Couponing My Way To The Islands!

Friday, December 31, 2010

~Extreme Couponing Response~

Several of you have emailed me about the new "Extreme Couponing" show and want to know my thoughts on it. I did watch mainly out of curiosity. Honestly, it was exactly what I thought it would be and that made me sad. Yes, there were some great parts like when the guy donated all of that cereal. However, the lady being rude at the register, the countless buggies, the hours of shopping, the hours of checking out, the employee help needed made me cringe. There is no reason to ever have that many buggies while couponing.

Couponers who are rude, take more than they should, hold up grocery store lines for HOURS, don't donate when their stock is gigantic, spend 70+ hours per week finding deals, put their children inside dumpsters, spending $70 on buying coupons, I could go on...are the people that give the rest of us a bad rap. It saddens me to think that the world is going to think we are nuts instead of realizing that those people are not Home Economist, but have gone over into hoarders.

I wish they would have highlighted a "normal" couponer to contrast what they were showing. A person that buys normal amounts and a person that also donates a portion of it. You don't have to have a 30 year supply of anything to donate it!

I also wish they would have asked them about expiration dates. There is no way a portion of that food could have been consumed by the expiration date. I hate wasting food, so I really hope they were not throwing it out. I pray that it was being given to someone else to use before expiring.

On the flip side, I did read that TLC encouraged them to buy as much as they could and that Kroger was in on it so there would be enough of what they needed. I also just read that 2 of the ladies did donate what they bought that particular day. Also, there was a great deal of editing to make the couponers sound even more extreme. Just wanted to add that in defense of the couponers.

In the end, it is not my place to judge anyone, this is simply my opinion as asked for by many readers.
Blessings~
SHO

2 comments:

Angie Acapella said...

You made some great points. It IS crazy when you have your own kids diving in dumpsters for a few coupons. The first lady to me, was the saddest. In my opinion, she really just did it for the high, and not for the savings (seeing as how she purchased coupons from a service). And I didn't even think about the expiration dates! Great point! I was looking at the bins and bins of deodorant (a thirty years supply). Do they not know (or care) that that stuff dries up? I had some mens travel size deodorants stashed away and a year later when I found them again, they were all dried up. What a waste to have 30 years worth just go bad.

I do admire and appreciate reasonable couponers (I want to become one myself!) who don't hoard, don't take all the stock from the shelves when they see a deal, that do donate when they have too much and who are like you, true home economists that are just trying to be a good steward of the resources God has given you. :)

~SHO~ said...

Thank you Angie :)

Blessings~
S