Extreme Couponing

[Orchidflower]

Caught a documentary on cable last night about extreme couponers. You'll know if it is on in your area cause that's the name of the show. Anyway, seems these folk collect all the coupons they can--one even walking weekly 7 miles to different neighbors or dumpster diving--and then stockpile the coupons in organized groups, go to the grocery stores when there is a sale and double coupon day and make a haul.
It shows where one fellow buys over $900 worth of groceries and pays some ridiculous price like $27 for it all after couponing, sales and double coupon days. The others are just so successful at saving money than he was, so this is not an isolated case.
This seems to pretty much be either a full-time job for these people (up to 70 hours a week) or their only after-work activity. One couple had a home that was so loaded with stuff that, if it were me, I'd spend a couple of those hour organizing and cleaning up cause things were under/on/around all their furniture. Most, tho, were pretty organized and had a specific place like the garage or basement shelving where all was displayed.
I did notice that those that were organized were REALLY organized with all the labels facing frontward (hello, OCD).
All seemed to be total control freaks, but, happily, the one fellow that does this as a hobby does donate alot of his excess product with a shelf life to shelters for the needy so that's wonderful.
All in all, this was pretty interesting to me. I don't personally know anyone like this, but how could I since their main activity is couponing and not people? If you get a chance to see this, do so. It's a good watch...and interesting to say the least.

 

[freebird5825]

I saw the same show. Needless to say, my overall impression was "Get a Life".

There was 1 individual who actually was doing some good by delivering huge quantities of cereal purchased through his extreme couponing habit to a church for their food pantry. This guy gets 10 points in my book. Nah, make that 20 points for good measure.

The rest were merely hoarders.

 

[Janet H]

. This guy gets 10 points in my book. Nah, make that 20 points for good measure.

Wednesday is double coupon day - make that 40 points

 

[Westernskies]

I (accidentally; hey, it was about LBYM...) watched a few minutes while channel surfing- suspect a competitive mental health spinoff show is already in the works for these folks...i.e. which patient in the asylum has the most pasta, toothpaste, or dryer sheets?

 

[FUEGO]

My thoughts are how do you monetize this? If it takes 70 hours to get $900 worth of "stuff" that is probably worth $450 if you just bought it somewhere like walmart or target, what do you do with all of it? Are these people selling it at flea markets and yard sales? Maybe it is 70 hrs to get multiple hauls of $900 worth of stuff.

A friend says his mom does this at CVS/Walgreens or something and occasionally gets enough stuff to sell it at yard sales. I really wonder what the hourly rate for doing this is. May be a good ER hobby for the detail oriented person. Or if you can really get multiple hauls of $900 a week, a good ESR job (if you can offload the junk).

 

[powerplay]

My thoughts are how do you monetize this? If it takes 70 hours to get $900 worth of "stuff" that is probably worth $450 if you just bought it somewhere like walmart or target, what do you do with all of it? Are these people selling it at flea markets and yard sales? Maybe it is 70 hrs to get multiple hauls of $900 worth of stuff.

A friend says his mom does this at CVS/Walgreens or something and occasionally gets enough stuff to sell it at yard sales. I really wonder what the hourly rate for doing this is. May be a good ER hobby for the detail oriented person. Or if you can really get multiple hauls of $900 a week, a good ESR job (if you can offload the junk).

There are some people who hold yard sales several times a year and sell their stockpiled items. They claim they bring in hundreds to sometimes several thousand dollars. It is all pretty amazing and for some it is a key piece of family income. On SD there are threads with stockpile pictures and yard sale pricing discussions as well as how to do the deals with sales and coupons and rebates.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

My wife saw a few minutes and told me about it. She said "If you want to save more money, you should get into this".

My response... your the SAHM, you need a hobby when the kids start school, next Fall.

I guess I didn't get any points, nor will she be clipping any coupons anytime soon

I also commented that WE should plan our menu so we can purchase things on sale/bulk vs. running to the store 4 - 5 times a week for that item that we ran out of but need right now. Paying full price along with the wasteful gas use doesn't win any points in my mind. But what do I know...

 

[FUEGO]

There are some people who hold yard sales several times a year and sell their stockpiled items. They claim they bring in hundreds to sometimes several thousand dollars. It is all pretty amazing and for some it is a key piece of family income. On SD there are threads with stockpile pictures and yard sale pricing discussions as well as how to do the deals with sales and coupons and rebates.

Hmmm.. I'm a SD lurker so I may have to check out those pics.

This is directed to everyone, it appears from a friend's facebook post that this was on TLC last night. In case you want to catch a re-run.

 

[Texas Proud]

My wife saw a few minutes and told me about it. She said "If you want to save more money, you should get into this".

My response... your the SAHM, you need a hobby when the kids start school, next Fall.

I guess I didn't get any points, nor will she be clipping any coupons anytime soon

I also commented that WE should plan our menu so we can purchase things on sale/bulk vs. running to the store 4 - 5 times a week for that item that we ran out of but need right now. Paying full price along with the wasteful gas use doesn't win any points in my mind. But what do I know...

Your wife and mine must talk to each other.... she tells me about the 'stupid coupons' on stuff that she does not want etc. etc... and will not even look through them... I say 'heck, we buy toothpaste etc. and can get SOME value out of this'... she says she is to busy to waste time doing it...

 

[CuppaJoe]

I feel so [-]cheap[/-] frugal! Why bother with stinkin’ coupons when there are so many freebies out there. For the price of giving my e-mail address to film clubs, we often get two tickets to free screenings including (sometimes) free medium soda and free medium popcorn. And if we walk out, no offense, that’s what they want to know, will it play in our neck of the woods.

There are lots of free concerts, plays, circus acts, etc. in the parks. If you go to street fairs and other places with lots of foot traffic, there are free new food products handed out, even dry cat food, I like that one! One of my former co-w*rkers would walk round and round the block, picking up freebie candy bars, popping them into his back back, and pretending to be surprised when meeting a new product rep.

 

[Texas Proud]

I feel so [-]cheap[/-] frugal! Why bother with stinkin’ coupons when there are so many freebies out there. For the price of giving my e-mail address to film clubs, we often get two tickets to free screenings including (sometimes) free medium soda and free medium popcorn. And if we walk out, no offense, that’s what they want to know, will it play in our neck of the woods.

There are lots of free concerts, plays, circus acts, etc. in the parks. If you go to street fairs and other places with lots of foot traffic, there are free new food products handed out, even dry cat food, I like that one! One of my former co-w*rkers would walk round and round the block, picking up freebie candy bars, popping them into his back back, and pretending to be surprised when meeting a new product rep.

What film clubs I used to get free tickets at a site online... but now they say they have tickets... but really they want you to buy them... I would like to get back on a site that is really free....

 

[CuppaJoe]

What film clubs I used to get free tickets at a site online... but now they say they have tickets... but really they want you to buy them... I would like to get back on a site that is really free....

I believe film clubs are local. I got into the most lucrative one by info in the fine print of a ticket stub. Tonight there is a free offer to see a preview of Showtime's "Shameless" including soda and popcorn. (A 20-min. preview is also available online without the snacks). Also I once applied for a movie drawing and sometimes get offers thru that; I know it comes from that because it is the only time I sent a text message. Another way to get a ticket is randomly; they hand them out a couple of days in advance to people in the theater lobby--got one that way once--but they wanted a full critique from viewers; the one's I go to now don't require any comments; they just hope for word-of-mouth hype.

 

[DeborahB]

Maybe this couponing thing works well for people who buy the sort of food that the coupons are for. I only cut out coupons for stuff we buy anyhow (Cheerios, toothpaste) and try to combine them with a sale.

I don't want to spend that much time figuring out how to save money - and don't want to stockpile that much. Sheesh, I thought I already stockpiled too much!

 

[Aiming_4_55]

I guess I don't have the time now as I need to focus on my full time J*b, property management/repiars of rental units, and time for family.

However this could be a neat hobby after FIRE, save on the grocery budget and extra can be given to your kids and/or food shelf, but I can't see myself investing 70 hours a week on it for a 1k savings.

 

[dm]

My wife does the coupon thing. She mainly hits CVS/Walgreen. It's more of a game for her. Sometimes they actually pay her to take the stuff out of the store. But she ends up giving a lot of it away. It's a hobby for her.

 

[Orchidflower]

My wife does the coupon thing. She mainly hits CVS/Walgreen. It's more of a game for her. Sometimes they actually pay her to take the stuff out of the store. But she ends up giving a lot of it away. It's a hobby for her.

+1. I do the same as your wife. When the above has a free item, I'll go and stockpile stuff. Within 3 months I'll have more than a year's stash of stuff like toothpaste and deodorant and hair products, but I'm careful to take only what I realistically can use or give away. I've given alot away to my son and friends and neighbors thru the last years that I've done this. Why not? It costs nothing but the few tax pennies, and everyone seems happy to get it. And, frankly, I don't want to make room for that much junk in my house.
Some of these stockpilers have so much stuff that they possibly cannot use it all I figure--unless they are having huge parties or giving some away. I got the impression they were mostly OCD/insecure/control freaks is all.
Giving away what is such excess as these people have collected to charity would be the best usage for all that crap I would think. Somebody would benefit--and it wouldn't cost anything more than the tax.

 

[CuppaJoe]

My wife does the coupon thing. She mainly hits CVS/Walgreen....

Their coupons get my attention. Sometimes they add a $5 coupon to the receipt to be used unrestricted on the next visit. I actually make a point of using those coupons. Hardware store does the same thing. My price is $5, apparently.

 

[Westernskies]

My price is $5, apparently.

I'm not touching that one...