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Friday, April 15, 2011

The most talked about subject among couponers right now,

Extreme Couponing is a new series on TLC that follows along with some crazy ass extreme couponers on their shopping trips. It started as an hour long "documentary" in late 2010 and got such a response (mostly outrage from the couponers, shock and awe from the normal folks) that TLC decided to make it into a series.

For me, it's like watching a train wreck. I want to look away but I just can't. A lot of the couponers I've spoken with lately are concerned that showing someone using 37 coupons for the same product in the same trip will cause manufacturers to stop issuing coupons. Personally, I'm inclined to believe that the manufacturers are not that stupid. They know we're using coupons and they know we're trying to get the best deal out there. They also know we're buying their product (and hopefully encouraging our friends to as well) and that's all they really care about.

Another of the perceived problems with the show is the apparent ease of couponing. Each episode features someone getting an amazing haul for a minuscule fee. While I know it's possible, have done it a few times myself, I also know that such trips are few and far between and when they do come along there is a lot of work involved in taking advantage of them.

Extreme Couponing glosses over this bit. Sure they mention at the beginning of the episode that it took Suzy 8 hours to prepare for the trip but what people remember is her dancing out of the store with $800 in groceries for only $8.00.

These people then come to us expecting to be able to do the same thing and they're not pleased to find out that it takes some work. As I've said before - If it was easy everyone would do it.

Some of these people are willing to learn and put forth the effort and I'm more than happy to help them in any way. But some are determined to find loop holes and look for the easy way out which is the subject of my next post.

See ya there.

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