Have you been watching Extreme Couponing on TLC? No? What’s that you say? Huh. What is this LIFE that you speak of having?
I’m in love with the show, but mostly with the whole concept of saving a ridiculous amount of money by shopping sales and clipping coupons. I honestly just don’t think I’ve ever given it much thought. My mom used to clip coupons, I think, but hasn’t for years, and I always throw out circulars without looking at them like they’re trash (which, to be fair, I want them to be, especially when they’re wet from rain). I just didn’t realize how much you could save that way and how much sense it makes.
The people on the show are a little nuts. In a good way, potentially, but some of them stockpile 3,000 tubes of toothpaste and 1,500 boxes of cereal and have storage shelves built just for what they accumulate, and when they go to the store they buy $400 worth of stuff and pay $6. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
For me, I’m talking more like…buying a few jars of peanut butter because they’re on sale for 3 for $5 instead of paying $2.77 when they’re not on sale, and then you don’t need peanut butter for…awhile. That’s kinda the speed I’m operating on right now. But! It’s still surprisingly fun and gratifying to get into it.
The timing of the show was good too. Lately I’ve been noticing that every so often we hit the grocery store and spend $200, and it just…doesn’t make sense. I don’t have kids. I don’t buy a ton of organic or unnecessary stuff. So we decided to try it out first with CVS and Walgreens. It nicely coincided with my school vacation, which gave me time to go through the circulars, figure out what we wanted, and, yes, spend 40 minutes wandering around the drugstore and asking for a few price checks.
It requires getting over the ghetto factor (but I don’t wanna be the lady with a cart at CVS!) and the annoying-the-people-behind-you factor (I never wanted to be the one causing a line with my truckloads of stuff, PLEASE OPEN ANOTHER REGISTER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I CAN FEEL THAT WOMAN’S HATRED BURNING A HOLE IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD).
When all was said and done, we spent $240 for $374 worth of stuff. Not exactly TLC worthy, but a savings of $134 and we now have a stockpile of the aforementioned peanut butter, cereal, crackers, vitamin waters, paper towels, toilet paper, aluminum foil, assorted medications, bags, laundry detergent, makeup remover, shave gel, toothpaste, body wash, and a year’s worth (truly) of hand soap and deodorant. We only bought the things that we legit use and need. There was some brand compromise, like Tide instead of All, but nothing major. I think the grocery store bill will be significantly less without all the extra (non-sale) things we end up needing and grabbing. And the buzz of saving was really worth any hassle of searching and clipping and the actual shopping.
In related news, it’s 4:00. WHERE’S MY DINNER.
A couple friendly acquaintances of mine are crazy for that show too and love couponing. They post pictures of their loot and the corresponding receipts on Facebook. My biggest issue is not wanting to drive around to all those different stores. But most stuff can be price-matched at Walmart for the sale prices, and you can still use the coupons as long as they are manufacturer coupons and not store coupons. But I’ve already got 3 jars of peanut butter!
Thanks for the book recommendation! I’ve heard of it before but then forgotten – I will have to check it out.