| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| DebbieSue |
Posted - Apr 07 2011 : 8:31:20 PM
Hey ladies, Have any of you seen the show called "Extreme Couponing"...I saw that on TV last night and couldn't believe it! I have used 1 or 2 coupons at the grocery store but these folks were REALLY stocking up! They had some great ideas, but it sure did take a lot of time! Do any of you use coupons for your groceries and does it save you a lot of money??
" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| alterationsbyemily |
Posted - Jun 18 2011 : 6:30:56 PM
Heartbroken, I can see why you see that show as a bunch of hoarders, but I feel that couponing is about saving 60% at least. When buying store brand names and using a discount card most of the time you can save 10 - 20%, but with using the coupons and saving them until prices are rock bottom it helps to save so much more over the retail cost. At the same time it gives up your brand loyalty, and try new things. Couponing is not about amounting a "stockpile worth 15,000" to me it's about saving as much money as you can so that you can afford to go see a show in town and give your family more experiences.
Also when donating you can claim the full price of the item and get a tax deduction.
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Farmgirl #2951
Currently renting-farmgirl wannabe |
| Heartbroken farmgirl |
Posted - Jun 18 2011 : 11:55:05 AM
My DH and I were just watching this show Wednesday night. My DH asked if I wanted to try to do something like this. I use coupons very infrequently, nothing we buy ever has coupons available. We buy beef from a meat packer or buy a whole cow. Most produce is either from the garden, or farmers market. I said this extreme couponing was a game now, and if your not going to use it, or you're going to stockpile mess, toothpaste, makeup...they have a two year shelf-life!! They will be garbage by the time you get to #10 of your 1000 toothpastes. I was getting upset for some reason, at all the wastefulness, and announced to my DH, "I'm done watching this! This coupon thing is an addiction, and its just creating a bunch of hoarders!!!" And as if to prove my point, a set of couponing twins was shown. Olboth twins stockpiles over 1000 pks of diapers, and has NO CHILDREN AT ALL!!!
The tears I shed then, watered the flowers I harvest now.
www.broken908.blogspot.com
http://forums.familyfriendpoems.com/broken908
"The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values."-Dean William Ralph Inge |
| walkinwalkoutcattle |
Posted - May 21 2011 : 1:12:00 PM
LOL. I think that's a great idea, Heather. I wish we had neighbors close enough to participate in this!
Farmgirl #2879 :)
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com
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| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - May 16 2011 : 5:58:46 PM
Well we do like Worchestershire sauce! It's good in meatloaf, burgers, on steaks, etc. At least we eat a lot of that. lol hahaha
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| alterationsbyemily |
Posted - May 16 2011 : 3:01:34 PM
35 bottles of Maalox is crazy, but I noticed that medications are where they get "credit" to buy other things, when they make $2.00 a bottle on something, it goes towards non sale items like fresh food and meats.
Buy of the week for me was yesterday. 1.00 off 1 French's Worcestershire Sauce coupon in sunday's paper and dollar general had it on sale for $1.00 each. Free Worcestershire sauce! I got 6 bottles... hmmm sounds like we will be making ALOT of BBQ sauce.
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Farmgirl #2951
Currently renting-farmgirl wannabe |
| countrymum |
Posted - May 04 2011 : 09:15:38 AM
I only clip coupons for the items we use.
We eat a lot of whole foods, which there are not coupons for, it's mostly processed foods and I do not want to sacrifice our health. So we will plant,freeze & preserve even more this year to save the cash.
"This country needs cleaner minds & dirtier fingernails." Mark Twain |
| SylviaE |
Posted - May 03 2011 : 3:56:32 PM
Heather, I was thinking that the folks with the 35 bottles of maalox might want to take some of their couponing time off and see a doctor.
Sylvia E
Farmgirl Sister #2871 |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - May 03 2011 : 1:39:41 PM
I'm just thinking if you need 35 bottles of maloxx you may have bigger problems then saving money. lol
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| DeborahLee |
Posted - May 03 2011 : 09:40:00 AM
The idea behind a stockpile is not to buy enough for a century! Instead, it's to buy the products you use (organic or not) when they hit their "low" price. Prices in the store are constantly changing--and will fluctuate, sometimes significantly, over the course of the pricing cycle. The duration of that cycle varies a bit throughout the country but in the south, it's usually about 8-10 weeks. So even if you don't want to use coupons, it pays to buy enough of products you like to last until the next "low" price occurs---how much that is varies by person or family. You don't have to do this for every product---maybe only those your family uses the most. The typical shopper can probably save 35% just by following this strategy (without ever picking up a coupon).
Professor, librarian, writer and farmgirl! |
| Arctic Flower |
Posted - May 02 2011 : 3:23:08 PM
Well I've never seen that show but we do shop each week with coupons from our Sunday sales flyers. Most weeks we save at least $20. And as for stocking up, yes living remote we stock up but are very careful to rotate our supplies and only store items that have a long shelf life like sugar, salt, pet food, canned food etc. Even flour will go bad after a time. I am all for being prepared but I don't want a whole grocery store in my pantry. LOL!!
Sounds like these coupon companies have a grand marketing scheme going on to sell products most of us don't want or use. Did I miss something here?!
Farmgirl #2416
Believe in the power of Love! |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 27 2011 : 12:14:44 PM
yeah I'm wondering exactly what you would do with 35 bottles of maloxx!?
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| Heather B |
Posted - Apr 27 2011 : 08:36:04 AM
I was truely amazed by the show Extreme Couponing, however after listening to one episode I realized the deals were good bot not really that good. One lady spent money on a service so her 8.00 trip really cost 78.00!. In my opinion, buying more than you will ever need or use is just a waste...not just in money but in resources. Now I do use coupons and stock up on things but to buy more then that seems like hoarding to me.
Heather
http://homesteadincity.blogspot.com/
http://littlehouseonthebumper.blogspot.com/ (My "glamper" page)
"Only your real friends tell you when your face is dirty"
Farm Girl Sister #662 |
| alterationsbyemily |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 7:02:17 PM
I have set a goal to coupon more. My DH let me get some of the sheet protectors, I sewed little slots into them and used and exacto knife for the insert. I can put my coupons in them and then clearly see at a glance what I have and don't have. There is about 20+ catagories of items that I have dividers (using card stock and making the tabs myself out of cardstock and packing tape) for. It is a great help, when looking at a shelf of items, this is 2 for 4 or this is 3 for 5 and then seeing the first coupon is worth about 1.00 and the second is worth 2.50. It took me about two weeks to get all my coupons into the binder with enough custom made sheets, but in the end it is well worth it.
The best thing so far, San Gorigio Quick noodles 10 for 10, I had a 55 cent off coupon which was automatically doubled to a dollar... FREE NOODLES, too bad I only had one coupon.
Here is my new coupon book
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Farmgirl #2951
Currently renting-farmgirl wannabe |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 11:26:23 AM
Yeah if it wasn't for having a family of 16 we wouldn't need that much either. lol haha Cause 16 is just the immediate family, not to mention when there is a family that big there is always friends, cousins, grandparents, etc etc over. So usually more like feeding 20 to 25 most days! lol
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| Pasthyme |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 10:53:18 AM
No Aldi's within many miles. We have a Krogers about 45 minutes from here. In town, just Walmart and two little grocery stores. We also have a great Mennonite run store downtown for flours,grains,rice, etc. Thought about buying a half cow, but I don't eat that much beef. Lunch was salad with lots of different lettuces from the garden. I added a radish, a little cheese, a hard cooked egg, and a little left over turkey. I make salad dressing (like Thousand Island) with mayo, ketchup, and pickle relish. So glad to have the garden growing. Just found a recipe for kale--have to eat it up.
Spent a lot of this a.m. in the garden getting in the last of the tomatoes, peppers, etc. that had been waiting in my greenhouse.
www.pasthymesfashions.webs.com
www.ozarkfolkcenter.com |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 09:44:13 AM
When it was just my husband and I, I used to try to split things with others too to save money but finding people who actually wanted to split and PAY half was hard to find! lol haha For instance Costco had HUGE bags of onions we could of split but never could find any one who wanted to pay half to split! Oh they would be more then willing to take half......just not pay half! lol haha
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| Cherime |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 08:52:51 AM
Occasionally I find coupons that I can actually use. But I just do not have enough space to stock up like so do. And with only myself, I just do not use a whole lot of stuff. I also am careful about what I eat anymore and so much of the processed food is not worth eating. Since my daughter and her husband are alone as well sometimes we go in together on something to lighten the costs.
CMF |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 08:49:34 AM
oh and I don't think we can beat the price of our meat, we buy a cow about twice a year, from a local amish farmer, and it only comes up to like a 1.00 a pound is organic, and really low fat, and taste awesome. And I don't think he adds a bunch of chemicals to the "sludge" that is illegal to sell unless they add amonia and all those chemicals to it to kill the ecoli and what not, I'm quite sure he doesn't do that to our meat, like the grocery stores do!
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 08:47:18 AM
Same here Gail, most the coupons just aren't for things I eat. These people on the show can get out of the store on like 2 to 10 dollars. But, I rarely see much meat or flour, sugar etc in their carts, no fresh fruit or veggies.
You living in Arkansas more then likely have a aldi's some where around. I find Aldi's pretty cheap on most the basics like, flour, sugar, corn meal, etc. And that's where I stock up on my staples. We usually get out of that store for 40 dollars or less. and we are feeding a family of 16 (yes six-TEEN, not six lol). So I think that's pretty good.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| Pasthyme |
Posted - Apr 26 2011 : 07:07:07 AM
I don't use coupons because we live in a small town--don't even get a Sunday paper. Haven't found anything online that I could use, either. I don't use or eat much processed food, and I haven't seen coupons for flour, sugar, milk, eggs,etc. unless you had to buy a processed food to use it. I buy a lot of generic food items--tuna, oatmeal, etc. My food budget is way, way under what most people spend. Average $250 a month for 2 adults. I cut meat down to a little in a casserole or stir fry (to please my carnivore husband), and buy day old meat that has been marked down or meat on sale. We eat a lot of chicken and turkey, not much beef. Plan on doing a little cooking today, as the Ozark Folk Center, where I have the clothing shop, is closed on Tuesday. Busy week ahead--I work in the shop during the day and dance in the evening shows 3 nights this week. So I cook on my days off and freeze many of my meals. Today I'll make bagels, corn meal mush, oatmeal cookies, tapioca, and whatever else I have time for. I did my main cooking the other day. All packed in the freezer.
www.pasthymesfashions.webs.com
www.ozarkfolkcenter.com
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| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 1:14:58 PM
I've never seen the show, but I've seen some of their followers at the market!!! I guess I can see if you have a large family, or if you are buying for charity or donations, but I live in a 900 sq. foot 1920's era cottage with little to no storage, and we don't eat much processed foods, so coupons rarely have anything that I use. Sure, every now and again, but I don't need 12 Newman's Own frozen pizza's or whatever.
For a time, when this was just catching on, you would go to Target and there would be NO Windex, and later, you'd see a woman with 15 bottles of Windex in her cart...I don't clean my windows NEARLY that much, and honestly, it's only $2.00 or so, so are you really saving money over a period of time, or simply wasting it at that present time?
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| DeborahLee |
Posted - Apr 25 2011 : 12:42:24 PM
I saw this show when traveling over the holidays (cable is one of the things I gave up last year!) I've also read about it online. I do quite a bit with coupons---my best week ever, I saved a total of 85%, but most weeks it's more like 35-45 percent. I do that by buying only when on sale (which is why most serious couponers do have a small stockpile) and doubling coupons at my local Krogers. No one I know buys mustard by the box load! The TLC show is very unrealistic---most folks who work a lot with coupons don't have weeks like that. And I've noticed that the stores on the show often violate their own policies---the average shopper couldn't come in and behave that way. Coupons can be a great way to save $$ but it does take some time. There are lots of websites that can help you get started---one of my favorites is Southern Savers: http://www.southernsavers.com/. You'll find some good videos that explain some strategies and information about how to match coupons with this week's sales.
Professor, librarian, writer and farmgirl! |
| HealingTouch |
Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 4:36:42 PM
I personally think they are crazy! Who in there right mind would stock up on 100 bottles of ketchup or 100 bottles of mouthwash? That is just hoarding. If you walk out of the store with 100's of items and not enough food to eat for a week that's a problem! Have at it coupon crazies! I use coupons but nobody needs to stockpile like they do. There are expiration dates on things and I can't imagine they could use everything before it expires. If they donate it to food banks and homeless shelters, Great! If not, Crazy!
Be Blessed,
Darlene
Sister 1922
God first, everything else after!
When Satan's knocking at your door, just say "Jesus will you get that for me?"
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| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 06:51:56 AM
Trisha not many stores do that here either.
I have looked and looked at our coupons and they aren't that great!
Mainly I see coupons for like 35 cents, we don't have any double coupon stores! And then say like tooth paste is 3.00, 35 cents doesn't help. Even when it's on sale for a 2.00. When I can get it at the dollar tree for a dollar. I don't know how these people do it either. Except in my coupons it's for a lot of junk not much of what we use. Not even cleaning products, as all I use to clean with is baking soda and vinegar.........rarely if ever coupons for either of them. But, I do buy them at the bulk stores and they are pretty cheap.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
| Penny Wise |
Posted - Apr 24 2011 : 05:19:43 AM
in the 1980's i couponed and refunded big time- now we don't use so many of the processed thins and the dollar stores carry so many of the products i use for cleanin etc...also there are only two of us and i don't need the "femine" products anymore!
as many have said the key is in clipping what you will use-its like going to sams club--if it will take you years to use something dont buy it in lare quantity!!!
unfortunately i still LOOK at coupons -its an addiction!!!!!
Farmgirl # 2139
~*~ counting my pennies and biding my time; my dreams are adding up!~*~ |
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