Extreme Couponing

Couponing in real life does not work the way it does on TV. A couple of the people on Extreme Couponing have been caught doing coupon fraud. J 'Aime Kirlew on Extreme Couponing was cheating by using coupons for the wrong products illegally.

You can save a LOT of money with coupons. I once saved $200 but I did not get a bunch of free stuff and walk out of there only paying $2. Retailers are becoming more strict and cracking down because of that show.

 

Because of the Extreme Couponing show I have taken an interest in using coupons. It would be great to save on my grocery bill. So far I am finding it to be a lot of work. It takes time to clip the coupons, you have to have a system for organizing them, and look through circulars to find the sales and where you can get the best value. I manage to save about $20 or $30, but that is about it. I keep wondering if their is a class or something to learn how to get the best savings with coupons.

 

Binders with pages typically used for trading cards works wonders for keeping it all neatly organized. As far as getting the value that the TV show subjects are receiving, I can only say good luck. Most of the people profiled consider it a full time job IIRC. With the savings they accrue, it's not surprising.

I would like to get into it myself, but in Canada, particularly the expensive city of Vancouver, it is nearly impossible. There is a gaping lack of truly good deals, most are just "buy one, get the second one for 30% off!", which is almost insulting to me.

 

I'm too embarrassed to take coupons into a store, I tend to only use coupons online in order to get a discount on domain names, hosting, or buying something from Amazon. I admire people who have the balls to go to a store with a handful of coupons every week.

 

There are free tutorials on Youtube , and there are books on Amazon. Amazon also sells the binders and supplies. Couponing is worth doing and you can save a lot of money, just don't expect to walk out of the store with $900 worth of stuff for free.

 

It doesn't really take much courage to use coupons. Shows like Extreme Couponing have made it more normal and acceptable for people to use coupons and I see them all the time at the store.
My local supermarket even says in their TV commercials that they welcome coupons and encourage people to plan ahead and use them.

 

It seems like couponing is unheard of in 3rd world countries, but is common in 1st world countries. If ever it was available in my area, I think I will use them when there are few people in the mall, so it wouldn't be too embarassing.

 

This topic had been a very interesting read. I've been watching this show with some amazement. We don't really get coupons at all here in Ireland and I confess I had been wondering how realistic it is what those people on the show do. I figured they might be exploiting loopholes, but I suppose I'm not surprised that some of them were actually cheating. It also makes sense that to do it at that level, it's pretty much a full time job.

If you think about it, why would stores be happy to let people walk away with so much free stuff. The coupons are a means of advertising, a way of getting people in the door. I'm sure they never meant people to use them the way we get shown on the show, and it doesn't surprise me that they would be taking measures to stop it from happening any more.

 

This show has opened my eyes to couponing as well, and I've even seen episodes wherein the store actually even paid the couponer a couple of dollars or cents by the end of the shopping spree. I have to admit I was a person that didn't view couponing favorably until I watched the show, so I do find the show to be extraordinary. It's just a shame that a few of the participants turned out to be frauds, as I think that puts a negative light to the industry as a whole.

 

I have had a lot of luck with coupons over the years. It's very important to actually look for the best ones online and to cut them out from newspapers because over time you will realize you're saving a fortune after it all. Yes up over the course of a few months. It's definitely worth it in my eyes.

 

I believe i saw the same show or something very similar. I was shocked over it as well. I have used coupons when shopping but I have never saved more than 30 bucks. If I could collect and use coupons saving 600 bucks. I will clip coupons all the time.

 

I have a good friend named Brandy who spends like $5-$10 and brings home about 50+ items. I really want to learn how to coupon because I need to start saving but every time I try I just end up forgetting the coupons until they expire. I am in desperate need of organization. My best friend and I made a bet to see if we can stick to it this time and who will end up saving the most money.

 

The show has more than once been debunked as "impossible" given that several stores featured broke their own coupon-stacking rules in order to be featured on the show.

I do coupon. I'm not extreme. For me, it was a time/cost ratio that I had to figure out. A lot of people forget that time is worth money. I'm self-employed and I work from home. I know exactly how much I can make an hour. If I could be working and making more per hour than I'm saving in the time I spend with coupons, it isn't worth it.

I definitely don't spend tons of time doing it. That said, it was a slow but steady process to get where I am right now, and it is a habit. I've reduced my grocery bill in the last three years by about 20%, and though my family has grown from 2 to 5 people, I've managed not to exponentially raise our budget.

If couponing isn't your thing, there are plenty of ways to save money on groceries without them. If you are interested, you can check out this article I wrote:

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Well hell, you must have tons of cash.

Coupons arent charity. They're appeals from comapnies to get you to buy their product instead of one you would normanlly buy. Its a bribe from them to you.

Im not rich but i feel im doing pretty well financially. I take every opportunity to save money that i can. This includes coupons, rewards, friends and family discounts etc etc.

 

I have seen this tv show and it's crazy I wish I could save as much as they do. But I have heard it isn't as easy as it looks. It seems easy because they have been doing it for years so they know what they are doing. It'd take years to get their level.

 

I really dislike this show! To me it's unbelievable how people will have massive stocks of food in their home just because they were free or really cheap! Seriously, do you prefer to have a bunch of food go bad just cause you didn't pay for it? I think couponing like that should be illegal. Coupons were made for consumers to save a little extra money here and there, not for weird people to live by them!

 

I suggest to take it slow so you don't over warm yourself. Learning about how to use coupons correctly will help your financially. Can you image having extra money to do other things with or your grocery list shrinkage because you all ready have that product. I don't think the people that do extreme Couponing just jump right in, I feel like they have been doing the coupons for years. Coupons been out way before the show exist. My older sister taught me how to use coupons and I glad she did. It not a lot to learn about coupons but you tend to get more better with Couponing. I learned how to stack coupons deals on each other. Go to the movie for free. Free birthday food, the list go on. My suggestion is to start small. Find free coupons inserts at your local library or check the out & in door stand that sit in front of your grocery store. Ask people you know that have the newspaper but they don't use the coupons to save it for you. Their are coupons train you can join just Google it. If you don't mind getting dirty check out some of the recycle containers. Look inside you magazines. Send your favorite company an email telling them how you like their products or services, most of the time they will send you some coupons and samples. Ask the gas station do they want their old newspaper, just be their when they are about to throw them out. If you don't find coupons this way find out who your local newspaper company. You would pay around $2 for the whole newspaper including the coupon insert. You can also have them deliver right to your front step. eBay offer a service if you don't feel like cutting them out. Go to eBay, put coupons in the search box and tone of coupons will come up. Then after you collect your coupons shop like you all ways do and match coupons with your item. When you see the price go down on your grocery bill this will make you want to save more. A good place to start is thekrazycouponlady and Hunt4Freebies. On the krazy coupon lady website they have an eBook you can download, this is a good book. I even learned some new tricks.

 

I wish I was able to coupon like this. Even if I was, extreme coupon has motivated some of the stores around here to change the way they take coupons. I think it will get easier soon. Groupon is loosing investors, and people might start to coupon less. If they do, then the stores might start being more lenient about how they take coupons.