Extreme Couponing for Normal People

How many of you are familiar with the TLC show Extreme Couponing?  If you know of the show, then you are in one of two groups.  Those who LOVE the show and think it is amazing and those who are skeptical and think it is a bunch of bunk!  Whichever group you happen to fit into or if you are a fence sitter, let me tell you that show has done more to harm the couponing community than to help!!!  The realities are far from the sensationalized scenarios that play out on the "reality" show.

The show is for entertainment and shock value but when I see episodes like the one that featured Angelique and her Kmart haul I was horrified!  Not only did she magically get to double more than 5 coupons in one day, but in her order there were 20 or so Doritos as a BOGO free sale.  The bags are priced around $4.29 each and Angelique used 10 high dollar value coupon for $3.99 bringing the cost of each of the 20 bags down to around $0.15 each!  Frito-Lays issued a statement about a fraudulent coupon for $5 off Doritos being out but the real coupon value has a max value of $2.01.  This means the store would NOT be reimbursed for the fake coupons that were used in this particular episode!  There are several fraudulent coupons on the official fraud coupon listing and per Frito-Lay the max value of the real coupon is a far cry from the $3.99 valued coupon used in the show!  This was just one of the issues I have seen recently from this show!

This is a disgrace that this show continues to air and continues to glamorize fraud!  We as a couponing community all saw the store policies change at the stores that have been featured on this show and as a result of the duplication of such practices by some in the couponing community at large.  It is my mission to teach as many as I can about the ethical practices of EXTREME couponing and realistic savings that can be achieved through patience and learning all the rules and policies for the stores.  I spend many hours each week couponing and putting together blog posts to teach people how to follow the rules in place AND still get the best money saving deals possible!  Will you get things for free?  ABSOLUTELY!  Will you walk out of a store with hundreds of dollars worth of products for pennies?  Highly DOUBTFUL!  I can honestly say that a savings of 50% - 70% AVERAGE is a realistic and attainable expectation for those who follow my methods AND you are not committing fraud!!!  If you practice fraudulent couponing, it hurts everyone!  The stores will not be reimbursed in turn the stores will tighten their coupon policies or no longer accept them at all! Don't be that person!