I have had quite a few of you ask me about my opinion about TLC’s Extreme Couponing show. I hesitate to say many negative things on this site, however, since I have received so many questions . . . I will give you my opinion.
Extremem Couponing is a show for entertainment. It is not based in reality, nor do the stores on the show appear to follow their own coupon policies.
For instance, in one of the shows, a person bought hundreds of items, and had their coupons doubled. However, that store’s coupon policy is to only double 20 coupons per person and transaction per day. This would mean that only 20 of those coupons would have been doubled, not hundreds of them. The store also had to bring in extra items before the show so there would be enough items for that person to purchase. These purchases are staged, and coupon policies and rules don’t appear to be followed. Another person appeared to commit coupon fraud multiple times on the show which is actually against the law. You can see the pictures and video evidence here. I was actually asked if I wanted to be on the show and refused, because it did not appear truthful to me, and I did not want to be in that position.
In real life, there will not be hundreds of items available to be purchased, and we need to abide by the store’s and coupon rules. This is the ethical way to coupon, and I definitely want to be ethical. 100 free items would not be a reason for me to want to compromise my morals or ethics. I am not saying that everyone on the show is unethical. I know that it is staged, and just for TV, but it is not something that I would be willing to do.
I guess my big problem with this show, is that it is touted as reality TV, when it is not reality at all. Yes, we can create reasonable stock piles for our families. Yes, we can get FREE items for our families most weeks with coupons. However, we can not go and purchase hundreds of items for FREE in one transaction when a store limits the number of coupons that can be used. It is also not good practice to buy 100 tubes of toothpaste, which most stores would not have in stock, but you really should leave items for others to be able to purchase as well.
I like the fact that as couponers, we can give to others, and I am glad that portion of couponing has been highlighted. However, I really feel like some people on the show appear to be hoarding rather than stockpiling what their family can reasonably use over a period of six months.
Also, I am concerned that new couponers will become discouraged when they can’t get hundreds of dollars in FREE products in one trip. On my best weeks, I have gotten a couple hundred dollars of items for almost free. This was after well over a year of couponing, and having a large coupon folder that was very organized, and hitting the best sales at several stores.
Here is what I feel is a reasonable way to begin couponing that is not too overwhelming.
SO, there is my opinion. I would love to hear what you guys have thought of the show.
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I am very new to couponing & after watching the show on TLC I was horrified at how greedy these people appeared. The one lady said she wants it all for FREE, after paying out $1000+ on groceries every month,
I felt cheated. All I want is to save a few $$$ to do other things which we never do because we live in a small town & the grocery shops here are outrageously expensive, so we do a 4 hour round trip to Walmart once a month. I do not want to cheat the stores, because in the end the cost comes straight back to us the consumer.
I do feel overwhelmed, where do I start??
You can check out my beginner’s weekly plan here: http://budgetsavingmom.com/2009/05/29/beginners-weekly-plan/ Let me know if you have any specific questions, and I will be happy to try to help you. Thanks so much for reading! Rene
BSM, you make me proud to be one of your followers. I do not coupon to the extent that you do but I have attended you class to learn the techniques used in couponing. You were generous in sharing your techniques and even in that class you stressed for us to not be selfish and take all that the store had of an item but to leave some for another person even if we had to go to another store to acquire the quantity we wanted. Thanks for sharing your experience with us and for encouraging us to be honest. Keep up the good work.
I love what you wrote and completely agree! I have been couponing for about 4 months now and have brought our grocery budget from $200/wk to $75/wk….it’s not huge, but with two kids, it’s pretty good. I don’t want hundreds of tubes of toothpaste, just enough to last if my husband happened to get laid off. I agree with your 6 month stockpile. However, my stores are always out of the sale items by the second day. I finally talked to a manager at our Walgreens and CVS and they both said there is a group of women that say they are the extreme couponers of our town that come in and completely clear the shelves every week! They said they are there by open every Sunday and bring friends to take everything! This is not what couponing is about! I just want one tube of toothpaste or one thing of floss, but I have to get a raincheck every week and it becomes aggrevating. I went to Target today and the women said “Oh, are you one of THOSE couponers?” then treated me like I was trying to rip them off! I had four items and 6 coupons (2 target). She read each coupon meticulously. I worry that people that are just clearing out stores and really trying to “get one over on the stores” are going to make it completely horrid for the rest of us. *Ok, stepping off soapbox* Keep up your amazing blog!
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