Going to Extreme

So, one of the things about being home more is seeing more of what's on the tube.
And one of the newest crazy documentary-style reality shows is "Extreme Couponing" on TLC.
The show started as a one-off, pilot type documentary. And the buzz (and ratings) it earned has led to a full-time series that they are striking at while the iron's hot.
If you haven't seen or heard about the show, it follows two families per half hour episode and how they've turned couponing into a sport. They clip and cut and organize and research to the point of big binders and spreadsheets on their iPads.
The whole point is pretty obvious: Save as much money as possible when shopping. And as the title of the show implies, these people save big time - as much as 99 percent of their grocery bill. For example, I think in one case a woman bought $500 worth of groceries for 1 cent.
Sounds great, doesn't it? We all love to save money, and more power to you for doing the work it takes. And it's a job for most of these people, taking up to 30 hours a week to prepare for a shopping trip.
You also get to see these people's "stash." Entire rooms (basements, garages) full of their purchases. Shelves and shelves of the stuff. One family had its items stashed around the house, under kids beds and the like.
Which begs the question: How much of this stuff do you really need?
The way these people work the system is by buying lots and lots of items while they are on sale with their coupons. Twenty bottles of mustard. Fifty small boxes of instant potatoes (because the family sized ones wouldn't work with the coupon/sale). One woman took an entire wire basket of more than 100 boxes of Excedrin and poured it in her basket (because it was buy one, get one free and she had lots of coupons).
Which is where the program gets a little disingenuous. Only on rare occasions do any of these "extreme couponers" have the following items in their cart: bread, milk, fresh fruits or vegetables or proteins.
So basically, these people are using boxed, prepared items to feed their families. And they wonder why there's a obesity problem in this country (like I have room to talk).
Watching the woman buying the boxes and boxes of the instant potatoes was the one that struck me. First off, who needs to eat that many potatoes -- especially dried ones? And second, wouldn't it have been just as cost effective to have bought a bag from the produce department, take the time to peel the potatoes (which I loved to do as a kid -- get them in the kitchen), cut them up, boil them and mash them? Not only would they taste better, but they'd be better for you. And you'd have the opportunity to get your children involved in the cooking process.
And what about the "staples"? It's a pretty well known fact that if you want to save money on certain items, you buy them and prepare them yourselves.
For example, our local market had chicken breasts on sale. You got four breasts per package, which worked out to about $5. Right next to those packages was the whole fryer chicken, which was priced anywhere from 25 to 75 cents less. All you have to do is your own cutting. Yep, convenience costs you.
Then there's the whole hoarding aspect about it that bothers me. The woman who bought all the Excedrin has enough items in her house that she invites other family members to come over and "shop" from her stash.
A couple of the people featured get passes from me, though. One was donating his groceries to a food bank that helps military families. The other was only shopping to feed a party.
Oh, and how do they get all these coupons? They get them from friends, relatives, online, writing the companies, club cards and the newspaper inserts. They don't necessarily buy the newspapers to get the coupons, but they dig in trash/recycling cans (don't judge, I do that in my apartment complex mail room for fast food ones). Or, some of them even go to the newspaper and ask for extras.
That struck a nerve. I couldn't get a weekend paper inside my own office. And certainly not one with coupons or ads in it. I didn't get one delivered to me for free. We had to pay for home delivery -- and did for a while. But every Sunday, my paper would be stolen for the ads before we could get out to it. How do I know it was stolen for the ads? Because no one was lifting the paper from our driveway the rest of the week.
So, now like many of the people featured in the program, will I become an "extreme couponer"? Not likely. We certainly will be watching our budget and hitting the sales.
But there definitely not the room in our place for that many groceries. I mean, honestly, if I'm ever at the point I need more than two bottles of mustard at a time -- one yellow and one dijon or brown -- then I better be having one hell of a party.