Wednesday nights at 8:00 you’ll find me watching a new show on TLC: “Extreme Couponing.” I stumbled onto it one rainy day and have become completely and totally addicted. So much so that I’ve decided to pick up a new hobby and a meaning for living all in one fell swoop: I am going to become an Extreme Couponer!
I figure if I can get my groceries for free, I can make extreme couponing (and the shopping that goes with it) my new career. With my FEMA job ending in early September, I set Labor Day as the date for me to have my new career as a Coupon Goddess firmly established.
I started by purchasing a Sam’s Club membership. I have always wanted to try Sam’s Club, but since Ames is the nearest store I balked at spending the money. However, Sam’s had a “ten weeks for ten dollars” promotion this summer and I decided to give it a try.
I’m not sure if I’ll renew my membership. Although buying in bulk seems like a good idea for my family of teenagers, I really don’t seem to be saving any money. I might actually be spending more money because I end up buying things I probably don’t need. Some items at Sam’s are noticeably cheaper (like boxes of wine), but it is also easy to find many other things cheaper at other stores (like electronics).
In addition, there is the storage space issue. My cupboards were full after my first trip to Sam’s. This dilemma illustrated my first “extreme couponing” hurdle: I don’t have the storage space for the requisite “stockpile.” Until Dean finds time to build me some shelves, I am going to start storing my excess cans of tuna fish and bottles of salad dressing in my friend Dave’s cupboards. He doesn’t know this yet, but I figure I have a key to his apartment and he’ll never even notice if I just let myself in when he’s not home.
I have started collecting the Sunday newspaper inserts from all my friends and family, so my coupon pile is growing nicely. I have also signed up for a dozen extreme couponing websites that I peruse every day in search of bargains. My favorites are “Couponmom.com” and “Groupon.” Groupon finds a daily bargain for each subscriber according to his or her zip code. My best bargain so far was getting two movie tickets for an Ames theatre for $5 total. Josie and I will be using them at opening night of the new Harry Potter film.
Using Couponmom.com, I recently made a trip to Wal-Mart and came home with two FREE items. Yep—you read correct—100% FREE. The items were a four-pack of razors for Cody and a travel-sized tube of toothpaste. I’m tellin’ ya—getting stuff for free is pretty darn exciting. Sure, I don’t personally need some of the items (like the pack of diapers I have coming in the mail), but I can always give them to a friend or donate them to a shelter. That’s what many of the extreme couponers on the TV show do—they donate their surplus to groups in need. For example, one woman was able to bring home 250 bottles of nighttime pain relief for FREE and she immediately gave half of it to a women’s shelter. See—you can save money and help people at the same time! This extreme couponing stuff just keeps getting better and better.
Some extreme couponers actually MAKE money on items. In other words, they have more coupons than the item costs. They use the extra money to buy items such as meat that generally don’t take coupons.
One hurdle I have in reaching this level of couponing is there aren’t any stores around here that I know of that offer double couponing. I did drive by a Pamida in Humboldt that had a “double coupon” sign outside. I became so excited I almost wrecked the car. Driving to Humboldt may not be very practical, but I’m thinking it is worth a try.
By the end of summer, I hope to have a nice stockpile started, as well as a big folder full of valuable coupons. And, just think: if a big snowstorm hits Dayton this winter and you need, say, 250 bottles of nighttime pain relief—you’ll know exactly who to call!
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