Extreme Couponers: Helping or Hurting?

Couponing has been a way of life for many people for many years. I remember growing up when there would be coupon hubs at the grocery stores. These were little tables that customers could drop off coupons they weren't going to use and could sift through the hundreds of coupons other customers had dropped off and find coupons for products they would use. It seemed like when I was a kid stores ran a lot of promotions to try to get customers coming back every week to their store. Things like offering a beautiful set of Christmas dishes but you could only get one dish each week, sometimes for free with purchase or for a very minimal cost. Or they would have specials going on like buy seven boxes of Jell-o and get a free Jell-o mold.



Coupons seemed to be really big when I was a kid. At least my mom used to think so. She always clipped coupons and looked for sales. As I got older and out on my own I was one that would rather pay retail if that means I can get in and out of the store in a flash. I hated it when I would get stuck behind a person at Wal-Mart that had about $200 worth of groceries and about ten sale ads from other stores and would go through each ad page by page and make the Wal-Mart cashier match the prices. It never really seemed like all that work paid off. They seemed to only save enough to pay for a cheeseburger meal on the way home.



However, my perception on the whole couponing mentality has changed. Now that I'm older and perhaps a bit wiser, I have witnessed families struggle due to downsizing, the economy tanking, having to go on fixed incomes for various reasons, medical issues that have devastated families finances, or just trying to live a frugal life style. Having had to deal with some of these issues ourselves, my family and I are trying to be more cautious about our spending habits. It is starting to become an addiction of sorts. Buying on sale is a must unless it is a necessity that cannot wait. Coupons are now just as important as having cash in our wallets. Studying the sale ads and planning shopping trips has become something we do every week just like it's another chore that must be done. Planning for major purchases and shopping around for the best price is also something we now do. And instead of just going out and buying something because we decided we want it, we wait until it goes on sale and we can get a good deal on it.



In the last several years, I have been more cautious about my spending. I would get a high from getting a deal on eBay and being the one with the winning bid. I never paid retail for books and videos. I would check out half.ebay.com where we could get most of our books, videos and games for a steal. In the last couple of months we had discovered the hit TLC show Extreme Couponing. Seems like everyone I talked to is addicted to this show. It is amazing that people can actually get hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of stuff for less than what I pay for a family of four in one weeks' grocery trip.



I have to admit that this show has made me want to find more coupons and more deals. I spend more time clipping and researching now more than ever. The bad thing is that there are no grocery stores around these parts that double coupons. And I have found that there are a lot of other people out there that are discovering the same thing. I have also noticed that stores are now changing their coupon policies and their fine print on coupons. I just noticed last week that one of our local dollar stores has store coupons advertised but you can only use one coupon per visit. So if you want two of that one product you have to come back and buy the second item in a separate trip. Now sometimes they will let you do two transactions so you don't have to come back but still it is an inconvenience.



I wonder if the Extreme Couponing is hurting or helping. I can see how people would be buying more trying to create stock piles and taking advantage of sales and coupons even if they are only saving about 25%. Families with stock piles could be eating more or wasting more. I had stocked up on some cases of pop that were on sale and I noticed a lot more half cans of pop sitting out going to waste and had to call a mini family meeting to explain that just because we have six cases of pop in the pantry that doesn't mean we can be wasteful. So I guess there could cause a spike in sales in turn it could encourage stores and brands to have more coupons and special promos.



But let's face it even if we all tried as hard as these Extreme Couponers on TV we probably won't every pull off a haul like they do because the majority of the stores for the majority of the nation do not double and triple coupons. I would like to see that the couponing trend that is making a come back would make grocery stores want to add special promotions like double couponing days and things of that nature. But I fear that stores will shy away from these promotions and change policies and put even more limits on coupons. What do think about the buzz about Extreme Couponers? Is Extreme Couponers helping or hurting the rest of us?