The Hidden Costs of Extreme Couponing & Buying in Bulk
Written by Helga
Friday, 19 August 2011 01:17
Extreme couponing, now that looks appealing. Cutting coupons and carefully planning your grocery shopping to get the most for your food dollar. Buying in large amounts to ‘save’.
Have you watched these shows about extreme couponers? People that spend extraordinary amounts of time, energy and effort seeking out coupons (some people have resorted to stealing newspapers or digging through trash for coupons!), organizing & planning their grocery store excursions. They leave the stores having saved a ton of money, yet they walk away with a jaw-dropping amount of products. Food, health & beauty products, toilet paper, diapers. One cart, two carts, three. All that stuff.
I have some friends that love to grocery shop and get a deal. CostCo, Sam’s, BJ’s Wholesale Warehouse. Saving money by buying more. Stashing the goods in the pantry. The garage. Then devoting a bedroom closet to it. Next came a whole storage room built under an addition.
So what is the problem here? (Or – what is YOUR problem, Live Green Mom? People are saving money…right?)
Why Buying in Bulk Can be a Waste of More Than Just Money
- All that excess stuff takes up space. (OK, maybe you have the space to fill)
- Too much foodstuffs on shelves get forgotten and go stale or expire. I have experienced this firsthand at my friend’s house – canned items, condiments, salad dressings, stale inedible crackers, those individual chocolate milk cartons a couple of years past due. So imagine when it was purchased in the first place! You have to throw it out, and you just wasted any money you saved by buying so much of it in the first place. And the time it took you go buy it, get it home, then get it all shelved, the space you stored it all in. You might not think of these things as having a monetary cost, but there is a price paid here, depends on what you value.
- The time and effort that goes into extreme couponing – it looks like a total time suck. What else could you be doing? Getting some exercise, playing with the kids, reading a good book? Someone is going to blast me for being negative about trying to save money, but let’s be honest. If someone was devoting that same amount of time to, say, working out, reading about working out, planning on working out, and talking about working out – you would say that person is obsessive. Couponing to the extreme is a noble appearing obsession – trying to save money. How can anyone be critical of that? But an obsession nevertheless.
- Are these foods healthy? Most of the foods that you buy in bulk or get with these coupons where you buy in large quantities are usually highly processed with tons of additives and preservatives. (Not all but most.) There is a reason it has a long shelf life. Unless you are buying your produce in bulk because you eat so much it just makes sense. Or you are a juicer. In that case – yay for you!
I am wondering how long it will be before there is therapy for extreme couponers. Couponers Anonymous. Spouses filing for a divorce because they cannot take it anymore. A reality show on A&E for families torn apart by extreme couponing. It can look a lot like organized hoarding with a purpose, in my opinion. (A&E if you steal that idea for a show I am going to come looking for a cut.) BargainLife.org posted an enlightening article on this kind of extreme couponing and its effect on the family.
Yes, I know that you can save money on diapers, paper towels, toilet paper, items that do not spoil, items you use constantly. But how much do you really need? A hundred plus rolls of toilet paper? Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate what’s going on in the bathroom. Extreme wiping, sounds like. But if you are an extreme juicer, maybe all that TP comes in handy.
I have heard of some people on these shows actually saying if the shit hits the fan and the social order is in chaos, they could live a year off of what they have stored. OK, you got me there.
(Please – before you blast me for this post, I DO support people cutting coupons and trying to save money. This post is not about those people and you know it. I am talking about those that spend a serious percentage of their time devoted to this sport to the point that it displaces other potentially more important things in their lives. If you are extreme couponing and donating the excess, YAY! Shopping in bulk with extended family members and dividing up the goods, way to plan well!)
Opinions?
10 Comments
Leave a Reply
I love coupons. With that said, there is a limit. The women they show on the Extreme Couponing show have serious issues. I do agree it is like a sense of entitlement. I work with a guy who has the mentality like it doesn’t matter if he cheats the stores by his tactics to not pay anything for merchandise. I think having 300 bottles of body wash and 500 boxes of unhealthy processed snack foods is idiotic and ridiculous. Now, the people who donate a large portion of their efforts are not so bad. I know the stores are the big losers in the end and I would think they will get wise to this and start limiting this behavior. To those who donate worthwhile items from their couponing efforts, I consider this a donation by the stores and in a way, the retailers are being forced to donate to society. Otherwise, a couple of free items for your own use, ok. But the greedy stockpiling for one’s own use is stupid. Also, these women are now dumpster diving to get coupons and taking papers from supposedly foreclosed houses etc. How degrading and isn’t there anything else you could be doing that is constructive? Most of the women they show on this show appear to be overweight and unhealthy…Hmmmm…could this be because they do not exercise? Also, how many people are paying for one paper at the newsrack and taking all of them?????????? I think some of these people do not have any common sense and need to reposition their moral compasses. I would not even eat most of the food you can buy with coupons unless I resigned myself to die young. Do people think 300 bottles of body wash will still be usable in 2 years? I think having huge stockpiles also encourages wasting. Argh…don’t get me started!
I did that kind of couponing for a few months…joined the websites that tell you the sales that are coming up weeks in advance and matched the coupons those. It did take a lot of time and the coupons weren’t for the kinds of foods we eat or products we use. And I didn’t like what it did to me on the inside. I became very cheap, like a feeling of entitlement for deals. I see that same look and hear it in the voices of the women in the commercial for that show. Not for me. I know that now.
Wow…I would love for you to do a guest post on this for Live Green Mom, what a unique perspective! Reach me at Helga@LiveGreenMom.com if you are interested. Thanks!
Couldn’t agree more! I watched one of the Extreme Couponing episodes. I thought it was hilarious that the show right before (or after?) was Hoarders! I watched this one woman buy 60 bottles of mustard because she had a coupon for $1 off each -making the bottle like 25 cents. She still spent over $20 on MUSTARD. And her husband joked that he didn’t even like mustard. Seriously, what are you doing with all of those bottles. I also wonder what they are eating. I rarely see coupons for healthy fresh foods. I would love to know how they never pay for toilet paper though. That would be useful. I love Your Green Helper site. It lists only organic and healthy coupons.
It boggles my mind that people put that much effort into…mustard.
Wow Helga! You brought many good points
I have always STUNK at coupons. I probably would save money on some things, but others I have found are not worth my time. I like coupons for our Organic milk and cheese etc that can be very pricey at times. But I am not extreme in any way, except extremely hoping to be able to grocery shop when my kids are in school this year rather than the weekends. That’s about as extreme as I get! LOL
The other down side in my opinion is the amount of packaging waste by over buying smaller size items to maximize coupon value.
That’s a good point I hadn’t thought of!
I wouldnt lump shopping at Costco/Sams in with extreme couponing at all. For a family with kids, Costco sizes are reasonable. I can get one big jar of organic peanutbutter for the cost of a small at Whole Foods. I’m not leaving with 100 rolls of tp. I get one package and it serves our family for a few months extreme couponing, I agree is a waste a lot of the time, but for many buying in bulk can br smart and green. Less packaging, less trips to the store. Etc
YES! This is a GREAT way to save money when utilized within reason – you are not the type of shopper I am discussing here. And I am not saying it is all bad, everything in moderation is my theory. Thanks for reading & commenting!