Is Extreme Couponing Vs the Economy and Hoarding.

I keep saying that I'm going to try this but never get around to it. One I can't stand clutter. I do like to have my backup cupboard in the garage full, of extra stuff that doesn't fit in the house cupboards. I for the life of me can't figure out how someone can have $600, worth of groceries and have enough coupons to only pay $35.00, of course I don't watch the shows either. Guess one day I will have to break down and watch to see how it's done. Yes I believe this would lead to hoarding. I think more people will try it out to see if it works.

The problem I see with "extreme couponing" may be an extension of what you are saying here. Are people buying things because they have coupons for it or are they using the coupons because they need things? I look for coupons but more often than not I end up with one or two that I will actually use out of a possible 50 or 100 in the Sunday paper. And if you look at a lot of them... you can save just as much by buying a different brand or a larger container. A lot of the coupons, at least that I find, are for the more expensive brands of things. Sure you get 50 cents off a gallon of X brand milk but if you buy Y brand, it's 75 cents cheaper without the coupon. I'm not denying that the woman who trimmed her $600 grocery bill down to $35 was impressive and in the first few seconds it makes a person say WOW I gotta get in on this scam! But then you have to ask the question... how much extra did she buy to get to use the coupons? How much is she going to waste when she pours a half a gallon of spoiled milk down the drain because she had to buy three in order to use the coupon? How many expensive name brand products did she buy that she could have done just as well to buy a cheaper brand? Might have been that she could have spent $100 without the coupons if she shopped for things instead of buying what and how much the coupon told her to buy. Yes, $100 is still more than $35, making $35 still an impressive number but there are more things to consider than just the bottom line. I'd rather spend $100 and consume all of what I buy than spend $35 and waste half of it.

LOL at the "can't be a hoard because it's organized." There was a discussion last week in which one of the participants claimed that the people on "Hoarders" were really just lazy slobs because true hoarders would have their things organized. That being said, I definitely think that in some cases this could be, or lead to, a hoarding situation. You have a point in wondering how the manufacturers can make enough profit with this type of coupon use becoming more widespread. Obviously there are still enough people paying full price to offset the loss in profits. Also, I think the stores who offer double coupons are probably absorbing the additional savings, not the manufacturers. I don't know of any stores in my area who do double coupons. I have to admit I've always been baffled at how people actually manage to use enough coupons to get this type of savings. I always felt lucky if I had one or two coupons per shopping trip for things I buy. Obviously it takes a lot of time and organization, two things I've always lacked.

I think that it will continue to grow. Too many people are being swayed by the huge savings they are seeing when they watch these programs. I watched the very first one that come on tv. I was disappointed because they did not take into the account the amount of $ spent on the coupons themselves. Whether the shopper purchased the coupons via the newspaper or online the purchase price of the coupons was not used in the total result at the end. During the show they did show one lady ordering coupons online and she spent something like $170 for coupons... now this was not figured into her total at the end of the show. I use coupons and every once in a while I run across good deals and I am able to save money but I do not get the savings these folks do. Recently my cousin gave me 12 coupon inserts from various papers for the month of January. She got these from her sister-in-law who is into extreme couponing. She told me that the SIL had gotten $160 worth of groceries for $35 so the technique must be working for her. I asked my cousin where the SIL had gotten the coupon inserts and she stated local newspapers. Now I know that our local newspaper costs $1.75 on Sunday. So I did the math. The inserts that she gave me if she purchased the newspapers they come from totaled $21.00. Apparently she purchased more than that because she used coupons she gave my cousin the remaining inserts that she did not use and my cousin only gave me what she did not use.... My point here is did she spend that much $ on the papers to get the inserts and if she did her savings were really not that great after you figure in the costs of the papers. Of course she could have people give her the inserts but I don't see that. The couponing craze will grow and grow until the manufacturers decide that they are losing too much money and stop making the coupons.