Not So Extreme Couponing

So they are at it again, this time the so called krazy coupon ladies today on the Nate Berkus Show. I admit, I get a little frustrated with these types of segments on popular shows like Nate or GMA because as most people who coupon know, the results these new wave coupon "celebrities" get don't always reflect the realities of couponing for everyone for a couple of reasons. In the case of this Nate Berkus Show episode, a shopper's $400 grocery bill being brought down to the low double digits.

Reason #1: Coupon doubling

Not all supermarkets double coupons. In my area none do and haven't for probably a decade. So if your supermarkets don't double it can extremely difficult to get extreme savings, free items, or money/credit back in overages, even if you shop with the sales.

Reason #2: Coupon Overages

Much of the savings these extreme couponers are able to claim comes from coupon overages i.e. when the money value of the coupons are higher than the actual price of the item you are buying. Again this rarely happens if your store doesn't double its coupons. And as it happens, many stores that don't double coupons also don't award overages on coupons. So say that you have coupon for $1.00 and your item is $.99. They will take the coupon and write in the actual amount of the item, in this case $.99 giving you no overage on the coupon. On the Nate Berkus example the overage of the coupons helped to pay for the shoppers produce.  Of course wonderful if your store gives them, but many don't, including mine.  The result is no free produce in my shopping basket.

Reason #3: The Coupons Themselves

I've found that finding the best coupons isn't always easy. Different coupons come to different regions. For example, the above example I gave of a $1.00 coupon for an item costing $.99. I had five of these, but I didn't get them in my local circulars. The ones that came for that item (Marcal toilet paper) were for $1.00 when you buy two. Still a great deal, but even those coupons were only in certain circulars and out of five different newspapers, I only got two. The ones that had the "free" coupon I got in a trade from someone in Michigan.  I live in New Hampshire.

In other words, finding the good coupons isn't always just a matter of opening your Sunday paper and clipping. There is some work involved, such as getting extra newspapers, asking family and/or friends to let you have the coupons they don't want for themselves, sometimes trading for them, and sometimes even purchasing them.  Yes, this is true. Some people who claim the most "free" merchandise don't always get it for free at all, since they are either spending money on extra newspapers to get more circulars, bartering in some way for more circulars, spending money on gas to get them, postage, and/or sometimes paying a coupon clipper to provide them with large amounts of the best coupons.

Now this is not to say that couponing can't be fun, or that it can't save you money. But 90% as in the Nate Berkus and other "extreme couponing" examples? That, in my experience, is like the harmonic convergence of couponing, where all of the stars and factors align  in such a way depending upon what you are buying, when you are buying, and probably most importantly where you are buying regionally. In terms of actual food items I think the most I have been able to save has been 25%, and that is shopping with sales, changing my buying habits, changing what I buy, changing brands etc. Nothing to sneeze at, but certainly nowhere near 90%. I've been able to save a little more on some non food items, but in every case I've had to switch brands in order to realize the most savings, and buy things not so much when I needed them but when they were offered.  Which didn't seem to be the case in the "suprise the lady at the check out line" example who got everything she was shopping for (and more!) for 90% less.

So I guess for many of us, when watching these types couponing segments or reading about them, we have to remember that possibly not everything in the example will apply to you. Which they don't tell you on these shows, but definitely should!  Or as they say at one of my favorite couponing social websites Hot Coupon World, ymmv. Which when translated means, your mileage may vary. Which is more the reality of it for most of us.

Happy Saving!