So who is watching Extreme Couponing tonight?
Does the show make you feel sick and embarrassed or motivated and entertained? I kinda felt the need to defend myself last week and say, “hey I am not that extreme!” It makes me think people will assume everyone coupons to the extreme!
- Tonight Nathan is back and he is planning to donate 1,000 care packages to the troops! Now that is what we like to see! Put those items to good use!
- We will also be seeing the couponing skills of twins Tai and Tarin.
- If you watch tonight I want to know what coupon realities you notice.
- You can also watch the replays of Jessica Hacker, Rebecca, J’amie Kirlew and Tiffany Ivanovsky.
If you don’t have cable or a friend with DVR, you can watch it on Amazon Demand! Catch up and watch Rebecca & Jessica
I just saw your posting and ran to the TV..lol..saw the end of it….Thank God…there is someone out there who buys tons of items and donates them…way to go Nathan!! He is always donating his items instead of hoarding them so nice to see
Nathan rocks and his mom is adorable!
Question??? What is the website that the twins and many other extreme couponers use to find a coupon in the newpaper circulars? I keep all of my newpaper coupons from SS etc…. by date and would love to know which site they are using to find them so quickly!
Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t have cable, so I haven’t seen it yet. But you can use our database if you’re looking for a particular coupon. It will tell you exactly what insert to find it in! http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/database
You can also print off the insert lists by date. At the top bar of Fabulessly frugal, go to Learn to be frugal and go to coupon insert list. They have several states available. You can print these off and be able to use this as well to see all the coupon in each insert.
My daughter bought me theRebecca and Jessica episode by accident. She had turned on one click pay at Amazon with her debit card. So I called to apologize and she told me not to worry about it.
That said, which Albertsons did Jessica shop at? While I am sure they made an exception and a special line for her 18 transactions in a row that does not explain her “money makers”. I have shopped at several Albertsons in the Boise area and ALL of them reduce the value of the coupon to make the item free, not a money maker. That is misleading to those who watch this show and start couponing with the assumption that what is shown is what happens normally. I guess it is a bit of what I tell my kids. “Yes kiddo, the TV DOES lie.”
I also believe this practice is unfair to the shopper. They will get the full value of the coupon unless it specifies “up to $.$$”. I am glad that WalMart at least will give me my full value. I had become a mainly Albertsons shopper but have started dealing a bit more with WalMart because of this.
Good question… she shopped at an Albertsons in Caldwell. I feel bad for that poor cashier and hope she still has her job!
We try to educate Albertsons shoppers about the reality of her coupon shopping trip in this post: http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2011/04/extreme-couponing-reality.html
@Teri- As a checker, we are technically not suppose to alter the price of the coupon, but at the same time, we are not allowed to scan a coupon that exceeds the value of the product. So say you have an item that scans at $0.99 and you pair it with a $1.00 off, giving you money back isn’t suppose to be allowed, so if we alter the price it allows us to bypass the exceeds amount message on the screen. There are checkers who know how to get around that, hence the money maker coupons. I doubt the price adjustment is a trick to take money from your pocket. Most checkers are just going according to the rules of how coupons and manufacturers expect us to handle them. Really if you think about it, that $1.00 off coupon exceeds the value of the item, so if we went completely by the book, your coupon would be denied all together.
In the show, the Albertson’s trip was really unrealistic for an average day of shopping. She either had that trip prearranged or they had someone open up a checkstand knowing that she had a huge amount of transactions. At my store I’m the only one left who doesn’t mind doing several transactions all at once, and I try to make it the best deal possible. I don’t like making you (the customer) hang out any longer then you already have, especially if you’ve got kids with you.
I personally don’t mind giving full value of the coupon as long as we are not paying you in the end, and its still fair to everyone else.
Which Albertson’s do you shop at?
I know the checkers are wonderful. It is just the policies that do say to adjust down a coupon that upset me. I am very glad now that the coupons are accepted though to get them free. That is nice that it can be done. I never do more than 3 transactions and go out to my car in between. Mind you this is as much to keep myself organized as anything. I tend to break up my coupons by transaction and paperclip each transactions coupons together.
I shop at several Albertsons so I can break up my trips. I live in 20 miles north up 55 so when I come in to Boise to shop I hit several stores to make sure I get what I need without clearing shelves. My most common ones are Eagle & McMillan, State and Gary Lane(Glenwood) and Cole and Fairview. These are all near eiter my husbands work or my daughters work or martial art class because we carpool.
I was wondering why Nathan had over $18 just in tax on one of his transactions, yet his total was $5 something. I thought that sales tax always has to be paid and coupons can’t reduce that amount.
Also I noticed with the ladies that there were several $6 coupons and a $10 coupon on the screen (the details were not visible). I’ve rarely seen such high dollar value coupons. Does anyone know what they were buying? I know the Maalox coupon was $5.
I did think they were cute running all over town for their birthday freebies though.
I did hear something about using their “gift cards from their pharmacy.” Or prescriptions or something…maybe those were the high dollar items you saw?
I kind of didn’t think their gift cards should count as a couponing total…but that’s TV I guess.
I have a question. How is that these couponers aren’t limited to one coupon per purchase? Nearly every coupon I use has that phrase. I know Walmart’s computer inforces it as well. Am I being overly picky? I sort my purchases based on that pharse…so if I want 8 of something and the coupon says one coupon per purchase, I seperate them into 8 purchases. Am I doing this wrong?
A “purchase” means each item purchased, which is different than a “transaction” which means the process of actually buying it. If you have eight coupons for peanut butter, you should be able to buy eight containers of peanut butter all at once unless the coupon states something like “one coupon per person” or “one coupon per transaction” but those are pretty rare. When it says “one coupon per purchase” it means you can’t use three coupons all on one container of peanut butter. HTH
Thanks…may have just moved me to new level of couponing!
Lee, “one coupon per purchase” means one coupon for each item that is being purchased. You can purchase more than one of the exact same item and use a coupon for each of them. You just cannot use more than one coupon on one item.
A purchase = an item
A transaction = all items purchased together with one payment
That said, there are limits sometimes, for example some P&G coupons that say in the fine print that there is a limit of 4 coupons per shopping trip. In that case, if you wanted to purchase more than 4 of the exact same item and use a coupon on each item, you would need to separate your purchases into more than one transaction.
Thank you sooo much!
Boy, I have no respect for Nathan, or any of the other hoarders being protrayed on this show. So maybe he donates some of his loot, but no one needs that much stuff, no matter how little it costs.
I’ll admit to watching the show tho. It’s entertaining, but not at all educational. If PBS were to do a couponing show, that could be educational. But TLC? No. They don’t produce anything of value.
It is a bit sickening how much stuff some of these folks have. I also think it was really funny that “Extreme Couponing” was sandwiched between two episodes of “Hoarding”! I do wish it was more educational and reflected real shoppers experiences, not just extreme for shock value. Oh well, “reality” TV isn’t always real!
Sorry to say but I am done Done DONE with this show. Even with the “EXTREME” nature of the couponers there could still be an interesting program built around planning, organizing and executing a shopping trip. Unfortunately, we are instead treated to 30-60 seconds of WOW what a deal information (so and so has a coupon for x) and 10 minutes of run-of-the-mill reality show garbage (couponer arguing with spouse, manufactured drama at checkout, reaction shots of customers, etc.). An EXTREMELY disappointing offering that could just as easily have been called Hoarders: Shopping Edition.
I agree. I didn’t see the current episodes, but I watched in December at a friends’ house. I was totally disgusted with how they portrayed couponers. I have read reviews on the current episodes and have seen that they are they same way. I had heard that TLC was supposed to take it in a better direction this season, showing the realistic side of couponing and to my (not surprised) dismay, they are once again focusing on shock factor. This is the very reason why I cancelled my cable 3 years ago! TV these days is such a waste of brain cells.
I agree HOARDERS COUPON Edition! I am so miffed about the Jaime’ (mustard lady) fraudulently and illegally using coupons on the wrong things to make money. What she did was stealing and she knows it, she’s flaunting that she’s a thief and got away with it on national TV! I can only hope that she is recognized and no longer can pull her theft routine at her local stores. TLC should have did their research and shouldn’t show people breaking the law, this is just wrong and misleading. This show makes the average viewer think that they can clip some coupons and go get carts full of meat and other good foods for next to free, yeah right, this is so unrealistic! The reality is we get excited about an upcoming sale, order the coupons off ebay, organize them get to the store to find empty shelves, or if we do happen to get lucky and get some freebies we have to wait in line behind other couponers, go do our three transactions at a time while holding up the line and getting shot looks from the not so happy customers accumulating behind us when alby’s schedules 2 cashiers on Tuesday end of doublers night. It’s not all roses and freebies like the show portrays, it is work and luck sometimes. Plus they don’t show how they get all those coupons, if they are like me they have to buy them off ebay and so that cuts into the savings as well that of course the show doesn’t factor in when they show $5 for a shopping trip and the carts being hauled off.
This is undoubtedly going to be an unpopular comment, but here goes. Quite honestly, I don’t think most of you are all that different from that Jaime woman. In her case, it’s clear she was committing actual coupon fraud, but she says the same thing most of you have: “But it worked!” I remember, for example, a promo or two at Albertson’s last year that clearly said, “total calculated AFTER coupons,” but the deal actually did work with your before-coupon total. And, you were all totally excited to ignore what was written in favor of “what worked” if it saved you more money. Not that different from Jaime, in my opinion. And on some deals, like the Smith’s GM gift card deal going on right now, where Smith’s is clearly trying to discourage one shopper from doing multiple transactions and buying 100 boxes of Cheerios (probably trying to limit their liabilities and also prevent the shelves from being cleared), all the comments from couponers so far are excited that, in most cases, they’re still able to do multiple transactions and buy 100 boxes of Cheerios and roll their gift cards. And there have been many problems where some tiny upstart company is offering a free sample to drum up some business, and it gets posted on one of the big freebie web sites and the tiny company is totally overwhelmed and has to cancel the deal. The straightup fact is that couponers as a rule will take whatever they can get for free and as much of it as possible whether they “need” it or not and no matter what effect it’s going to have on other people. All of you justify this to yourselves, because we humans are extremely gifted at justifying our own behavior. I don’t really think it’s that special that Nathan is donating whatever to the troops. It isn’t the troops he cares about; it’s showing off. And the more showing off we have on TV or coupon blogs, the fewer great deals there are. Or perhaps you all just think that stores and manufacturers enjoy losing money in order that bored housewives with above-average incomes can get tons of cereal and fruit snacks for free. Bleh. I coupon because I quite literally have to, but the kind of willingness to bend or break the rules, or to hoard free samples that you have no intention of ever buying, just to score something for free that I see among couponers is frankly repulsive to me.
I am offended by your comment. Yes there are people who get into trying to take advantage of every sale and try to get as much product as they can for free. But to lump us all as that type of shopper is completely wrong. I am not a “bored housewife with above-average income”. I coupon because I have to also. I don’t clear shelves. In fact I rarely buy more than just a few of any item. I only get one newspaper (although I will buy a second if the coupons are great that week), I use my coupons ethically and I don’t do more than two transactions ever. I try to get a few of my families needs for a great discount so it frees up more money for expensive things like milk, meat, and produce. I really do think you have it wrong. I believe that most couponers are ethical and considerate. There will always be those who are obsessive about getting as much as possible for as little as possible, but don’t assume everyone is like that. This is why so many are speaking out about those featured on Extreme Couponing – they DON’T represent most of us!
Not to mention with Nathan, there’s a write off that he’s taking for the donations. I’m sure they neglected to mention that.
I did watch the shows and I’ve read everybody’s comments. I kind of have to chuckle because there are some things I love about it all and some things that I just have to give the big “eye roll”. I would love to have a 2 year supply or “stockpile” for my family of 6 of laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, diswasher tablets, dish soap, toilet paper, body soap, body wash and toothpaste. These are basic necessities that don’t expire or are easy to rotate. In that, I do “envy” their stockpiles. The other stuff. . . . ummm, not quite so much. I have a great stockpile of propel water right now (got 60 coupons off of e-bay plus 11 from my Sunday papers that I purchase). I bought some at Winco, some at Walmart and the rest at Albertsons when they had the great sale. I know 142 bottles sounds like a HUGE, ridiculous amount. And if I didn’t have an 11 year old son that prefers it over soda or gatorade when he plays baseball, football and basketball, I would probably agree. I also love having a big enough stock pile (and believe me, mine is not as big as those ladies by half) that I can share with friends when I know they’ve fallen on hard times. But, and this is a huge but, I am not willing to give up my shower for a bigger stockpile of anything.
I would hardly call 142 bottles of Propel a stockpile when you have kids. LOL I recently bought 100 bottles of Vitamin Water, thinking that it was going to be too much, and after a week I think I drank nearly half of them. Could be partly due to being constantly thirsty from pregnancy, but the sale was totally worth grabbing that many. I almost regret having not got more due to the fact that my kids LOVE them. There are things that I think over time are reasonable to stockpile on.
Thanks Julie for telling like it is, I couldn’t agree more. I wish the good deals would be spread a little further than just the extreme couponers and that there were some left for us normal couponers just trying to pick up a couple of the deals. Extreme couponing is nothing more than extreme greediness, encouraging horarding, and clearing the shelves. The mentality is to get all you can for free, who cares who is paying for it as long as you can get away with it then it must be OK, right? I know what you mean about loopholes being advertised and any way to get one over on the manufacturers or stores. So you personally may not clear the shelf, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that there can only be so many super coupon deals to go around to the growing number of “extreme couponers’ that grow each day due to the explosion of coupon sites teaching extreme couponing and now it’s shown on this totally unrealistic tv show, who wouldn’t want to save 90%? and we all have to buy groceries.
Wow! I am pretty amazed at the comments made by people accusing “those extreme couponers” and “bored housewives with above average incomes” of something soooo horrid as couponing. I too started couponing out of neccesity. (Lord, I wish I was a bored housewife with an above average income) And, yes there are examples of greed out there but there always will be. But to attack others who do the same as you is rather petty. Obviously you are on this site because you coupon more than average. Why does it tick you off SO MUCH if you didn’t get that super deal on Crest toothpaste because someone else got there first? What are you afraid there won’t be another deal? They make more! And how do you know that people in your area need it or not? Are you asking them in the store? If you see me buying 50 boxes of cereal is that too much for my family of 6 when that is for the next 6 months? If I can buy all my cereal now at .50 a box and get free milk in doing – Heck ya I’m buying for the next 6 months. When I can cut my grocery budget in almost half – Heck ya I’m doing it! I have lived on rice and beans for the last 3 years after my husband lost his job and grandma moved in with us. Now after couponing just a few months I can have that extra money for stuff we didn’t have money for in the budget. (Crazy things like going to the movies or roller skating) Don’t lump people together. You don’t know another persons story. It’s just a game honey. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. :0)
BTW – The companies that put these coupons out know what they are doing. If they “lost money” on them and it was putting them under they wouldn’t do it. Companies are out to make a profit.
Wow, I’d be so embarrassed going to the cash register with 50 jars of mustard or tubes of toothpaste … coupons or not. I am embarrassed when I have more than 5 coupons in my hands at the cash register.
You would have to pay me to pull a stunt like that, heh, but I’d like to see the cashier’s face piling up so many mustard jars in front of her. “That’s all I want : 50 jars of mustard, I love it, that’s all I eat !!” 
They said the couple was at the cash register for 5 hours in an episode and then they were calling friends to come over as well. I was embarrassed just watching ‘em call. These people are really not bothered by what other people think … or getting humiliated in public – - even on tv admitting doing things like that and stock piling all sorts of things.
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