Extreme Couponing

Wow have I been slacking.  No excuse I just get lazy. :)  I am sure most of you know how I feel about that Extreme Couponing show.  Well I boycotted it all last season, and obviously that didn't help it's still here and back for another season.  I decided I am going to watch it and do recaps on the episodes showing what is wrong with it.  I have a lot of people ask me how they can become like the couponers on the show.  I can't help with that.  I don't think anyone should be trying to be like them.  I figure if I show specific examples from the shows maybe people will see why you shouldn't want to be like them.


First and foremost when you coupon you should coupon honestly.  You can get plenty of free and cheap items without committing coupon fraud.  TLC likes to highlight fraudulent coupon use for some reason.  Not only is it illegal it causes stores to change their policies which makes it harder for honest couponers.  I am not saying all of the Extreme Couponers commit fraud, but a good amount of them do.


Also there is no reason to shop the way they do.  It's pretty much impossible for a regular shopper not on a show to have trips like the ones they show.  If you go to any of the couponers that were on the shows personal sites they will tell you that is not a normal trip for them.  Check your stores policies.  Most have limits in place of how many like coupons you can use.  Good luck trying to purchase 845 cookies for free when your store imposes a limit of 5 like coupons per day.  Good luck trying to get around the policy by having 23 separate transactions.  I bet your cashier won't be smiling like they are on the show, and I bet the store won't allow it.


People should strive to coupon for what is needed.  Having 80-100 boxes of cereal in your stockpile is ridiculous.  Don't even get me started on 1,000 tubes of toothpaste.  Things expire. It's such a waste.  


I watched 4 episodes last night.  I think I might be caught up, but I'm not sure.  I will be doing those recaps here shortly.  I also plan on doing a post on starting out.  It would be nice if there was a show that showed people how to coupon honestly and maybe gave some pointers, but that is not the case.