My new favorite show is Extreme Couponing on TLC. I first heard of it when the Nate Berkus Show featured 2 of the ladies that had been in the TLC special. Apparently it was so popular that they made it in to a regular 30 minute weekly program. It features people that use coupons to reduce massive grocery bills to next to nothing.
This show is not for the faint of heart. It's called EXTREME Couponing, not average. I read some of the blog posts after the series premier. Some of the less educated viewers seemed to be under the impression that the store pays for coupon use. Of course, it's the manufacturer that puts out the coupon that pays and then an additional handling fee is also given to the store. Other negative comments included that the shoppers were hoarders. While they did all have impressive stockpiles of things, they were all consumables that were being used. It reminded me of my grandparents and other depression era people I've known. If toilet paper is at an all time low price they buy as much as they can. What if the price skyrockets due to a disaster? What if everyone loses their jobs? When you view it in depression era terms it seems quite genius.
I just started using coupons. I do enjoy to save enough on my essentials to pay for my drink at happy hour. However, that's probably all I'll ever be, a non extreme couponer.
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