and all the candy bars and pasta. If they had shopped like that before, they would have know already that the registers in the store can only handle a maximum number of coupons per order. I even know that. Especially, in Walmart. It makes me think they have never done such a big order all at once before, or they would have known that.
Smart thinking Denise!!
I have to agree with the majority of the comments above. However; I will say I have watched behind the scenes of “Mr Coupon” and also follow him on Facebook. I applaud him with what he does. He states that he donates some of his stock pile to his church food bank which is AWESOME!!!! Also, Denise, B. stated about his dumping baskets of products (toothbrushes and I do believe deodorant) into his cart, true that he did do this which also confused me. But prior to the show he did count the product to make sure that it matched with his coupons. As for the huge stockpile, I have no idea who else is capable of maintaining let alone housing one of this size. The first woman, Amanda, I had a problem with. I have no idea if she donates any of which she buys, I have a feeling that she does not, and I personally think that she should. But that is just my opinion.
But like others have stated, this is extreme, not everyday. With TLC you have to keep in mind that they have a reputation to shedding negativity on any subject. Not all but I will admit a lot. I wish that they would have a series that educated on the subject with them being the TLC – The Learning Channel – I think that that would be appropriate, maybe I am wrong. And I will agree that this series will make regular coupon users seem selfish and crazy. I have already experienced this at target and other stores. I have had cashiers as well as other customers give me dirty looks and also negative comments about how ” they are not hurting for cash”. I myself am not either, but why pay full price when manufacturer’s and stores alike make coupons available to entice the consumer to buy their products or shop at their stores? ( I loved when the cashier saw how much I saved and she looked dumbfounded though. Made me laugh inside tee hee.)
Thanks for reading and letting me rant. Happy savings all.
* Also, thanks to all on ConsumerQueen for teaching me how to save so much. I credit your site for most of my knowledge. 🙂
Denise, I saw that. I thought how the heck do they know how many are in that container?
I do understand extreme couponing, in reality terms. I’ve done it for years. Although, I’ve had to tone it down after moving to Florida where there are no double or triple coupons. I have to work it differently to get things for free or next to nothing here. I have given away excess to friends and food pantries through the years. I also have retained stock from over ten years ago that we’re easily using up now since it’s harder and harder to get these things for free now such as deodorant, lotions, etc. (and, no, they don’t go bad; but they might lose their fragrance, that’s about it!LOL). My stockpile was kept limited to the pantry closet, mudroom closet, and shelving down in the cellar. It never spilled out to any other parts of the house. I’ve been doing this for about 25 years now.
That being said, from experience, I can tell that there is scripting and staging to this reality show.
I see many taxable items where the bottomline cost seems to be under what the tax owed should be. I see stores throwing out store policies for the show, such as a limit of four of a kind of any coupon for example. I see people with more coupon books than I could even realistically find in a recycling center making me think they were conveniently supplied. It’s very vague on exactly how they get to that place to be able to place orders like they show on this show–they cut, they go, they buy, not much information there. I notice that they are always able to find as much product as they have coupons for. I know from experience the best deals in the store with sale plus coupon are the barest sections on the shelf. So, staging comes in here, where they are making sure the stock is on the shelves for the show. No matter where I have lived, I have always run into problems finding everything I needed that I had coupons for. I see large packages of Charmin and other things in the stockroom that I know cannot even be had that cheaply let alone free. I can go on and on with what I’ve seen as unrealistic in the show.
…and the bottom line is that this is a reality show, so you know you can’t believe everything you see in it.
I couldn’t have said it better myself…..great job Denise!!!
Also, unless I missed it, I don’t believe they addressed anything about rebating which is also a part of couponing and how much these people are spending to get the coupons they allegedly got themselves.
Has anyone noticed that most coupons state right on them something like “May not be sold or auctioned or otherwise transferred or reproduced”? So, how are these coupon sites getting away with selling coupons?
“Budget Savvy Diva” has an article about TLC promoting coupon fraud. These shoppers are using coupons for products the coupons aren’t for and so on. A good must-read article.
An article about it on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/jill-cataldos-super-couponing/was-coupon-fraud-shown-on-tlcs-extreme-couponing/201168733251375
It also appears that the “Extreme Couponing” Facebook page is now gone.
Hmm, now “Extreme Couponing” is back up on Facebook. I read somewhere else this morning that it was gone; and, when I went to check, it wasn’t there. Maybe, they did some kind of comment purging! 😉