Extreme Couponing

[LadyKooKoo]

I have the week off work and have watched this show twice this week. People's shopping is going from $800 to circa $30! Does anyone think that is even possible in this country or is it just a very different way of shopping to the United States? I went to Tesco earlier and through coupons got my £43 shop down to £35 but the equivalent would be like paying 20p for that £43 shop and I wonder if that is even doable?

what was in their shopping trolley?
anything fresh?

No we don't get coupon books like they do so I don't think it is possible adding that it is normally one voucher per item etc

I love it when they end up with the shop owing them money! Don't see the need to purchase 200 dog collars without a dog though

I would imagine it only works if you have coupons for stuff you actually want to buy I can imagine they end up with a ton of stuff in their trolley that wouldn't normally look at?

I wouldn't buy cheese in a squirty can just because I had a coupon for it.

The people I have seen on Extreme Couponing never buy any fresh vegetables or fruit - it is all stuff which can be stored. I've seen them rummage through dumpsters looking for coupons - it is an obsession.

What also surprises me is the amount of stock they have in their basements - masses of stuff. I'll never forget the woman who had so many coupons she devoted a whole room in her house to her coupon collection.

The idea with extreme couponing is that it's not the item you want but the discount eg

Tube of toothpaste, £1 on offer from £2.
Coupon for the toothpaste, £1.20.

If you use the coupon some shops let you take that excess 20p off the bill for other shopping.

So 10 tubes + 10 coupons = £2 off the shopping bill, the toothpaste you can use or give away.

Obviously these are just made up figures but I couldn't fathom it until recently either.

Mysupermarket.co.uk is good for comparing prices over the big 4 supermarkets, hopefully morrisons too when that pair up with Ocado takes off.

But no, we can't do it as well as the Americans.

You could sell 200 dog collars on eBay though... I'm not so convinced when I see them buying food that no-one in their house likes

I've watched that show and it doesn't work here. They seem to be able to use multiple vouchers, get money off when they buy much. Here it's one voucher per transaction, one per person and per store. To may restrictions on when and how you use a voucher it's not worth it

The show is staged for TV. You can't do extreme coupon in the US either.

Stores have restrictive policies, eg regarding how many coupons you can double, how many of the same item you can get.

A lot of people do coupon, and sometimes you see them in the store with their coupon binders, but nowhere near the extent of this show.

As others have said, there is no fresh food.

I don't understand why they need 200 boxes of cereal and 200 boxes of tampons. Can't they donate them to a shelter. I've only seen one couple do this.
I would think a lot of their food would run out. On programme said the offer is repeated about 3/4 times per year so unless you are going to eat pasta every day you really dont need 120 boxes of cheese and mac?
If they are buying products for the overage (coupon worth $2 but item $1 so they are credited $1) why not donate 1/2 of your 200 razors. Madness!

I have become addicted to watching "Extreme Couponing" but it just wouldn't work here. They do sometimes get fresh food if you have watched as many as I do as when they get an "overage" they have to use it as store credit.

Damn I didn't think if it being staged :)

the shops here don't double the value of your coupons and also our coupons tend to be much lower value.