http://www.etonline.com/tv/105588_New_Show_Saves_Big_with_Extreme_Couponing/index.html Just watched this show with the better half tonight over dinner. I was floored, for a variety of reasons. Now, we can go a couple ways here. FOCUS 1: Discuss the idea of couponing, that is, the lifestyle of it. Is it really worth it in the grand scope of things, considering things like time spent, effect on family, storage issues, etc. FOCUS 2: Share similar cash-saving methods, like buying items at a discount, then cashing in on the warranty, pocketing the difference.
Not exactly one of the focuses, but I try to cut corners and snag some free stuff when I can. I use redflagdeals.com, groupon.com, etc. You can usually find some good stuff now and then on there. It's how I got my 22" IPS display for 60% of the normal price. As for "couponing", it can be worthwhile, but it can also be really, really time consuming. Things better left to the unemployed and stay-at-home parents IMO. The best thing to always do for me in Canada though is to play Staples, Bestbuy, and Futureshop off each other with sales. For little hassle you can knock a few extra bucks off a sale item by making the other store price-match.
Is that article serious? (bolding is mine) I mean it's sad because these poor deluded souls actually think they're winners. The only way this makes any rational sense is if they're reselling the ridiculous excess they have for a profit.
People like this scare me. What the hell is the use to have 40 year's worth of toilet paper? If you move, will you move all the TP too ? Just ridiculous. Life is about living man. If the proudest thing you've done involves coupons, i think you need a serious re-examination of how you live your life.
My grandparents are really dumb when it comes to coupons. They will regularly drive to Ottawa (a 2+ hour drive from Chalk River, where they live) to save like $0.20 on toothpaste. Apparently their 1997 Taurus runs on air. I don't have the room to store all the shit the people in the article buy.
FOCUS 2: I don't do it if I really like the product and feel I got my money's worth, but a lot of outdoor companies have unbelievable return policies. You're not satisfied? Return it, no hassle, no questions asked, at any time. Once I've used something for a year or two, if it's more beat-up than I think it should be or it hasn't performed well, I'll simply take it back for a new model. When I buy a jacket from a second-tier company like Eddie Bauer's First Ascent, I look at it not as one jacket, but as an investment into a new jacket every year. Again, if the product meets or exceeds my expectations, I won't do this. I'll continue to support the company with my money. I also rarely buy something not on sale. With outdoor gear especially, there's almost ALWAYS a sale. I buy all my summer stuff in the fall, and all my winter stuff in the spring. Other random cost-cutting measures: I have a friend cut my hair, I bring nips of liquor onto airplanes, I walk instead of drive whenever I can, and I keep my house ridiculously cold.
I shop at Big Y, the best grocery store I've ever routinely gone to. They have so many buy one get one/buy one get two deals that I don't really need to cut coupons, just look at the weekly flyer when we put together the grocery list. They do have their own currency, though (blue, red, silver, and gold coins), that you earn by using your Big Y card and spending money. When used, you can get everything from $2 off of a head of lettuce to buy 1 get 3 free packages of bacon. The store also rountinely does a 5 for $20 deal in their meat section where anything that's got a blue sticker falls into that deal. I've gotten some really good beef roasts for soups and stews, pork tenderloins, and boneless chicken breast multiple times at a fraction of the cost. I don't remember the last time I walked out of the store when I didn't save at least $20. My best shopping trip at Big Y was in college. It was the last week of the semester and my roommate and I had no money. We went online, looked at the 'coin deals' flyer, and made our list from there. Later that day we walked out of the store with $80 in groceries for $11.18, all because we used about 9 silver coins and a coupon for $7 off our next bill. Back before the economy shit the bed, you used to be able to get a 40 piece party pizza, a 36in. cold cut combo sub, or a 25lb. Thanksgiving turkey for just a gold coin. Now, you get free baby carrots.
I have a friend that does this. She gets 4 copies of the Sunday paper to get all the coupons that can be doubled and trippled and whatever. I'm waiting on the day I see her on hoarders. She rarely gets anything of value. Her basement has like 4,000 toothbrushes sitting in it. If you could get two pounds of hamburger, some vegies, charcoal, or really anything of value with these coupons I would see the draw of it. As it is I only go through one tube of toothpaste per month, so I have no need to own more than one or two tubes at any given time.
I'll use the coupons Costco sends me and stock up on stuff (i.e., whatever the limit is on the coupon) we use regularly. We both use Splenda, so $4.00 off a 1,000-packet box, it's worth stocking up. Same with either San Pellegrino or Perrier. I don't drink soda (at least not with any regularity), so $3-4 off a case, a 5 case purchase is worth it. I don't have enough Charmin to last 40 years, but we're good for the next few months. If you've got the room, it just makes sense.
I have a feeling this is a combination of hoarding and gambling addiction all rolled into one package.
I live in the STL Metro area and the coupons we get in the paper couldn't be used to get this amount of crap. We don't have any grocery stores that have "their" cards that offer additional savings. Hell I went through 4 packs of coupons this past Sunday and only found 4 coupons for products that I use. I used them all and save $1.50. Thanks so much...at least it made my paper free.
My biggest cash saving trick is the Dollar Store. If I go in at the right time, I can get brand name stuff for only $1.06. Stores send there "damaged" goods to the dollar store, so I end up coming home with dented cans of Spagettios and malformed toothpaste tubes.
I'll second the dollar store, but throw in Red Bull/energy drinks. The dollar stores around here have singles of both the 8 oz cans and the energy shots. Most other store probably do this too, as well as some other drinks.
My aunt has been through about 5 husbands. It feels weird calling the latest one Uncle, but none the less... My Uncle is a hoarder and he is utterly unable to resist a bargain. He has upwards of 200 pairs of socks. Most of them still in the store wrapping - all bought on sale. His back shed is like a fucking hardware store. I go there when the retail stores don't have what I want. He frequently shows me the great new thing he bought online - so I can tell him what the fuck it is. (You bought a slide scanner? Yeah, it is pretty neat. Do you have any slides you need scanned? Right, Yeah. I don't either. How much did it cost again?) I suck at managing money. Just suck at it. I'm great with other people's money - but my own? Ugh. I have no useful information apart from shop around.
Anti Focus: There should be a separate line in the grocery store for people who clip coupons. I'm sorry I value my time and don't want to wait an extra 15 minutes when the 16 year old clerk has to call for two price checks and a manager to validate your expired coupon for $0.32 off a can of creamed corn.
If you let people pay for groceries with cheques, you've got bigger problems than coupon clippers. The 80's are over, move the fuck on. Outside of the US, I haven't seen a cheque used to pay for consumer goods in the last 20 years.
Ah it might be a U.S. term, but I meant price check as in checking the price that the register provided vs. that listed on the shelf. But incidentally, you reminded me of the greatest supermarket offense. Paying with a check in the self check out lines. That should be grounds for you to be banned from the grocery store at all times except for Tuesday afternoons.
My wife and several of her friends do the coupon thing. I really like it because it requires no effort on my part and saves us a shitload of money on stuff we would be buying anyways. There are several blogs out there that go through the sale items at various grocery stores and match them up with coupons that have run recently, then they'll post the stuff that is free/ridiculously cheap. It's a pretty simple system, really. However, my wife HATES the people that they profile on these TV shows. These idiots don't seem to grasp that they're ruining a good thing for everyone else. If you keep buying up the entire stock of toothpaste every other week, before long the store isn't going to put toothpaste on sale at all anymore. Several of our local stores have changed their policies to only accept x number of coupons at a time to cut down on the abuse, but there are some people that get off on beating the system and they're the ones fucking it up for everyone else who is just out to save a few bucks.
MyCokeRewards - I don't drink a great deal of Coke products but gradually I have honed in on friends and family who do. By entering in codes found on bottlecaps and 12pk boxes you accumulate points which can be used to by various things - for me it is Nike gift cards. In the last four years I have gotten eight pairs for around half off. They make everything from boot to boat shoe to sandal so there is something for all tastes.