TLC's coupon user show.

[Amys1st]

this show was on TLC last night (Tuesday evening). It showed several people who would go buy like 200 packages of pasta, 50 deodorants, you get it. One family went dumpster diving for coupons and it sounded like a FT job to me.

Anyone else watch this?

My issue, why do you need all of this and then keep going over and over? If I scored that much pasta, I would give 180 of them away since I would not go thru that much in 6 mos.

[gbailey]

I'll have to see if this is on free on demand. I think sometimes people don't weigh whether or not they'll actually use all of the products they're purchasing before spending the money. I don't know anyone who can use 50 deodorants in a year. I buy a four pack from BJ's and that lasts me quite a while. 50 would create so much clutter in our place I'd go nuts and give them away.

[SubliminalDarkness]

I used to be a pretty serious couponer. I never got 200 of anything, because I wasn't that good at it. I mean, I was pretty good at it, but not good enough to get 200 of something free at one time. 

But I did get a lot more of things than I needed. If it was free, I'd almost always get it, and I'd donate it or give it to someone who'd use it. I did have a lot of stuff. I had one whole closet upstairs that was mine and DH's toiletries. Two shelves in another closet were the boys' toiletries(I haven't couponed in almost two years and we still have some stuff for them). We had cereal in the master closet. But why NOT get a box of cereal you like and will eat when it costs 30 cents. I stocked them based on expiration date, so nothing went bad. 

As for dry pasta, it lasts a long time. A very long time. 

Yes, it can be overdone, and if these people have made it onto a show, they're probably overdoing it. 

[jenniferadurham]

I watched it and am pretty sure my mouth was on the floor the entire time. I think it's ridiculous to go THAT overboard. I see using coupons...but to get 200+ of ANYTHING other than cotton swabs...c'mon! And the one lady that had her PREGNANT friend dumpster diving(which was stupid on the pg girl too, I mean helllllooooo, have some common sense!) was waaaaay overboard! DH thought it was a good idea...only bc we'd save so much money in the long run.

[annettemarie]

I thought it was somewhat disingenuous because they didn't count in the cost of buying huge amounts of coupons from clipping services. For example, they mentioned one of them spent $70 on coupons, but didn't include that in the total.

[BabyFireFly]

I think when it gets to that point it might start being more of a compulsive thing. I love coupons and I'm always looking for deals, but I am not going to spend all my free time (or even turn it into a full time job) seeking them out. I subscribe to the "email deals" from certain manufacturers whose products I consistently use, clips the ones in the Sunday paper and will browse the online coupon sites if I have the time before going to the store and print the ones for something that I had on my list to get already. Alot of people fall into the trap of buying something just because they have a coupon for it, or spending more in paper & ink to print them off the internet. Another common mistake is driving around to ten different stores just because the price on certain items is slightly cheaper...you end up spending more in fuel to get around to all these places, voiding any of the savings on the items themselves.

[georgia]

If these people aren't donating a ton of that to shelters or food pantries, they're going to be the next ones in line for Hoarders. I've only seen one episode, but oh my gosh--the VOLUME of stuff for the sake of a "bargain." They're filling up entire rooms! 

[zebra15]

I just saw this, I dont normally come to this thread.  I can vouch for couponing and 'stockpiling'.  I have been very low (no) income for quite some time and have been living off my stockpile for almost 2 years... well the non-food items.  I havent' purchased toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo etc in that time.  When I did 'buy' those items they were next to free.  Right now I do coupon for groceries and stockpile.  Sadly due to income we have been eating that stockpile and only have a small amount left but those pantry items have gotten us thru the past 2 years.  Yep I rotate the stock, there was a time I had close to 40 boxes of pasta... no where near the 200 on the show.  But I have minimal storage space and very limited funds.  I don't buy coupons and only use the coupons in the sunday paper I get or the coupons from the library folder (our local library had a coupon folder of sorts).  TLC's show kinda took couponing over the top but really, my own personal 'inventory' is what has gotten us through the past couple years.

[WorldsBestMom]

Originally Posted by Amys1st 

this show was on TLC last night (Tuesday evening). It showed several people who would go buy like 200 packages of pasta, 50 deodorants, you get it. One family went dumpster diving for coupons and it sounded like a FT job to me.

Anyone else watch this?

My issue, why do you need all of this and then keep going over and over? If I scored that much pasta, I would give 180 of them away since I would not go thru that much in 6 mos.

Not to mention most of the stuff  would expire and go to waste. As you said it would be better to give most of it away especially those in need.

[georgia]

Oh, I am all for stocking up and loving a deal, but on the show I saw, there's absolutely no way a single family could ever, in their entire lifetime, use all the stuff they were bringing into the home on a regular basis.