Extreme Couponing

Anyone watch that show? I've tuned in a few times and am amazed that people can go out and spend $1,800.00 on groceries and pay $17.00 at the till because they used coupons!

I used to use lots of coupons years ago back in the 1980's and even managed to spend about $150.00 and get back about $5.00 at the cash register. That was using double coupons and free coupons that I had received from manufacturers. But for the most part coupons might save me only a few dollars on my bill.

I live in Canada, and the show is filmed in the USA and they seem to have different rules for coupons than I've seen here. Back in the 1980's Canada Safeway used to have the odd double coupon day, but I haven't seen that in decades.

And where on the Extreme Couponing show a $1.00 off coupon used on a 75 cent item results in a 25 cent credit at the cash register, that is not the same here. If the coupon exceeds the value of the item, you get the value of the item off, not a credit. And according to Safeway's coupon policy, some Canadian stores still do a double coupon, but only to a coupon value of 50 cents , so that would be $1.00 total discount (the TV show shows people using $1 and $2 coupons for double coupon offers for a total of $2 and $4.00 discounts). Again, I haven't seen a double coupon offer at Safeway since back in the late 1980's.

I would love to get back into couponing because groceries are so expensive and it kills me to have to spend that kind of money every month on food. Between pet products (litter and food), toiletries, groceries, cleaning/laundry, special lactose free or soy products, I spend about $600.00 per month! That's absolutely insane. And no, I don't eat steak every day.

Anyone here use coupons?

If you are a serious coupon user, I'm particularly interested if you live in Canada and can give me some tips on using coupons in Canada, such as where to get the coupons, what stores if any, offer double coupon savings.

And is anyone interested in doing a coupon exchange? Not sure how this would work because obviously the coupons would have to be shared between "members" of the exchange with no one person monopolizing the coupons. This will involve a commitment on everyone's part and the cost of postage would be the responsibility of the person sending out the coupons.

One instance of being able to use double coupons is Target - you can use a manufacturers coupon & a target/store coupon. I've had success w/ getting things I use regularly for next to nothing, but you have to be careful as it isn't a good deal if you never use it!

Coupons PMO, lol, but then again I work at a drug store that sells everything and even though I'm not a cashier, half the time I'm up on cash. Those things are a pain to ring in!

The best sites I've seen are save.ca and smartcanucks.ca for Canadian coupons. There's another one too, but I can't remember what it is.

Also - keep an eye on flyers. Often stores will have a spend $X and get a $X gift card or whatever. Also points programs at stores too - I have all of my store cards on my phone, so I can just skim though them and find the one I want without my wallet getting heavy.

I do coupon a bit though, I would love to do it extreme, but I find that when I use coupons I end up spending MORE than I would have if I didn't, because I end up buying things that I don't need.

With all that being said, if anyone does want to exchange coupons I'd be happy to help. Like I said, I work in a drug store and can raid the coupon things

I'm in Canada too - lol.

If anyone has any sites for printable coupons for the US, let me know. I'm going there in a few days and would love to have coupons.

Well, after surfing the net for information on coupons and sites for coupons, I checked out the Extreme Coupon site. While searching google for the link, I found several links to sites and blogs talking about how some of these Extreme Coupon shoppers on the show use "coupon fraud" to get the deals that they do.

Such a shame that people think it's ok to use coupons to steal from a company. They may not care, but it affects the bottom line for the store and in turn that is passed along to the customers by way of higher prices.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/node/16258

Like Nat said, using both a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon makes a good deal even better! I tend to keep an eye out for those, checking out store flyers each week plus the coupons in the Sunday paper. (I subscribe to the Sunday paper just for the coupons!) And if something's on sale at the store too, then triple good deal! I seem to get that on TP most often actually. I'll see toilet paper on sale at Ralphs, and have a mfr. coupon from the newspaper, AND have another coupon that I might've gotten from the register at Ralphs last week.

Also, Vons (a Safeway-owned store here in Cali) will often have items on sale and then also in their flyers have coupons for some of those sale items too. I like when they have that for veggie burgers and stuff. Something might be on sale for $3.99, but if you use the coupon, the price will be $2.49.

But that's about as 'extreme' as I get. I'm not going to spend hours finding coupons. The savings is not worth my time. I've seen ads for that show, but never had any desire to watch it. Not my thing. Too extreme for me!!

Originally Posted by nerdrock

I do coupon a bit though, I would love to do it extreme, but I find that when I use coupons I end up spending MORE than I would have if I didn't, because I end up buying things that I don't need.

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Anyone watch that show?

And where on the Extreme Couponing show a $1.00 off coupon used on a 75 cent item results in a 25 cent credit at the cash register, that is not the same here. If the coupon exceeds the value of the item, you get the value of the item off, not a credit.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Well, after surfing the net for information on coupons and sites for coupons, I checked out the Extreme Coupon site. While searching google for the link, I found several links to sites and blogs talking about how some of these Extreme Coupon shoppers on the show use "coupon fraud" to get the deals that they do.

Such a shame that people think it's ok to use coupons to steal from a company. They may not care, but it affects the bottom line for the store and in turn that is passed along to the customers by way of higher prices.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/node/16258

Click to expand...

I could talk about this forever! I have been following sites about the members and where they came from and how they got started. So far I like one person from the very beginning who I don't think is crazy and is very sweet.

The way they present the show is giving false information. There are a few stores out there that won't limit you on like coupons. Most have changed their rules since the show. The products are ordered in advance. All of it, not just the one case they mention is ordered.

The show doesn't list all the things they purchased. Like last night the 2nd lady bought Purina Beyond One. It was never mentioned in the clip but it was in her cart.

You don't have to clear the shelves and buy more than say 6 of an item to start a stockpile. Sales repeat usually every 3 months. Since the show started I barely can find any sale items. People are just grabbing it all. Even if they can't use coupons on the item.

Yes you aren't suppose to get overage from a coupon. Some computers won't adjust the coupon down. It's hard for cashiers to know every deal that pays a customer. This is a hush hush thing in the coupon community. Again since the show I know of two stores that have upgraded their computer systems not to allow overage.

I wish I knew how to help Canadians. The pregnancy board I belong to got me started on coupons and they can't find any sites to help. Maybe some will pop up now that this show is on.

Also with the CDN coupons, 99% of the time there's only one per customer.

I do love that show though.

I used to do big-time couponing and refunding, but good stuff is hard to find anymore. I had 200 cardboard boxes in our basement, filled with all kinds of UPCs, net weights, ingredient labels, you name it, we had it. We didn't buy toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, toothbrushes and toothpastes, shampoos, and other items for years and years because I kept getting the stuff free.

I remember going to a store in New Jersey (I think it was a SuperFresh or something like that) because it had double coupons and it doubled everything, even $1.00 and $2.00 coupons. My GF and I put a large cooler in the back of my car. I came home with six huge bags of Tidy Cat litter, tons and tons of meats in the cooler, all kinds of produce, health and beauty items, cereals, condiments, everything. My car was packed to the gills. That was a good haul. That store also doubled some of the free coupons that I had. Amazing. One of the bags of Tidy Cats had a small hole in it. The clerk offered it to me for free, but I told her I was already getting it for free. She talked to the manager of the store and they gave me .50 to take it! Yeah, I took it. Why not? We didn't have a store around here at the time that doubled coupons at all, so it was well worth driving to NJ for that trip.

Other times my MIL and I used to shop together. She and I would each take a shopping cart and I'd fill them both up. We'd get to the check-out counter and I'd end up paying the tax. That was it! She was always amazed.

I refunded heavily, too. I loved getting 3 for ones. Meaning, the item was on sale, plus I had a coupon, plus I had a refund offer for $1.00 or $2.00 to get back in the mail. Yes, it was worth mailing those offers out.

March, June, September, and especially December were crazy, crazy months. That's when a lot of the refund offers would expire and I had to make sure that I got mine all mailed out in time. My son would often sit down with me and help because he knew that it was important.

There were quite a few nice refunding magazines that listed all the offers available. Moneytalk was one, RoadRunner was another. I subscribed to several of them...I had to, so I knew what to look for. I also had an extensive coupon list and I would buy coupons from people who collected and sold them to try to earn a few extra bucks. It's illegal to sell coupons; the fee was for "handling". Whatever works for people. I didn't mind the fee because the coupons were so good. I had "my" people I could mail to and they were great to work with.

Plus there was a whole network of people throughout the US that worked together. I also had a list of "qualifiers" that I was looking for...maybe a UPC from a cleaner that I didn't use. Somebody would send me stuff I was looking for in exchange for things he or she needed. I always had a lot of pet food qualifiers because we had both a dog and a cat and they loved to eat. People would come to me if they needed a certain dog food weigh label and I'd exchange it for something I needed.There was a whole system to this.

I bought an $800 Sylvania console tv years and years ago and paid for it in cash with my refund money. DH and I spent a weekend at a huge refunding convention where we traded UPCs and such for refund offers and other qualifiers and coupons for things we used. I was so surprised at how DH got into the trading...he had a blast. That weekend? Didn't cost us a penny....I paid for it with my refund stash. My stash bought our son school clothes and even helped pay for a vacation one summer. And all the free groceries we got really helped the food budget.

The thing is, you couldn't really have brand loyalty if you were serious about this. I was lucky because, with all my "garbage" it didn't matter what the refund was for....chances are, I could use it. A lot of stuff was for convenience foods and things like that. Good anyway because DH and DS did a lot of cooking while I was in college and they needed quick and easy.

For example, Heinz had a July meat offer where, for several labels from some of their products, you could receive a coupon for $5.00 off ground beef. That was worth it!

It was interesting and I learned a lot about couponing and refunding. I learned never to take all my coupons to the grocery store on a Friday night....that made the cashiers crazy. Friday nights are busy anyway and then somebody comes in with two or three carts of items and a box of coupons? That's actually kind of rude, when you stop and think about it.

I quit serious refunding (although I still look for coupons for those items that we use regularly) because it just got too crazy. Try working a full time job, going to college, and trying to refund! I had several families saving their clean trash (yes, really!) for me and I'd have to bring it home, take it to the basement and sit there and sort it all out and then box it away.

I could go on and on about couponing and refunding, but I guess that's enough! Suffice to say that it was pretty much a full time job on its own.

I had to stop with the mail in rebates too. It was too much to keep track of. Thanks to couponing I don't have to work. We have all our bills paid off except my student loan which is pennies each month compared to CC bills. This year we combined our savings from couponing, refund check and tuition reimbursement to get the back yard done. DH is getting a patio with a metal gazebo. I have tons of people asking me to shop for them ;-)

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Well, after surfing the net for information on coupons and sites for coupons, I checked out the Extreme Coupon site. While searching google for the link, I found several links to sites and blogs talking about how some of these Extreme Coupon shoppers on the show use "coupon fraud" to get the deals that they do.

Such a shame that people think it's ok to use coupons to steal from a company. They may not care, but it affects the bottom line for the store and in turn that is passed along to the customers by way of higher prices.

http://www.jillcataldo.com/node/16258

Click to expand...

They absolutely use fraud. Many stores will have a rule, one coupon per item per purchase. You can't buy ten items with ten coupons. As for getting money back, as some claim they do, that is out and out stealing. Coupons have no cash value. No one should be getting cash ;put into their hands if all they have paid with is coupons. The cashiers are idiots or it is just manufactured to make a "good" TV show.

I saw that show when working, one of the homes has a little girl who loves these "reality" shows. Those people are hoarders, number one, and yes most of them are committing fraud. I wonder how much they get paid to be on that show. I wonder how much work is involved in cleaning up their houses to make their "back stock" look neat and tidy. What kind of life is it for a kid to be forced to cut coupons all day instead of playing with their friends. it's a load of baloney, IMO. don't believe everything you see on TV.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Anyone here use coupons?

If you are a serious coupon user, I'm particularly interested if you live in Canada and can give me some tips on using coupons in Canada, such as where to get the coupons, what stores if any, offer double coupon savings.

And is anyone interested in doing a coupon exchange? Not sure how this would work because obviously the coupons would have to be shared between "members" of the exchange with no one person monopolizing the coupons. This will involve a commitment on everyone's part and the cost of postage would be the responsibility of the person sending out the coupons.

Click to expand...

I coupon any way I can.....though I have never found a store that offered double coupons. I normally grab a bunch of coupons and hang onto them untill there is a sale, then load up. It's always one coupon per item though, and I have never ever gotten a refund even when my coupon exceeded the products value.

I would happily share any coupons you may need, if I happen across them. Usually we get the coupons off the shelves in the stores, but I just looked and they are only valid in ON. But I have others from Shoppers Drugmart that are valid anywhere.

Perhaps a "Canadian Coupon sharing thread" where we can post what coupons we have, expiry dates, etc. and if anyone wants them, they can pm for em.

What do you think?



ETA: I have found that couponing in the US is VERY different than here.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

ETA: I have found that couponing in the US is VERY different than here.

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It sure sounds like it.

Is that show based in Canada?

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

I like this site, but I think its US only.

great tips here

Originally Posted by Draco

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

I like this site, but I think its US only.

great tips here

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She was on the show, the dumpster diver.

I like this one:
www.MissCouponDiva.com Though she charges for consults. She is the only one who didn't clear the shelves on the store. She has a stockpile like most couponers have. Nothing like the hoarders.

Check out on facebook for Ethical Couponing Initiative. This young lady was very upset over the misuse of coupons on this show. She just started the site and has a few you tubes.

There used to be a lot of opportunies for fraud years ago....not sure how much is going on now because I don't refund anymore.

A GF used to have 20+ post office boxes. They were listed as "A Smith", "B Smith", and so on, not all in the same town, of course. They were all hers and she sent for refunds in all those names. She also bought her own cash register, so that when an offer requested the register tape with the purchase price circled, she could make one up. I never did that and tried to be careful. Sometimes I would send for an offer in my name and then again in my mom's name or my MIL's name or something like that. But it was rare.

But yes, Otto, there were times when I would go for groceries and come back with money. That's the truth. There were times when I had six 50-cent coupons and could buy six of the same item and get each coupon doubled. But that was a long time ago and the stores quickly learned to get around those things. However, at that time, it was legal to do so as long as the store was OK with it. And because I had a lot of refund checks that I could use as cash for the tax on my groceries, I would come home with more money than I had when I left. I wish I still had some of those receipts that I could scan and prove to you that it did happen.

Now I only get face value for my other coupons. Sometimes, but not often, the flyer will have four coupons that I can use as dollar-doublers, to enable me to double a $1.00 coupon to $2.00. That's rare though.

Actually, I'd rather see stores and manufacturers just reduce their prices and get rid of coupons all together. That's not going to happen though. And maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a lot of coupon inserts in the papers anymore. At least not around here. We still get a monthly P & G insert, but (in my opinion) many of the P & G coupons are a rip-off. $1.00 off TWO bottles of Tide detergent? Detergent is expensive to begin with and then to have to buy two to take advantage of the coupon? I can't always afford to spend over $20 for detergent in order to save a buck. Sometimes it's not worth it.

And we don't eat a lot of convenience/pre-packaged food anymore, so we don't use those coupons very often.

Thanks, Draco and Crazyforinfo, for the links....I'll check them out!

Also check out facebook for product like pages. Many are offering deals in Canada. Today Old Spice is giving away something. Might be US only. Lots of companies then send out samples will send out coupons too. There are programs like BzzAgent and VocalPoint that give out samples too. You do have to participate in reviews etc. The more active you are the more rewards you get. L'Oreal has a program for one bottle of dye for 6 codes you enter. You can enter 2 codes a month.

I use a program called swagbucks (if interested pm me) that gives points/rewards for various activities like using coupons, liking pages on facebook, playing games, watching videos, & doing surveys. You can search the web and earn points too (you earn up to 100 per referral on these). I earn Amazon gift cards to get many items for free. There are other programs just like swagbucks too.

SavingStar is an electronic clipped coupon program. It doesn't come off your shopping total but is banked and you can redeem for gift cards like paypal that you can deposit in your bank. I just signed up this week!

Originally Posted by otto

It sure sounds like it.

Is that show based in Canada?

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No. It's filmed in the USA where their coupon rules are very, very different than in Canada.

Some of the rules of coupons in Canada that I know of, that don't apply in the USA from what I've seen on the show are:

1. Coupons have no cash value. If a coupon exceeds the value of a product price, you get the product price, nothing more.

2. One coupon per purchase usually which means that if you have 10 coupons for a product, you would have to do 10 separate transactions to use all 10 coupons.

3. Most coupons can't be used with another coupon offer. IE: stacking using 2 coupons to discount from one item. For example, a store coupon plus a manufacturers coupon. Here you have to pick which one you want to use because you can't use both together.

4. Very few stores here in Canada double coupons from what I'm finding, and those that do only do it for a coupon of 50 cents or less, meaning that you cannot get double coupon on any coupons above that value.

A lot of the coupons you get off the shelf are valid across Canada (except Quebec). It's usually only store ones that are only valid in one province, depending on the store and whether or not it's a national chain.

I tend to buy toilet paper when it's on 2 or 3 day sale at Shopper's with a $1 off coupon. So I'll get a 12 pack of double rolls for less than $3 most of the time, I usually buy 4 at a time, but then I have to keep them in my car because right now we're living in an apartment and I don't have a lot of room to store the stuff.

Tomorrow, one of the hair dye companies is offering free hair dye if you like their facebook page.

On May 17th, Clearly Contacts is offering free glasses, all you have to do is pay s&h. I think it's around $15.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

No. It's filmed in the USA where their coupon rules are very, very different than in Canada.

Some of the rules of coupons in Canada that I know of, that don't apply in the USA from what I've seen on the show are:

2. One coupon per purchase usually which means that if you have 10 coupons for a product, you would have to do 10 separate transactions to use all 10 coupons.

Click to expand...

Purchase is an item.
Transaction is your total shopping trip.
If the coupon says one per purchase, you can buy 4 items and use 4 coupons. If it says one per transaction you would buy one item, use one coupon, pay and then repeat to get anymore items. Some stores make you leave and come back for more offers.

Originally Posted by Winchester

There used to be a lot of opportunies for fraud years ago....not sure how much is going on now because I don't refund anymore.

A GF used to have 20+ post office boxes. They were listed as "A Smith", "B Smith", and so on, not all in the same town, of course. They were all hers and she sent for refunds in all those names. She also bought her own cash register, so that when an offer requested the register tape with the purchase price circled, she could make one up. I never did that and tried to be careful. Sometimes I would send for an offer in my name and then again in my mom's name or my MIL's name or something like that. But it was rare.

But yes, Otto, there were times when I would go for groceries and come back with money. That's the truth. There were times when I had six 50-cent coupons and could buy six of the same item and get each coupon doubled. But that was a long time ago and the stores quickly learned to get around those things. However, at that time, it was legal to do so as long as the store was OK with it. And because I had a lot of refund checks that I could use as cash for the tax on my groceries, I would come home with more money than I had when I left. I wish I still had some of those receipts that I could scan and prove to you that it did happen.

Now I only get face value for my other coupons. Sometimes, but not often, the flyer will have four coupons that I can use as dollar-doublers, to enable me to double a $1.00 coupon to $2.00. That's rare though.

Actually, I'd rather see stores and manufacturers just reduce their prices and get rid of coupons all together. That's not going to happen though. And maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a lot of coupon inserts in the papers anymore. At least not around here. We still get a monthly P & G insert, but (in my opinion) many of the P & G coupons are a rip-off. $1.00 off TWO bottles of Tide detergent? Detergent is expensive to begin with and then to have to buy two to take advantage of the coupon? I can't always afford to spend over $20 for detergent in order to save a buck. Sometimes it's not worth it.

And we don't eat a lot of convenience/pre-packaged food anymore, so we don't use those coupons very often.

Thanks, Draco and Crazyforinfo, for the links....I'll check them out!

Click to expand...

I believe you.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

No. It's filmed in the USA where their coupon rules are very, very different than in Canada.

Some of the rules of coupons in Canada that I know of, that don't apply in the USA from what I've seen on the show are:

1. Coupons have no cash value. If a coupon exceeds the value of a product price, you get the product price, nothing more.

2. One coupon per purchase usually which means that if you have 10 coupons for a product, you would have to do 10 separate transactions to use all 10 coupons.

3. Most coupons can't be used with another coupon offer. IE: stacking using 2 coupons to discount from one item. For example, a store coupon plus a manufacturers coupon. Here you have to pick which one you want to use because you can't use both together.

4. Very few stores here in Canada double coupons from what I'm finding, and those that do only do it for a coupon of 50 cents or less, meaning that you cannot get double coupon on any coupons above that value.

Click to expand...

Everything above are rules in the stores I shop in. They don't double coupons, you don't get cash back, you can't buy more than one item and use one coupon. If you ahve two items and two coupons, you'll have to come back and make a separate purchase.

I am very particular about what I use, and most of what I use rarely has coupons for it, but I do use it when I find one.

I still say those "extreme coupon" people are hoarders. I still say most of them get their hoards cleaned up for the TV show. All those tidy selves and rows rows of items that will very likely never be used. I bet it doesn't look like that in real life. And what on earth is the point of having that much stuff? It's a sickness, IMO.