With the TLC show Extreme Couponing, people have jumped on the extreme couponing bandwagon, clipping coupons and literally hoarding their successes but is this really healthy?
Who needs to have 50 tubes of toothpaste stock-piled in a closet or garage? Is extreme couponing just another form of hoarding?
Many people are trying to stretch a dollar today. Food costs are rising and many of us are desperately trying to make ends meet. Is using coupons really the way to save money at the grocery store?
Health and beauty aids can be costly and I always advise people to not fall prey to the temptation of using a coupon for a brand or product that you are not familiar with. What is the use of paying a few cents for a shampoo that doesn't work as well as a more expensive brand.
The same goes for food. Being someone who mainly cooks from scratch, coupons for sugary cereals, hamburger helper and other packaged foods are something I don't bother cutting out. Who cares if I can get it for free if we don't even eat it, what is the point?
My husband works a second job in a newspaper distribution warehouse. He can bring me home coupons every weekend. Often he does and I breeze through them cutting out very few.
I cut out coupons for cat food ( I currently am feeding 7 cats), hair color, other health and beauty aids, and paper goods. I am careful to only use coupons that are going to be a deal not ones that tempt me into thinking I will save money.
I always comparison shop and I always try to plan a weekly menu around what is on sale.
When I see friends post about how they got 5 boxes of granola bars for free or little money and read their list of what they purchased with coupons, I wonder why they go through so much trouble.
Sometimes the people who do extreme couponing seem to be hoarding items that they cannot possibly use. If they were donating these products to the local food bank I may be more impressed but to fill your garage with 50 boxes of Ronzoni pasta, well, that just seems greedy.
Maybe I should be taking the time to pick up these free or nearly free items and donating them but honestly, who has the time?
We have a system in our house that works for us. Eat seasonal, plan meals and waste nothing. If there is a coupon for something we use- great, if not, well, we shop sales and do the best we can.
What about you? Do you extreme coupon and if you do- why?
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