Today’s post is from our regular Wednesday contributor, Cat.
I was watching Extreme Couponers the other day, and I have to say, it was pretty inspiring. I mean, some of those people got thousands of dollars worth of groceries for nothing – NOTHING! That’s just crazy, and it’s so exciting watching the numbers on the register go down. I mean, talk about cheap thrills!
Plus, everyone on this show seems so organized and put together. They know what they’re eating every night. They know where everything is. Their garages look like stores. They’ll never pay for basic things like shampoo or razors which constantly increase the miscellaneous section of my budget.
Yet, despite all the excitement of having 12 grocery carts in the checkout line, I’ve never really been interested in becoming an extreme couponer ninja, and the reason is that my time is worth more to me than that. Also, is it just me or are there rarely coupons for food that is actually good for you? I watched one episode where one mom was so proud that she got 6 big boxes of Oreos completely for free. Do you know how long those 6 boxes would last in my house? Two days. Okay, okay, probably just one.
Main Problem: It’s Below Minimum Wage
One woman on the show said it took her about 40 hours to clip and organize all those coupons every week. She goes dumpster diving and has her kids help her clip them, and then she organizes them all. Yes, she does get all her groceries for free. Yes, she has a massive stockpile, and we should all get her address so we can go live in her garage when the world ends. She also gets to do good deeds for other people, since she donates a lot of things to various churches and women’s shelters.
As much as I would like free groceries and as much as I would like to give more to my community, it’s just not practical. For example, last month I spent $600 on groceries and eating out. Hypothetically if I would have gotten all of my food for free after spending 40 hours a week couponing, I would have basically been working for well under minimum wage. I have a family to feed after all, and it’s funny to me that it’s cheaper for me to work and buy groceries than it would be for me to coupon all day long and get free groceries.
Okay In Moderation
My final verdict is that coupons, like wine, are okay in moderation. You should shop sales, use coupons when you find them in the paper, and ask for discounts. However, you won’t be catching me diving into the dumpster down the street on Sundays after all the papers roll through. I also won’t be asking my neighbors for their inserts.
Like I said previously, I think it’s awesome these people can get so much for free, but it’s just not for me.
Have you ever tried to be extreme with your coupons?
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
My wife has a gift for extreme couponing. lol. She doesn’t spend much time with it, but she can go to the store and come back with all kinds of things for free and cheap. She doesn’t buy it if we don’t need it. Me, on the other handed, I’m not so good with coupons. lol Nice post!
I’m right there with you – If I get a 20% coupon for bed bath and beyond on the mail, it gets put in a drawer and we’ll use it. We look in the paper before grocery shopping, but that’s about it. Although I could see how after time one could get better at recognizing how to put deals together….kind of coupon jenga. LOL.
I think a lot of those women would be better off getting a part-time job. They end up spending 40 hours-per-week cutting coupons only to end up with 500 sports drinks and 45 bottles of shampoo.
I’ve got a post on couponing today too :) I really don’t have the patience for it. Generally, savings are so minimal for the amount of time invested. The only exception are apps that provide a kind of on demand coupon service like retail me not.
I coupon at CVS, only CVS, because I save tons of money on, well, everything they sell there. In a quarter, I save anywhere between $400 and $800 – you can read more about that in my post – so it’s totally worth it and it only takes me 20 minutes a week!
We’re like many of the others, if we get one where it’s worth it or see one on something we’d buy anyway then we’ll use it. Otherwise, it’s just not worth it from the time aspect for us. We already do a fairly good job of saving on shopping anyway with little effort and like it that way.
I like a good coupon but I don’t have the patience to search them out and cut them out. I do coupon at Target because they hand it to me at the register and I’m apparently on their mailing list. I keep the ones for things I usually buy and use it. I also have mobile coupons. And once in awhile if I have coupons from the paper, I might flip through it to find things that I might use.
I am not a big couponer and I would never spend 40 hours of my life doing it because I could make way more money actually working my job. I think that coupons make people do stupid things sometimes like buy more food than they need because they have to buy multiple items just to use the coupons or buy things they don’t need just because they have a coupon. I would rather work the store sale system to fit my needs than the coupon system.
I’m with you Cat…it’s really cool that people can eat free and build their stockpile, but I can’t work for under minimum wage personally. I never really do couponing…I save in other ways. Thanks for the great read!
I could never see myself spending full-time hours cutting coupons. I’m sure some might have fun, but I would get bored. That said, I do use coupons occasionally if it means that I will be getting a decent discount and I know it’s easy to find the coupon.
I’m with you, Cat. All things in moderation, including couponing! The pay off has to be worth the time. And my time is worth a lot more than hours and hours of couponing.
I don’t coupon as much as I should. Most of my couponing comes from online shopping. I always check for coupons before I check out. We could do better with grocery coupons, but we would need to get the newspaper to get the best ones. That is another expense.
“…it took her about 40 hours to clip and organize all those coupons…” This is why I will never be big into coupons. I don’t even have 10 hrs. per week to devote to this.Your point about this activity being below minimum wage is spot on Cat.
I’m not a great “couponer.” I don’t buy the Sunday paper or go dumpster diving, but I do check the flyers to see if there’s anything there I can use. There are a lot of coupons for things I don’t need and I just end up discarding those. I say always check for coupons, but don’t get crazy.
Totally agree with you. My main reason for not using food coupons is that they always seem to be for stuff we don’t eat (packaged, salty, sugary, etc). I see no reason to reduce the quality of our healthy food to save a few bucks. You make a great point about the time commitment too–usually just not worth it.
Totally agree with the food thing. Oh wow you got 100 boxes of mac and cheese!? Congratulations on your future heart attack and diabetes! I use coupons for things like beauty products and other personal care items, but not too much for food.
I am always in awe of people who essentially coupon well enough to get their groceries for free, but it’s not for me either. Like you said, I rarely find food coupons for the things we buy. Grocery store sales, yes, but coupons, very rarely. I also agree that the amount of time it takes to track down all those coupons, you probably could have made more working a side hustle or something.
I’ve never gone the extreme route. It does seem like quite the time sink, for little return. I search for coupons in a couple of places, and that’s that. It takes me maybe five minutes to look around before a shopping trip. I tend to use them more for personal care products, as you’re right, there are rarely coupons for healthy food out there.
JourneytoSaving I know they really do need some for fresh produce or something.
ShannonRyan I think so too. It’s not worth the time.
Beachbudget Haha exactly!
Mrs. Frugalwoods Right like Tanya said – thanks a million for the mac and cheese lol.
Aldo @ MDN That’s what I do – eyeball them and check but that’s about it.
Brian @ Luke1428 Yeah! I mean, those moms could be doing a lot of different things with their time that make more money but to each their own of course!
DebtRoundUp And I am grateful for that skill since I was recently the beneficiary of it lol.
theFinancegirl I think so too!
SenseofCents Yeah I just have an app and that’s about it.
Joshua Rodriguez Thanks Josh! I appreciate it!
blonde_finance I totally agree. I’d be so bored cutting coupons for 40 hours a week.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply Yeah target is pretty good about it all actually.
FrugalRules Exactly we save by buying what’s on sale etc.
RetiredBy40 Wow that’s cool! I’m def going to go read it!
brokeandbeau Great minds think alike. :D
Holly at ClubThrifty I agree. They could be hustling baby!
DebtChronicles My husband can recognize the coupon jenga pretty well but I’m just not that interested lol
MoneyMiniBlog That’s cool your wife can do it without devoting the time! Love that!
BudgetBlonde I always look out for my friends and clients!
BudgetBlonde Brian @ Luke1428 I should say that it is definitely NOT below minimum wage for us. But I also don’t have time to write a rebuttal and it sounds like all the other pf bloggers are anti-couponing haha
I agree, couponing in moderation. Once in a while I’ll find one that I can actually use and I do but most coupons in my case are not good as I don’t eat most of the things they’re available for. I prefer getting the sales at Target such as the $5 target cards when you buy certain items. That has work well for me and on items I actually use.
I am no where near an extreme couponer, but I like to coupon here and there for items like clothing or when I go get a haircut. I don’t believe couponing for all your groceries is worth the time because like you said, you are basically working under minimum wage for the time it takes to clip all of these coupons.