Couponing Madness and Other Mindless Musings....: Extreme Couponing Debunked...

We've all watched it. TLC's "Extreme Couponing". We've all stared at our TV's in awe at women who walk out of their local grocery store with $347 worth of groceries for a mere forty-two cents. HOW did she do that???? And HOW THE HELL can I do it?? The answer is I probably can't. And you likely can't either. Well... maybe can't is the wrong word. We probably won't, at least not all of the time.

In order to coupon to that extreme, ALL of the time, you need to make it your full time job, in my ever so humble opinion. I don't have that kind of time. Nor that kind of patience. With that said it IS possible to get a whole lot of things at ROCK BOTTOM PRICES and... quite often... FREE. On a smaller scale then reality TV portrays. I'm not getting twenty-seven bottles of dish soap and thirty-six bottles of laundry detergent for free all at one time.

I DO get smaller quantities over several weeks and build up a good sized stock pile slowly. Every once in a blue moon I find a "money maker" or an MM in coupon lingo. A money maker happens when a coupon exceeds the actual cost of the item (which does happen). Most stores, in my experience, do not allow overages. They will adjust the coupon down to the actual cost. Whatever. Free is free.

If you're just starting out I HIGHLY recommend choosing one store at a time to master. Every store has different coupon policies which can be found on their web sites. I print these out and check them regularly to see if there have been any changes. If there are, I print them again and toss the old ones. I suggest carrying these with you in your binder or whatever vessel you choose to carry your coupons in. All too often store employees, including managers, are unfamiliar with their own coupon policies.

The level to which you want to take your coupon adventure will determine just how overwhelmed you'll be in the beginning. I have a large family. Six kids, four still living at home, two who drop in unannounced and an assortment of fur kids rounds out the bunch. I'm also divorced living on child and spousal support and a low paying job. So I've taken a more extreme approach than some of you may want, or need, too. And I COMPLETELY overwhelmed myself in the beginning. I tried to master CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens... I nearly drove myself MAD. Learn from my mistake. Take a deep breath and take it one coupon at a time. :)

I purchase 20-30 inserts per week (ten of each insert in the Sunday paper) at a cost of approximately $10-15. Ten Sunday papers would cost me $17.50. I know it seems like very little in savings and a lot of money to spend to save a few bucks. However, I save $2.50-$7.50 per week by not purchasing ten whole papers(depending on the number of inserts that week). And I don't just save a couple of dollars when I shop. This past week alone I saved $101 using coupons (in multiple shopping trips). So, I got one hundred and one dollars in FREE stuff. That's IN coupon savings alone. NOT including store card savings. I spent $15 on inserts this week. For a net savings (so far) of eighty-six dollars.

AND I'm not done yet. There are still two whole days of this week's ads left. :) Now... I want you to remember something... you are likely NOT going to see HUGE savings like this the first time you shop with coupons. The savings will build gradually as you shop and build up a stash of coupons as well as extra in-store savings opportunities. We'll talk more about that later. I learned the hard way that plowing too fast into this venture can end up disastrous and cost more money than necessary.

The last thing I want to touch on right now is the notion that all couponers are hoarders whose homes have been taken over by ginormous stashes of shampoo, laundry detergent and toilet paper. I only buy things I need and know we will use. I'm not buying and stockpiling diapers simply because they were twenty-three cents a pack. Great savings! Really! FABULOUS!! For a family with a baby. I don't have a baby. And though I know I will someday have grandchildren I'm not going to stockpile diapers for them. Dry rot would likely set in before they'd get used... I hope.

I don't clear the shelves, buying fifty bottles of shampoo and fifty bottles of conditioner at one time, because it's just RUDE to do it. My standard rule is usually one item per family member (living IN my home)plus three. Making it an even eight. I do buy less than that at times, often as a matter of fact, but that's my max. The exception being if I find a REALLY good deal on an item we use A LOT of quickly. For instance if I find deodorant that comes down to thirty-five cents each after coupons and store savings I WILL buy a lot of it. Usually no more than twenty. I ONLY do this if doing so won't clear the shelf. If need be I will do multiple transactions at different stores.

A perk of the area I live in is the abundance of shopping choices, there are ten CVS's within' about a seventeen mile radius of me. Seven of those are a distance of seven miles or less. There are also multiple Wal Marts, Targets, Family Dollars, Dollar General and an odd assortment of grocery stores. With a little work and determination the savings potential is huge.

So... decide how much of a project you want this to be and go from there.

First things first, you need something to keep all of your coupons, ads, lists, etc in. I started out with binder. That became heavy and awkward to travel with quickly. I'm guessing here because I don't count coupons as I cut them, but I likely have at least 1000 coupons, probably more, stored in my binder. I trade a lot of those and give some away as well (for things I don't use). No. I don't use all of them. A lot were going into the recycling pile. I have since found that I can send my expired coupons to an organization that distributes them to military families overseas. Because these families do not have easy access to these coupons like we do, by the time they do get them they're often nearly expired or expired. As a courtesy, commissaries accept coupons up to six months after their expiration date. Google (or search FB using words like "expired coupons" and military. At the moment Blogger is being temperamental and the links I've attempted to include here don't show up when I publish the blog.

So the binder has become a burden so I started asking fellow couponers what they used to store and carry their stash in. One gal told me about a bag she'd purchased and posted a picture of it on one of the numerous FB groups I'm a part of. Her rave review coupled with others I found through some research sold me and I HAD to have it. It wasn't RIDICULOUSLY expensive however, I'm cheap and I spent less on my last purse and wallet COMBINED but I expect I'll use this bag more often than I have any other bag I have owned. To locate this bag Google "Jenn's Coupon Box" and the first two or so links that come up will be what you're looking for. Again I apologize for the lack of links but there seems to be a Blogger glitch at the moment...