Even if you've not heard of it, I'm sure you can guess the show's premise just from the title. Extreme Couponing is a show on TLC that, naturally, follows the lives and habits of extreme couponers. The show generally begins by showing the habits and rituals that an extreme couponer does to prepare themselves for the big trip and ends with them saving big at the cash register.
These folks certainly seem to save big. I've seen people on the show walk up to the register with $500 in merchandise and walk away spending only a few bucks, if anything at all. Heck, I've even seen a few folks that walk away with all the merchandise AND extra cash in their pocket.
As impressive as it all sounds, it's actually really dumb and shares a bad message. And there are several reasons for this.
THE STORES THESE FOLKS VISIT ARE IRREGULAR
From the goodness of her own heart, my wife has tried her hand at couponing on this level, and we seriously have no idea where these folks are shopping. Extreme Couponing does a pretty good job at hiding the exact store where these people shop, but I can tell you this: it's not a chain.
My wife has tried this couponing method at CVS, Meijer, and Schnucks, and none of them came close to what the people on the show do. I hear the folks on Extreme Couponing talk about doing "double" or "triple" coupons, which no regular chain store seems to adopt. I think the best she's done was save $40 on a $60 checkout. That's actually pretty good, I think, especially considering the next section.
THE STUFF THESE FOLKS GET IS GARBAGE
So even though my wife has never walked out with a 99% or 100% savings, at least I can say that the stuff she got was stuff we actually needed. Shampoo, razors, stuff like that.
The extreme couponers, on the other hand, don't actually get stuff that's all that useful. Sure, in small quantities, it's fine, but on the scale they're buying stuff, it literally becomes garbage after a while. For example, I've seen some of these extreme couponers go and buy a million things of, I don't know, Cheez Its. Don't get me wrong, I love Cheez Its, but you can't possibly consume all those Cheez Its before they go bad.
At that point, I have heard some extreme couponers admit that they literally have to throw away a lot of the stuff they got. Then what's the point of couponing?? It becomes a waste of that person's time, which leads me to my last point...
A LOT OF WORK IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
Like I said toward the top of the post, Extreme Couponing generally begins each episode by following around an extreme couponer and watching their habits / techniques. This part is usually very impressive. These folks have their own processes and methods since extreme couponing is a regular part of their lives. The meticulous organization is something to marvel at, and I've even seen some extreme couponers manage a small team of family and friends to help them out.
That all said... why aren't these folks putting their skills to better use?
They could do wonders in a different role! These people have organization skills, process management skills, and even people management skills. They are spending all their time and brainpower getting $600 worth of Powerade when they could be earning a solid paycheck worth more than that doing the same level of work. It's like comedian Adam Carolla says:
This is a classic example of people working hard but not necessarily smart. Don't get me wrong, I place a very high value on hard work, but hard work put in a bad direction can be useless. In this case, some of these extreme couponers, they are literally throwing their hard work into the trash.
These folks certainly seem to save big. I've seen people on the show walk up to the register with $500 in merchandise and walk away spending only a few bucks, if anything at all. Heck, I've even seen a few folks that walk away with all the merchandise AND extra cash in their pocket.
As impressive as it all sounds, it's actually really dumb and shares a bad message. And there are several reasons for this.
THE STORES THESE FOLKS VISIT ARE IRREGULAR
From the goodness of her own heart, my wife has tried her hand at couponing on this level, and we seriously have no idea where these folks are shopping. Extreme Couponing does a pretty good job at hiding the exact store where these people shop, but I can tell you this: it's not a chain.
My wife has tried this couponing method at CVS, Meijer, and Schnucks, and none of them came close to what the people on the show do. I hear the folks on Extreme Couponing talk about doing "double" or "triple" coupons, which no regular chain store seems to adopt. I think the best she's done was save $40 on a $60 checkout. That's actually pretty good, I think, especially considering the next section.
THE STUFF THESE FOLKS GET IS GARBAGE
So even though my wife has never walked out with a 99% or 100% savings, at least I can say that the stuff she got was stuff we actually needed. Shampoo, razors, stuff like that.
The extreme couponers, on the other hand, don't actually get stuff that's all that useful. Sure, in small quantities, it's fine, but on the scale they're buying stuff, it literally becomes garbage after a while. For example, I've seen some of these extreme couponers go and buy a million things of, I don't know, Cheez Its. Don't get me wrong, I love Cheez Its, but you can't possibly consume all those Cheez Its before they go bad.
At that point, I have heard some extreme couponers admit that they literally have to throw away a lot of the stuff they got. Then what's the point of couponing?? It becomes a waste of that person's time, which leads me to my last point...
A LOT OF WORK IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
Like I said toward the top of the post, Extreme Couponing generally begins each episode by following around an extreme couponer and watching their habits / techniques. This part is usually very impressive. These folks have their own processes and methods since extreme couponing is a regular part of their lives. The meticulous organization is something to marvel at, and I've even seen some extreme couponers manage a small team of family and friends to help them out.
That all said... why aren't these folks putting their skills to better use?
They could do wonders in a different role! These people have organization skills, process management skills, and even people management skills. They are spending all their time and brainpower getting $600 worth of Powerade when they could be earning a solid paycheck worth more than that doing the same level of work. It's like comedian Adam Carolla says:
Don't be in "save a nickel" mode. Be in "earn a buck" mode.
This is a classic example of people working hard but not necessarily smart. Don't get me wrong, I place a very high value on hard work, but hard work put in a bad direction can be useless. In this case, some of these extreme couponers, they are literally throwing their hard work into the trash.
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