Talkie Zoo: EXTREME COUPONING

I have a niece who participates in this kind of couponing craze. She often brags about how many of this or that she got for free or nearly free as she builds up her stockpile of products. Although I don't think she has ever accomplished what some of the ladies, and men, on Extreme Couponing seem to have accomplished, it's really what she's shooting for.

I have used coupons pretty well in the past, but when I watched this show I knew I didn't do anything nearly as big as they did. Of course, they are spending sometimes up to 60 hours a week clipping and organizing coupons, hundreds of dollars a year on newspapers and circulars to provide them with coupons, and stockpiling crazy amounts of things such as shampoo, dog food, and baby diapers (some have neither pets nor babies) everywhere in their homes.

Some have it all neatly organized like a grocery store. Others are cramming it under beds and in closets. I did notice that some actually collect all this stuff then bless others with it either by giving to food pantries or by creating care packages for the soldiers overseas. I commend them for this.

Some have the wisdom to have shelving that rotates their food products so nothing goes to waste. For many, the couponing began when they hit a low income time in their lives. Maybe someone got sick or a company downsized and they lost their job, so it was out of necessity. They have often been able to save $20,000 or more in just a couple of years worth of extreme couponing. I figure if they could get their hands on coupons for appliances, auto parts, or inverter duty motors, they'd probably drive themselves crazy trying to line up a "deal" and find a place to put these things!

While some of their purchases seemed unnecessary or excessive to me, the show actually helped me see the value of stocking up on some things that don't have an expiration date using coupons, double coupon days at stores, and shopping rewards cards. Guess I'll have to take a more serious look at all this!