Extreme couponing seems to be all the rage these days in the frugal community spearheaded by the TLC reality show "Extreme Couponing" (which, by the way, I have never seen). CNN Money highlighted several extreme couponers recently like Lauren Liggett, detailing the steps they take to save as much money as possible. The highlights of her story:
She began scouring the Internet for couponing websites, bought copies of the Sunday newspaper for the circulars, and headed to the grocery store to shop for her family. On that first shopping trip, she presented her coupons to the cashier and felt the adrenaline rush of watching her total drop from $263 to $50.
Today Lauren has slashed her family's monthly grocery bill from $400 to $100, and the bulging cupboards, pantries, and spare room can make the Liggetts seem like survivalists bracing for nuclear war: 288 rolls of toilet paper, 80 jars of tomato sauce, and 40 bottles of men's body wash.
There's no baby in the house, but Lauren couldn't resist buying 30 containers of infant formula on sale for $3.78 each. Because she had collected piles of $5-off coupons, she earned a $1.22 store credit on each sale -- the holy grail to serious couponers. (She used her credit to buy ribs for a Memorial Day feast and donated the formula to tornado victims in nearby Joplin.) As couponing became an obsession, her mom started to worry. "Your eyes light up like a slot machine whenever you see a deal," Joyce told her. "Admit it, you're an addict!"
Ok, does it count as "saving money" if you buy stuff that you don't need? I think not. And how much time and effort goes into moving a grocery bill from $400 to $100? If it's a couple hours, it's worth it IMO. If it's ten hours, it might be. If it's 30 hours, it probably isn't. besides, do they count in the cost of buying extra Sunday papers, mailing off for rebates, and the like in the $100? You'd have to add it in to be fair.
Another piece tells the story of Malinda Hodges. The highlights:
She buys six Sunday newspapers for the inserts each week, then matches the coupons with weekly sales at nearby retailers, some of which double or even triple the coupon value.
It can be a lot of work -- she estimates she spends five hours a week couponing -- but Hodges has cut her $300 weekly grocery bill in half.
Like many serious couponers, Hodges loves scoring deals in large quantities so that she can give the extras to family, friends, and fellow church members. Never mind that buying 18 containers of deodorant at a deep discount might have cost more than paying full retail price for one. "It's a way to be a blessing to other people," says Hodges.
It's not clear, but I'm guessing her $300 weekly grocery bill is now $150 (versus it used to be $600 and is now $300). It takes her five hours a week to complete her couponing (which I assume is the time hunting for the couponing, not the shopping experience, which is generally longer too if you have to handle coupons, buy the right quantities of specific brands, be sure you're making the purchases exactly, etc.) which is probably a low estimate. But if five hours is true, she "earns" $30 per hour couponing. Not bad.
That said, she still spends $600 per month for a family of six. We spend $400 per month for a family of four without doing extreme couponing. Hmmmmmm.
I've never done extreme couponing, but here's what I see as the keys to it:
- You have to be prepared to hunt down coupons and other offers. I'm sure most of these people have online coupon sites sending them offers all the time, and many buy extra Sunday papers to get even more. This just sounds like a big time sucker to me.
- The key is to combine offers. If you can put together a store sale with a coupon (that is doubled or tripled) and a rebate offer that then spits out another coupon at the cash register, you've hit the jackpot. The more often you can do this, the better.
- You must have room to stockpile items. I've discussed how having storage space can be a money saver, but extreme couponers need much more space than what I was referring to. I mean seriously: 288 rolls of toilet paper, 80 jars of tomato sauce, and 40 bottles of men's body wash. Really?
Has anyone noticed how many of these "savers" end up buying stuff they don't need/want and give it away? This is fine if you were planning on buying and giving away stuff anyway, but if you weren't, you're likely spending more money that what you would otherwise, thus cutting into your savings.
As you can tell, I'm not a real fan of extreme couponing. I do like couponing, but prefer the 80/20 rule of saving money this way -- get 80% of the savings with 20% of the work. Extreme couponers get 99% of the savings but they put in 70% (my estimate) or more of the work. The time/value trade-off just isn't there for me.
How about you? Anyone out there into extreme couponing?
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