The Truths About Extreme Couponing

Written on December 30, 2011 – 8:00 pm | by squeezer

I was reading a guest post at Budgets Are Sexy about extreme couponing. Most frugal individuals have seen the TLC show Extreme Couponing; however, a lot of mis-information exists on the subject of extreme couponing. Most individuals seem to think that you can buy a few editions of a Sunday newspaper and have a sufficient stack of coupons to save hundreds of dollars. This idea is false, and I will explain it and provide more truths about extreme couponing.

I only have to buy a few sunday papers and I have all the coupons I need for a shopping trip. This is false. Extreme couponers may purchase some newspapers, but newspapers are not free which eats into their profit margin. Many extreme couponers have been arrested for stealing newspapers. Some extreme couponers dig through paper recycling dumpsters to collect coupons. Unfortunately, my city does not have a recycling system. A better way to get coupons from newspapers is to ask friends and relatives to save you their sunday papers.

Newspapers are not the only source extreme couponers use for coupons. There are many online sites that offer coupons. Most sites have a two coupon print limit, so extreme couponers will have multiple computers in their house that are used to print coupons. However, if extreme couponers were more technically savvy they could use VirtualBox with a licensed copy of Windows XP or 7, boot the virtual computer, print their two copies, close VirtualBox discarding the changes, boot the virtual computer again, print 2 more copies, and repeat indefinitely. Some web sites that extreme couponers use include Coupons.com, RedPlum, Start Sampling, Coupon Mom, Cellfire, and Savings Star.

Just because you have a stack of coupons does not mean you are ready to begin shopping. You have to get the grocery store’s flyer and match your coupons to the sales. Manufacturers and stores rotate sale items on a weekly and seasonale basis. Grocery store chains have different markets, so a sale flyer in one store may not be the same sale flyer at another store.

Matching coupons to sales takes a lot of time. The extreme couponing show does not point this out too well, but most of the families that extreme coupon have a mother that is unemployed, stays at home, or works part time. Therefore, the mother has the spare time required to match coupons to deals. Luckily, there are sites where individuals have assembles the coupon to sale match ups for you that you can use to start your savings. A handful of sites that will get you started are the forums for your local grocery stores at AFullCup.com, TheKrazyCouponLady.com, StretchingABuckBlog.com, HappyClippings.com, and SurvivingTheStores.com.

You must organize your coupons into a box or binder to take to the grocery store. This is where the Budgets Are Sexy blog posting is useful. You will need to organize your coupons into a system that has coupons listed by catagory (cereal, boxed meals, canned items), by manufacturer, or by expieration date. Since coupons expire after 1-3 months in most cases, your system will need to be easily sortable to remove expired coupons.

Do not expect your results to be as good as those on the tv show. The families on the show have been couponing for years. You cannot expect your first shopping trip to go as well as yours. In addition, the family has been planning their one huge shopping trips for weeks or months, calcuates all of the numbers, and then calls the show’s producers to fly out immediately and film the show. The families on the show do not routinely make $1,000+ shopping trips. Like all other families, they have to make occasional small trips to replace perishables such as vegatables, eggs, and milk which usually do not have coupons. You will notice most of the extreme couponing items are either pre-processed foods such as snacks, vacuum sealed items, and canned goods which all have long shelf lifes and are not as healthy as fresh vegatables, or non-perishables such as laundry detergent and personal care items.

I have found that spending time extreme couponing is not beneficial for me. Usually even after coupons, the store brand item is still less expensive than the name brand item. There is the cost versus time reward that is required when extreme couponing. I could spend every evening and weekend extreme couponing, but I prefer to spend time with my family and work towards other ventures that will increase or save income such as expanding my Microsoft certifications and education. I think in the long run these will provide me with more benefits than extreme couponing. I do not spend the required time to be considered an extreme couponer; however, I do spend an hour or two on the weekends looking at couponing sites in my feed reader to see if there are any quick and worthwhile deals that I can participate in that do not require newspaper coupons.