New Extreme Couponing show: Celebrated or frowned upon?

I listened to the narrator as he introduced the "Double Saving Divas," a pair of ebullient twins from Chicago, who have couponing down to an art form. I watched them on their birthday cashing in on every type of free birthday meal, ice cream, and jewelry they could. With a modest budget for the day, they cashed in big time. I saw their "stockpile" which included shelves of diapers....for the babies they do not have.

At moments, I was thoroughly hooked, and felt a miracle curing of my cold due to all the excitement. I watched a woman shopping for a family of seven, and a woman who began couponing after her husband temporarily lost a job, as well as a man making 1,000 care packages for the troops. Their rationales seemed reasonable enough. And watching the numbers on grocery bills drop from over $1000 to less than $50 is truly exciting.

While a fascinating show indeed, I worry that perhaps the whole story is not being told. Is there something compulsive about this behavior, or at least marginally unhealthy? Why is a man buying up dozens of women's deodorant? Just because it's free, does it mean we must have it? I think one woman purchased about 70 bottles of mustard, even though her husband doesn't even like mustard. Sure, it's non-perishable, but what are you going to do with all that mustard?

Do you think that using coupons like these people is somthing you can look up to because of how much they save, or are they just wasting supplies that can go to other people who may need it more?

13 comments:

adinino said...

I think that people are wasting supplies that can go to other people who need it. Although people do end up saving money, they are still spending more money by buying more supplies that they don't need. Also, I think its a waste because what do people need all extra supplies for. They could save money buy using coupons that take off with what they need, and should be happy. Lastly, i think they do it though because its something in their life that they can control.

Mike Nahmias said...

I think using coupons in the way these people do isn't something to be looked up to, except for the guy making care packages for our troops. The others are just wasting supplies and getting many things they don't need. What people should learn from this is how they can use coupons to drastically reduce the cost of their bills for their necessary items and not extra junk.

Emily Januszczyk said...

I think the people are not only wasting supplies, but wasting their own time. I don't think this couponing is necessary unless it's for little things. By buying extra things, you're just collecting junk for yourself that someone else could appreicate.

Anonymous said...

I think that its a waste of supplies for people who can put the supplies in good use. I think that people waste their money when they buy things they dont need when they see a good coupon.

Stephanie Perez

RubenS said...

I dont agree with anyone above. These people should be looked up to. They buy a lot of product for a very cheap price. They are great at shopping. They aren't buying things other people could use because after a while, if no one buys it, the item is just thrown away. However, i can see how people can think they are hoarders because of how they save.

Hillary Scoville said...

I believe these people are just wasting supplies that can go to other people who may need it more than they do, just because you have a free deodorant coupon doesn't mean you should buy all of them because your wasting products that you may never even use and other people would. It definitely saves you money but if you are going to use coupons you should use them for the right reason's and not the wrong.

Tyler Barrett said...

In my opinion, these people are just wasting supplies. This is because if you don't need something, why buy it? Yes, big deal, the item is free. However, wouldn't you want someone who is going to have some use of it buy all of that product? If you do use the coupons you should only use them if they are necessary and benefit your family.

Olivia Klimek, per. 5 said...

In my opinion i also believe that these "extreme couponers" are just wasting supplies that other people could use. i have watched the show before and was astounded at how much these people could save, but i would not say i look up to them, they are taking supplies away "cleaning the shelves completely out and seem to be very happy about it even boasting "the store doesn’t even have any more of what we took in stock!" meaning that they understand that their taking away supplies from people and people's families who really need them.

Anonymous said...

I do believe that these people are just waisting the supplies just because they know that there paying nothing for them due to there crazy coupon addiction. I honestly dont think they should buy it if they dont need it even if they have the coupons its just a waste of material and space taken up in their houses.

Danielle Gopie

Sarah Menta said...

I believe these people using the coupons this way are just waisting all these supplies. If they go crazy trying to save money by using coupons, then why would they waste money on supplies they don't even need? They should leave them in the store for people who will actually buy them and not just buy it because its "on sale."

Rosalie Luciano said...

these people are just wasting supplies. they want to save so much money by using these coupons on things they dont need or have. such as the person taylor mentioned in class, that person has so much cat litter for a cat they dont have or the person who has dog food, for the dog thats not living in his house. if you would spend the time and money to get things that are not needed, then why dont they give it away to places where its needed such as the animal shelter.

Rachael Thatcher said...

This is a waste of supplies and is definetely like hoarding. These people have other psychological issues and are keeping these things for no reason when other people could need them. It's unecessary for them to buy things they dont need

KRUCCI said...

I think that a majority of it is just wasting supplies that other people could use. It's unnecessary for people to have excess items that they don't even need and will not use. These people should give the supplies to someone who actually does need them and will benefit from them rather than someone who has no use for them other than filling up storage space.