Extreme Couponing - saving money or hoarding?

I've been watching Extreme Couponing on TLC. As much as I can't stand watching what these people do, I also can't pry myself away coming from the TV. This particular's like a train wreck. These people spend hours planning their trips to the grocery store. They have stacks of coupons, file systems, computers as well as shelves in every room to store their hauls, which once they get them home are called "stock piles." Why someone needs 1000 tubes of Colgate toothpaste is beyond me. yet hey, they were all free so why not take them home right? This particular guy made no mention of donating them to a food bank. sigh Even if he had a huge family as well as went through one tube a day, This particular might still take almost three years to use them all. Does toothpaste even last which long? Ick. The sad part is the guy got even more toothpaste on the shopping trip which TLC filmed. He donated This particular to our troops. Why didn't he just donate coming from his own stockpile?

Then there's the mustard lady. This particular woman needs to get her priorities straight. She bought 67 bottles of mustard. She cleared the shelf because they were on sale as well as she had coupons. We wouldn't want to be considerate as well as leave something for the next customer. Eye roll. The real kicker is - well, actually there's more than one kicker. The first is which her husband told her he doesn't like mustard. She just giggled, looked at the camera as well as said "I keep forgetting which." Duh. The second thing is she didn't get the 67 bottles for free, she paid .37 each for them! which comes to almost $25 for freaking mustard which she doesn't need! There's also allegations of coupon fraud regarding This particular woman. You can read about This particular here as well as here.

I could go on as well as on about the hours wasted spent planning a shopping trip as well as the extreme stockpiling. When every waking moment is spent combing over flyers, coupon inserts, computer databases as well as spreadsheets, maybe This particular's less about saving money as well as more of an obsession. When your stockpile takes over every room of your house, when you're storing toilet paper under your kid's bed, when the shower is filled with paper towels, when the garage is filled with more toothpaste than you'll ever need, when you have a stockpile of cat treats yet you don't own a cat, when you own more than 50 bottles of laundry detergent yet you keep getting more - maybe This particular's becoming a little bit of a problem. Because truly, if you have which much stockpiled, why continue shopping? Is This particular because you have nothing better to do?

Speaking of coupon inserts, where do these people get their stockpiles of inserts? The mustard lady claimed which the newspaper carrier dropped the extras off at her house. Another lady wouldn't reveal her source, probably because she knows This particular's illegal. There are contracts in place between advertisers as well as newspapers. All inserts need to be accounted for as well as any leftovers are shredded as well as recycled. Leftover inserts are not supposed to be sold or given away for free, period. You can read a short explanation here.

I realize TLC's Extreme Couponing is hyped up for ratings. All of the couponers say This particular's their biggest shopping trip. which may be true, yet their stockpiles tell me otherwise. Maybe they don't normally buy $1,000 worth of groceries for $10, yet based on what their homes look like, they're buying in extreme quantities as well as hoarding their purchases.

What truly aggravates me are the shelf clearers. Just This particular morning I wanted to buy Swiffer's furniture polish (the exact name escapes me at the moment). I have one little coupon which expires on April 30. This particular's a buy one get one free so This particular's a decent coupon. I'm not being greedy. I only want two cans. Two cans might last me forever. Yet when I tried to buy some This particular morning the shelf was cleared of which one item. Grrrr. My daughter blamed Extreme Couponing. ha! At least there's 9 days before the coupon expires as well as I can try again next week.

I prefer not to do extreme couponing. I like having a life which doesn't involve eating, breathing as well as dreaming about coupons. which might drive me insane. I follow a few coupon sites on Facebook yet I don't print out everything they list. My local grocery store won't accept most internet coupons yet Walmart does. I considered This particular a successful shopping trip This particular morning when I brought my total down coming from $71.72 to $64.48 with coupons. This particular might have been even better had I been able to buy the Swiffer furniture polish! which was at Walmart as well as I used only $1.00 & $2.00 coupons.

Check out the coupon sites I follow on Facebook:
Wicked Cool Deals (my favorite because they're local to me)
Hey This particular's Free
Common Sense with Money

So what do you think of extreme couponing? Is This particular a money saver or wasteful?

Extreme Couponing - saving money or hoarding?