Comments on: Mythbusters: Extreme Couponing

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:24:44 +0000

Haha… “coupon fairies” – I like that ;) This whole thing is super interesting to me! Though I’m all for creative ways to using coupons to your advantage. I don’t know the legal ramifications behind it, but it’s hard to imagine you’d really get in much trouble if there are set “understandings” among couponers and the stores… guess you just do what works in the best way you know how, eh?

By: Micki @addhousewife

Micki @addhousewife — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:45:21 +0000

@michael: yes, but then coupon clubs are also committing fraud, and so are coupon fairies who leave coupons behind for other people to use. They are transferring the coupons from one person to another, And all those expired coupons we send overseas, also being transferred making that “illegal”, too. If they really want to stop people buying coupons online, then they need to make the same coupons available in all markets! Just because I live in a market that is considered the lowest tier, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to have access to a coupon! I have no way to get coupons. There isn’t a paper near me large enough to get any “good” coupons.

By: Valencia

Valencia — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:07:52 +0000

Thank you so much for this article!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:37:41 +0000

Thanks again for sharing your experiment with us, Cordelia! It was a nice peak into something that I’ve never had the balls to try myself at this point ;) I’m still kinda curious to try it out if I can set aside a few blocks of time like that, but knowing me I’ll never do it, haha…. so for now, I’m taking your work for it that it doesn’t make much sense to go “all in!”

Hope you had a blessed holiday my friend, let’s keep in touch – huge fan of yours, as you better know by now :)

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:05:04 +0000

Oh.my.gosh. I could have written the exact same thing! Thanks for making me feel normal again!!!

I have a “bertha” too, and I just stare at it. Most of the coupons have probably expired at this point. A HUGE time drainer for sure.

By: Michael Trout

Michael Trout — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:10:31 +0000

I just want to mention for anyone considering using a clipping service, that is coupon fraud and is a felony. That means you could get more than one year in prison, lose your right to vote, obtain a visa, possess firearms, participate in the welfare program, and possibly make it hard to find a job. If all that is worth saving the time to get the coupons legally, go for it

By: Micki @addhousewife

Micki @addhousewife — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:35:41 +0000

I’m an extreme couponer. As-seen-on-my-local TV and all. The biggest mistake I’ve seen you make is the number of inserts you are tackling. Big time savings means shopping in mass quantities. What they show on TV, when they buy 100 of an item, the item is under $1 or free after coupon. You won’t see big savings until you start getting those pallets. Like you said, that’s not realistic. What you also don’t see on TV is them buying the “normal” items. When shopping for TV, you only buy the sale items…unless you have mega overage.

to get the coupons you need (and save sanity) you need to use a clipping service. you buy the coupons you want in the quantity you want. And they arrive to your home already cut and ready to go in the binder.

We are also cook from scratchers, so there are certain items I hoard. Like yeast. The last trip I did for our local TV station, I purchased 70+ packets of yeast…and I made 69 cents on each one! That sort of deal doesn’t happen often. I used it to cover the cost of other non-coupon items.

By: Emily Guy Birken

Emily Guy Birken — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:19:27 +0000

I’ve been a little leery of the Extreme Couponing phenomenon because it seems to bring out the worst in OCD/hoarding types, although the OCD/hoarding part of my brain keeps poking me with a pair of coupon-clipping scissors and telling me I’m missing out on great deals. Thanks for attempting this for all of us and making it clear to my brain that this is not something I want to try. Even though one half of my brain is still trying to rearrange furniture so that there’s room for the TP fort.

By: Cordelia

Cordelia — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:40:05 +0000

Thanks so much for the great comments, everyone! If J.’s site were set up to let me respond to each of your comments individually, I would have. But since I can’t, let me just say:

For those of you who’ve wondered about extreme couponing but never had the guts (/insanity) to try it yourself: I’m glad my fiasco helped you learn what you (fortunately) have been missing out on. :)

For those of you who manage to coupon in a reasonable, successful manner: What are your tips and tricks? I know some of you have mentioned searching certain blogs, etc….What advice do you have for people (myself included) looking to score big in a less ridiculous manner?

~Kell

By: Michael Trout

Michael Trout — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:40:35 +0000

This is a great post! We tried the extreme couponing route a while back. We actually did end up saving an extra $150 or so a week, but it was taking us an extra 15-20 hours a week and the majority of the best deals were for junk food and other stuff we wouldn’t usually buy anyway. We eventually gave up and I now have a second job for the extra 15-20 hours a week and we just go without the junk. This has netted us WAY more than we ever saved couponing for the same hours and effort :)