Have you ever turned on the TV and gotten sucked into the show that just happens to be on even though you always swore you would never watch said show? This happens to me far too often. Most of the time the show is one on TLC I find. This phenomenon is to blame for an entire afternoon of my life lost to such vileness as Toddlers and Tiaras, or the rather horrifying experience of watching Hoarders which led to sudden fits of cleaning my house.
Wednesday night I had another one of these events happen to me. This time it was Extreme Couponing. I have seen the ads for this show for a while now, but I never really saw the appeal of it. I have never been a coupner, and the show isn't really highlighting some sort of disorder, so really it didn't interest me.
When I turned the TV on it was in the middle of an episode. I tried not to watch it. I was in fact scrolling through the channel guide looking for something else to watch when I just got sucked into the show. The next thing I know we were all sitting watching our fourth episode and are entirely enthralled by it.
Seriously the things these people were doing were amazing. It was a little crazy considering that they spend nearly as much time a week couponing as I spend in the office. I was also fairly certain that someday TLC will make a special entitled: Extreme Couponing: The gateway to hoarding. I would totally watch a show that went from these people making amazing deals and stockpiling things to becoming crazy hoarders that might die beneath there 100 year supply of rain scented deodorant.
After watching the show it became a topic of discussion though. Why not coupon? I mean obviously it can save you a ton of money. It also appeals to the part of me that likes to stockpile stuff. It could be a worthwhile endeavor.
The thing is I have never been good at couponing. I can find coupons for items I do not use, but never anything useful. I try not to be picky but some things I have to be picky on. I have horrible allergies and have to buy one certain brand of laundry detergent and soap and shampoo and conditioner. So buy one get one free of some random generic brand of soap does me absolutely no good.
Also couponing takes a lot of time. I don't really have a lot of free time. Between work and faire and normal daily chores and sleeping, I don't really have that much extra time. I suppose I could combine couponing with my TV time, but I feel that somewhere in there something would get neglected. Knowing me and my love for my shows, it would be the couponing that suffered.
The husbeast offered to try his hand at it since he has so much free time just now, what with being unemployed and all. It is a thought, but I do not foresee it going well. He has enough trouble going to the store with a list and coming back with all the items on the list. Add in coupons and very specific items and I think it might be a disaster.
I think in the end it comes down to the fact that I really just don't know how to coupon. I would need to be taken under the wing of a couponer to be taught what exactly it is I should be doing before I could accomplish anything.
So I suppose for now I will continue to shop as I always have and just dream of a day when I could buy $1000 worth of groceries for under $30. It certainly is an interesting dream to have.
For a time I was a semi-avid couponer. I wasn't the level those folks are at, mind you, but my best was to pay only $250 for over $500 worth of groceries.
ReplyDeleteSince we started eating more whole foods and fewer processed things, I've kind of cut back on my couponing. They're good for things like cleaning supplies, laundry things, and personal care products, but unless you eat everything out of a box or can, you don't really get many decent coupons.
If you want to learn, though, I'll happily teach you the tricks I always used. It IS time-consuming, though. Prep for a grocery trip would normally take me about 4 to 6 hours when I did it.