Former ‘Extreme Couponer’ Admits: It’s a Waste of Time

Store taking the coupons are reimbursed by the manufacturer so there is no loss by anyone. Stores in my area still do double coupons and have no plans of changing.
you are not getting over on anyone by couponing extreme or normal. if i can spend the time clipping coupons and saving tons of money you better believe i am gonna do it. i have seen ppl in my area get 2 buggies of groceries and pay only 25 dollars after coupons. I am not an extremist when it comes to coupons but if i had the time I would get every discount and coupon i could. with the economy the way it is every bit helps.

its a waste of time because EBT is free

The food that you can get with coupons is always over processed GMO crap that I would not feed my family. So yeah it's a waste of time

Everything in the stores anymore are over processed crap full of bad junk, only thing you can get pure is home grown stuff.

Organic companies give out boatloads of coupons to get people to try their stuff. This is actually the way I found out about the GMO debate years ago. Also, if you have pets, coupons is one of the only ways you will ever get the healthier brands for your pets at a managable price.

Before we go to the mall or shopping, I will look for coupons to the local stores or eateries. If I am going to get office supplies, I look for coupons first. Also, if I order on line I use coupon codes. I save in every way possible, my older children use coupons when they go for fast food with their friends. The friends think it is cool. Who would have thought, saving money is cool.

Yep. Same with rebates, which were designed to be so hard to process that most people didn't bother.

I have used coupons for hotel rooms on vacations. Got a room that normally goes for 120/night for 45/night.

also get them for restaurants. big savings!!

Toxic chemicals disguised as soaps/deodorants and processed GMO garbage labeled as "food"

The one common theme with the extreme couponers - they are all obese and have a myriad of health problems due to poor nutrition. You notice they never get a deal on perishable/fresh items, only crap that can sit in your basement for 2 years.

These companies give their products away to suckers who think they are getting something for free. They just provide a steady supply of patients for big pharma.

Couponing aside what store can you go in and buy any food that doesn't have toxic chems or some sort of bad preservatives in them besides an organic store? i have seen coupons for every brand/manufacturer and food that is in the stores.

Maybe not always so cheap. You have to also consider the hordes of subscribers to forums like FatWallet, SlickDeals, RedFlagDeals, who have been infected by the "buy now, think later" virus which are the life blood of these sites. It's on sale, so buy now and figure out whether you need it or not later.

I can tell you EXACTLY when the couponing thing began to go south - I noticed it immediately


9/11


I am a retired accountant, on a fixed income with two children, so counting pennies is a necessity of life. I knew my items, coupons, stores, inside and out, and I generally saved 55% on my shopping that way, also shopping day-old and clearance items, or discount markets, etc.


After 9/11, seems like a lot of things slowed down a lot, and the coupons for the "real" foods, began to fade away, less and less offers for things you actually "eat", and it got worse every year. Now the stores won't give double coupons any more, the prices skyrocketed with the gas increases, and the coupons that are out there are literally mostly for things like, frozen appetizers, ice cream, hair color, razors, cleaning supplies, and sometimes new items that are just out, overpriced, packaged foods full of salt and chemicals. Couponing has become a bit of a dead end, and I prefer to just use the store club sales and get things for less that way, or stick with my discount stores, there are so many in CA - Big Lots, 99c stores, Dollar Tree, Save-a-Lot, Grocery Outlet, and the local farmers market type stores where produce can be a really good deal. Another method to cut down on the driving around is to log all the sales on items around town from the current ads, and go shop at the Walmart superstore grocery and ad-match the prices, get it all in one trip.

That's what normal people do. If you're good at finding coupons and matching them up with sales you can still save quite a bit. The notion of getting something for nothing is ridiculous though and it frustrates people who start couponing when they find out they won't be able to do what the ladies on that stupid show do.

So, help me understanding this "american way" of thinking....

Getting FOOD for FREE is "a waste of time" ???????

Really?? Seriously??

If so, then you are sooooooooo fucked..............

Buying a car or big ticket item yeah, other than that no...i don't look at gas prices and I avoid sales because it's crowded...

Not healthy food, it's always processed crap with HFCS...

No, people like you are what push me into the above normal category...

That is why it is called a snap card.

Even saving 50 cents off a box of Ding Dongs can't compare to the sweet, sweet taste of government tit.

The perhaps we shouldn't 'discount' what is being said as we just won't make the 'cut'?

I prefer to use coupons on items I buy anyway and sometimes use them to try something new.

It's the rest of the world who is paying for your greed.

That's an opinion piece from some snob in Newyork,

"What’s more, a paycheck is generally considered superior to, say, a stockpile of 50 jars of tomato sauce"

full of BS and Lies... because they are too lazy to take a few seconds to save a few hundred dollars, then it must not work for anyone, stupid libtards, logical fallacy alert!

I dont do the shopping in my house, but if i did i wouldnt care about using coupons...why would you want to give the corporate monster more money then you have to?

Brief is right. There are hardly ever coupons for healthy items. Most of the coupons are for processed shit and are advertised in newspapers and such to catch the eye of the reader.

I might use a coupon that gives me 15$ off of my total purchase at Stop n Shop, but that's as far as it goes.

a couple of times I saved $35.00 on a grocery bill
I don't use too many coupons anymore, by the time I
get to the city, they have already expired.

if you go to brand savers site and are lucky enough
to get in, you can get a lot of products sent free.

such as razors, laundry soap, deodorant, face soap etc.

There is nothing wrong with using coupons, I used to save half of my grocery bill. I didn't buy anything I did not need. May daughter is real good at budgeting and uses coupons but not for just anything. You should never spend on anything you do not use or eat.

Those coupons are out there to be used.

Bottom-line: the Extreme Couponer show was fixed. Anyone who uses coupons knows a store will not order a pallet of cereal and accept 100 coupons for the same item. If you did have 100 coupons for one item, you would have had to go in & out of the store many, many times. As I pointed out earlier- the article says you should get a second job & stop couponing, it is cheaper.

So Time prints an article, also quoting NPR, hmmmm 2 liberal biased sources want Americans to stop using coupons and get part-time jobs. I guess it makes sense, more tax revenue for the gov't and people continue to work till they drop trying to make ends meet.

Cause they are clearing the shelves. Greedy selfish people don't know how to share. I dont care if the store is getting paid. When you go to a store to buy a certain item. And the shelve is totally empty. Now you have to trek 20 minutes to get the same item cause your kids has allergies to the other items. While he has uhaul truck loading his 9 chart And a special semi with his preorder 86 cases of cereal. Get real.

I like to coupon within reason. While she states that it is equivalent to working a part-time job, and it is (even feels like a full time job at times!), consider this: if you lose your PT job you will be left with next to nothing. If, however, you are no longer able to coupon for some reason you will have a surplus of food and supplies to carry you through for a while. You just have to use your head. I live rural so the extremes on the TLC show are not feasible for me. I have 2 local stores (not chain stores) 1 close and the other 15 miles away, and a Walmart. Very limited choices! So I have really had to use my noodle to save money. Through the use of internet deal listings, coupons, sales and timing, it can work! Just not the excess you see on TV. That is unless you hoard vast amounts of dental floss and deodorant!