Extreme couponing...

Watching extreme couponing for the first time!
This NEVER EVER could be possible in the Netherlands...
They'd never let you walk out of the store with all those products for such a small amount of money or even free....
I'm flabbergasted....

95% of Americans are too lazy or too busy to be bothered......so the stores/manufacturers really aren't losing that much! There are other people like me who have good intentions and clip then and then either forget to bring them, or bring them and forget to use them lol

Well, I know this is extreme, and most people don't do it this way... But, phew!
There was a woman buying for 1300$ and in the end she GOT 31 cents!!!
And there wasn't a lot un-useful stuff.
(That's what I do ... I buy bargains sometimes I don't really need or use... )

That sounds amazing!! Would love to do that, I thought I was doing good feeding a family of 6 on $150/week for groceries, shampoos,soaps,paper towels,toilet paper,etc

Ahem... I have had the singular experience of being a Walmart cashier this past month... and have had to process some extreme couponers.

One lady had 48 packages of Zantax... and 48 coupons for $2 off. Walmart sells it for something like $1.68. Therefore, we paid her 32 cents each to buy it it. She also had 36 of something else, with coupons... we also paid her to buy those. With the money we paid her for the coupon items she bought a rug.

Thing is... she had no intention of using the Zantax - says she gives it away.

Shannon Fennell wrote:Ahem... I have had the singular experience of being a Walmart cashier this past month... and have had to process some extreme couponers.

One lady had 48 packages of Zantax... and 48 coupons for $2 off. Walmart sells it for something like $1.68. Therefore, we paid her 32 cents each to buy it it. She also had 36 of something else, with coupons... we also paid her to buy those. With the money we paid her for the coupon items she bought a rug.

Thing is... she had no intention of using the Zantax - says she gives it away.

I have gotten stuck in line due to a couponer... It seems to be an art and battle of wills, The lady had like 20+ things of deodorant which she ended up getting for less than 2 dollars after some arguing and management intervention.

The coupons are honoured to the terms on them - so if it doesn`t say `one per customer per purchase` or similar we have to take them.

The stores are reimbursed by the companies issuing the coupons so they aren`t out the funds... just is inconvenient when you have the lines like Walmart has at the tills...

wholly smokes...thats crazy...I wouldn't have the time or energy to do it.

I used to do coupons years ago. It took so much time. I get it when families do it to save substantially on the food bill. But I am a ... unique ... eater (as in, I actually LIKE tofu. And soy milk. And organic Fair Trade stuff. And etcetera.). Not too many coupons for those things in the Sunday papers.

What I LOVE is Trader Joe's. What a great store. No coupons, no sales, no stupid little piece of "loyalty" plastic to clog up my keychain just to get the sale items.

Just fair prices, available to everyone, every day.

(No, I am not a spokesperson for Trader Joe's. But if they would hire me part time and not require weekends, I'd be a crew member in a minute. Great health insurance for part time hours. But, all my bookings are on Saturday and Sunday, so, for now, I'll just be a shopper there.).

i have a few friends who do this and I think it is amazing!

one of the ladies when she buys stuff she isn't going to use (in order to GET money with them) she donates it to the local charities, sometimes the half way house, other times the woman shelter.

I think it is a good thing most the time--if I have coupons I tell the people who get in line behind me so they aren't waiting--AND I ask the teller if they are due for a break witht in the next 1/2 hour cause sometimes it can take a while.
I think it is amazing and if people are organized (not me I piggy backed off a friend a few times) then why not get the great deals----

however most people you see on the show don't do that all the time--they hit a great deal and they have the show follow them on a mother load of a shopping trip. If I don't save at least 30% on my total I feel like I failed...

for example--today I got $85.75 worth of stuff for $22.31. Pretty good in my opinion!

I love that show too, but I have to Hulu it since I don't have TV!

Shannon Fennell wrote:Ahem... I have had the singular experience of being a Walmart cashier this past month... and have had to process some extreme couponers.

One lady had 48 packages of Zantax... and 48 coupons for $2 off. Walmart sells it for something like $1.68. Therefore, we paid her 32 cents each to buy it it. She also had 36 of something else, with coupons... we also paid her to buy those. With the money we paid her for the coupon items she bought a rug.

Thing is... she had no intention of using the Zantax - says she gives it away.

That's what these woman did too!
Amazing.......
Over here we've got on every coupon: one coupon per perchase, per person.
And you don't get it for free! So it's not worth the effort to get back ten times, or ask other people to get it for you.

@ Amylady. They did this often enough to be able to feed their families with it. Well, I thought: not always healthy, you do need other stuff, don't you? Like fresh veggies and bread and so? But no. They ate for 90% freezer stuff.
We don't know that either here. We don't eat much freezer food, but some vegetables (like peas, you don't get those fresh all year).
I'm still amazed....

I used to be seriously into couponing before my daughter was born... then I realized that I barely had time to read the paper and find the coupons lol. I still get daily emails from group buy sites.

In fact, next weekend hubby and I have a hotel booked in Niagara Falls with a $15 credit to a restaurant, $50 card for a games room, 2 for 1 admittance to the world's largest aviary, and in-room wifi Oh did I mention I paid $39?????

In my family of 6 people no one cares about coupons, I have never claim a coupon in a grocery store, I just care about Joans or Michaels coupons, but I hate that michael doesn't allow you to use more than one at the time.

Tina Halstead wrote:That sounds amazing!! Would love to do that, I thought I was doing good feeding a family of 6 on $150/week for groceries, shampoos,soaps,paper towels,toilet paper,etc

that IS impressive...my bill totals around 500 euro per week for us 6. And it would be much higher if i would not have a cheap Aldi supermarket nearby. Must be hard to believe but I am watching my spending. Life is just very expensive here.

Most shops in Belgium will give you points or stamps you can save up for a discount, but those discounts rarely amount to more than 1% of what you buy, more like 0.05%.
So saving up for a fiver takes forever.
We do get the occasional coupon, but it is never free, at most 1€ off of something that costs 5 to 9€.

Shoppers Drug Mart has the best loyalty program in Canada. I was able to redeem $625 worth of free product within a 4 month time span thanks to needing diapers and scoping the clearance shelves! The big redemption was right before Christmas so I also got tons of stocking stuffers.

Something a lot of people don't know about is Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP). If an item rings in at a price higher than advertised either in flyer or on the shelf, you are entitled to $10 off the corrected price. If the corrected price is $10 or less, the item is free! This might just be in Canada though, and it's only at participating stores (Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Superstore...)

LOL! that would be a laugh at carrefour hypermarket - which is the largest supermarket in our area.
Everytime you shop there, you'd better check your ticket because at least 3 or more items will be ticked at a higher price...you have to go to the client info desk and then they send someone inside the store to check the price, and pay you the difference back. that's all. they don't even bother to change the scan/price code for the cash register. next time you buy the item, it'll be just the same.
They make a lot of money off their clients because most people ust don't have the time to check their whole list of groceries and remember all the prices and promotions, and they all end up paying a lot more then advertised.

Mama--that is annoying, but it happens alot.

I know most coupon shoppers HAVE to buy stuff that will last a long time--so no fresh foods, but that is where your budget helps--You don't have to buy toliet paper, paper towels, wet wipes, and such, so you use the money you WOULD HAVE spent on that and buy the fresh food.
People need to eat healthy--I totally agree!!

I do coupon. Some consider me to be an extreme couponer, simply because I have a large amount of stuff in my house, but I certainly do not go to a store and buy more than one grocery cart of items. I have had cashiers ask me how I got a cart full for so little, but those deals are RARE. While Wal-mart does price match to other store flyers, I would not attempt to hold up a line trying to price match all my items to another store's ad (I happen to know someone who does...don't get behind her in line).

I found out early on that you should only coupon for items that don't expire in 3 months (for example: salad dressing and mayo). I also learned that you should only coupon for the items that you normally buy (as no stores around me will give you money back if the item costs less after the coupon is taken, therefore buying something just to get money back is not an option).

But simply put, I coupon to purchase items at a low price and just hold them until I need them. Websites keep track of the coupons that are available, link them up to the local store ads, provide links to printable coupons, and spell the deals out for you, so you can shorten the time spent couponing considerably. For example: A couple weeks ago I purchased 4 packages of disposable razors - the store had a deal where if you spent $30 you would receive $10 back - I had two Buy One, get One Free coupons (both from one Sunday paper) - Normal price on the razors were $10 - I paid $20 with the coupons - and still received the $10 back - so I spent a a total of $10 for four packages of razors. Razors don't go bad

I do think couponing is an easy way to cause people to horde items because they get caught up in "the hunt"...but seriously, if you have 12 containers of body wash...I think you can pass up on the deal at the grocery store this week

I totally believe in storing food and supplies, so I think that a years worth of supplies on hand (TP, paper towels, razors, body wash, and canned food) is important. It has helped our little family a few times.
1. for 3 months when money was really tight I ONLY bought fresh food cause I had stored everything else we needed
2. When we had a huge snow storm and no trucks could deliever to us--We ate fine and had a great time cause we stored stuff.

as for storing it---We stash it were we can--under beds, under the stairs, (all in tubs or tupperware) We even store water---That takes some space, but we have it in the garage---rotating (using the oldest stuff first) is super important so your food doesn't go past the experation date.

I do think people go crazy---but one lady I watched on the show had a "store" in her basement and let the woman from the local battered womans shelter go there and shop for their needs-(free to them)-want a saint!

I know a girl who is really good at couponing, one of those people that makes it look so easy you want to try it, but you know secretly she must spent EVERY waking moment hunting down those deals! Anyhow, whenever someone has a birthday or she needs a Christmas gift, housewarming gift, etc. she gives them her couponing freebies. She signs up for all those free samples of stuff online and makes gift baskets out of them. She has 7 kids and her husband works an office job, they make normal wages (which probably seem like nothing with 7 kids) they don't get any gov't assistance at all....so they depend on her money saving savvy to live!! I applaud her, but could NEVER do that myself. I shop at Aldi's and focus more on inexpensive meal ideas and cut corners that way.

I do have to say though, I got a gift basket from her and I loved it!!! She matched everything up that went together, it had teas, coffee, different flavorings, etc. and she threw in 2 coffee mugs that she had that didn't match her dishes! It was a great gift, and if she had bought everything I am certain it would have been well over $100, can't imagine what you'd pay for a basket that size in a retail store??

I was once able to get 30 Nivea body washes that were $3 each and I had $3 off coupons, so I got all 30 for free. We just ran out of those and that was a year and a half ago. I also was able to get laundry detergent for free once... had over 40 bottles of it. Those are great deals but are few and far between.

that is AWESOME squiggle!

amylady222 - I tend to stop shopping beyond the staples (milk, eggs, veggies) in the summertime. I just don't have time to do the couponing then. We live off the stores of stuff we bought throughout the year. It's amazing how much money we have leftover those summer months by not buying groceries Of course it normally is re-directed to summer care for my son.

I have shelving in the basement for food and paper towels (it's a finished basement and extremely dry), a closet on the first floor for cleaners, and a closet on the second floor for the Health and Beauty items (right next to the bathrooms - very handy ).

I've also had family members and neighbors shop thru my items at times where they needed a little assistance. Also donating to the food banks and schools around the holidays is a lot easier from the stock pile.

Tina - That gift basket sounds awesome!

Squiggle - Fantastic deals! The stores in my area seem to be tightening up their couponing rules to lessen more and more of these deals. I have also seen that the manufacterers themselves are adding more and more regs to the fine print of the coupons (limits on how many per transaction, etc.)

Just.... Wauw.....!

i said to my husband i would be an extreme couponer if we would live there !!!

omg i looooooooooooooooove it !

too bad it isn't something they do here in the netherlands huh ?