Extreme Couponing

I could possibly live in the store it seems.  The boys seem to eat all day long and living with three males makes keeping a stocked pantry and fridge next to impossible for me.  I will buy something, and two days later, I am wondering where it has gone.  I can only imagine when the boys get to be teenagers.

I recently started watching the Extreme Couponing show on TLC, and I am amazed at some of these people that are on the show.  All of them seem to have issues with hoarding or something, because nobody I know needs six hundred bottles of shampoo, eighty things of deodorant, or three hundred toothbrushes.  Cmon people, I don’t think I go through but two or three things of deodorant in a year and I use it every day.  A lot of things have expiration dates too. Extreme couponing, is a little too extreme for me, and if you watch some of these people, they literally get the worst anxiety if something isn’t going right and they have to pay $6 instead of $4.  There is a problem with this.  What I don’t understand is why this is not being put to better use.  If I had the time to do this, clipping all these coupons etc., I would be walking into my local food pantries, and homeless shelters and making hefty donations, not lining every wall in my home with products, I may never get around to using.

I use coupons when I need them.  Most of things you get with coupons limit what you are bringing home to your family to eat.  A majority of these foods are highly processed foods, and none of the foods are fresh fruits or veggies.  If you aren’t picky about your shampoo, laundry detergent or deodorant then you can get some really great deals.  I however am extremely picky and we as a family, love certain things and rarely deviate.  We are on a fixed budget, and I try to follow it, so money doesn’t grow on trees here.  With that, I must admit I get excited if I do really well with coupons.  We also eat things that aren’t perfectly healthy all the time, and we have our favorite foods we like to buy.  If a trip with coupons seems warranted, then I plan my store trip as such.  My recent visit I stocked up on favorite frozen foods because our store is having a mega event where if you buy participating items you get $5 off at checkout, plus I had a bunch of coupons.  I got $.13 cent toothpaste which we needed, $.30 cent yogurt which was a great deal, and I was able to buy milk, some stuff for salads, and felt like I stocked up on some staples.  My total bill was $126 before the coupons and I wound up spending $35.  Not too bad for a impromptu trip to the store, it felt good, but I am not obsessed with going back.  For me, it is a lot of work and time that, I rarely have, but if I have the time, I always clip the coupons in the paper.  I was happy with my purchase and satisfied with my savings.  I am always on the lookout for good deals, but an extreme couponer, I am not.

Do you coupon?  What are your tips?  Do you get a rush out of it?  Do you dream about it?  Why do you do it?