Finding a Moderate Level of "Extreme Couponing"

You don't have to buy 200 boxes of pasta to get big savings

Back in December, The Learning Channel (TLC) aired a special about "extreme couponers" -- consumers who are so savvy in the ways of using coupons, they are able to get multiple carts of groceries for just a few bucks.

If you’re anything like me, you sat and watched agog as Nathan Engels of Villa Hills, Kentucky bought 1,100 boxes of cereal, 300 toothbrushes and 60 bottles of hand soap -- retailed at $5,743.00 -- for $241.00.

How did he do it with just coupons? I was determined to figure it out.

Not that I needed 1,100 boxes of cereal or 60 bottles of hand soap. In fact, at first, I figured it would take a combination of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and latent hoarding tendencies to go through the amount of work it appeared to take to be an extreme couponer.

The TLC special followed Engels, as well as the other extreme couponers profiled -- Joanie Demer of McKinleyville, California, Joyce House of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Amanda Ostrowski of Cincinnati, OH -- on their quest for bargains.

The cameras followed them as they devoted dozens of hours every week collecting and clipping coupons, poring over stores’ weekly sales inserts, planning their shopping trips, methodically price comparing in the store, an hour or more in the checkout line, then more time restocking their "stockpiles" -- rooms of their homes dedicated to holding all the stuff they got for so cheap.

On one hand, I assumed I was too sane to undertake such an activity.

On the other hand, I thought about how nice it would be to get name brand toothpaste and coffee for a couple bucks. Or even free. If those four couponers could get hundreds of one item for cheap, surely I could get two or four for cheap, right? And I could probably find some space in the closet to house a small stockpile, as long as I bought items I know I’ll use.

I threw caution to the wind and dove in, determined to become what I’m calling, a "moderate couponer."

A quick Google search led me to the message board Engles runs with other like-minded couponers, WeUseCoupons.com. There I read some of the standard tricks of the trade. While some tricks involve pretty "extreme" behaviors, I discovered the basic foundation for saving the most money with coupons:

The store’s weekly sale + Manufacturer coupon + Store coupon + Competitor’s coupon = Big Savings.

What never occurred to me was that most major chain stores will allow a manufacturer’s coupon to be combined with a store coupon. And those can be used on sale or even clearance items.

Extreme couponers never buy anything unless it’s on sale. And if they have enough coupons for the items to be free, or a few dollars, or even “money-makers” (more on that later), they stock up. Hence, the “stockpiles.”

Also, multiple coupons can be used per item, as long as the coupon states it’s for one item.  

Confused? Allow me to explain with a hypothetical situation:  

Huffman’s Grocery Store is having a sale on Cereal X. Normally it’s $4.99 a box, but this week it’s two boxes for $5.00.

You have two manufacturer’s coupons that are “$1.00 off one box of Cereal X” and two store-issued coupons that are also “$1.00 off one box of Cereal X.”  

Using those four coupons, you get the two boxes of cereal for $1.00. That’s a savings of $8.89.

Imagine if Huffman’s Grocery Store took competitors’ coupons and you had one for “$1.00 off two boxes of Cereal X.”  Both boxes would be free.

Now it made sense to me why Joyce House apparently walks seven miles around her Philly neighborhood every week to pick through recycling bins and ask her neighbors for their unwanted coupons. The more high-value coupons you have, the more likely you are to save money.

Of course, getting these high-value coupons is where couponers can get a little loony.

There are coupon clipping services that will sell you coupons from the Sunday paper, as well as people on eBay who will do the same.  

Some couponing sites recommend buying, at the very least, as many Sunday papers as there are people in your home.

Other sites give you not-so-kosher hints on how to get online coupons to print multiple times (they’re only supposed to print once). Again, this seems excessive to me.

I have, however, gotten into the habit of buying two papers every Sunday. I also drop in to my nearest coffee shop and nose around the piles of left behind newspapers, plucking out any orphaned coupon inserts.

While I have amassed a huge pile of coupons for items I will probably never use, I have also found some really good ones that have already saved me a decent amount of money.

I’ve gotten two bottles of face soap for $5.00 (retailed at $12.00), two bottles of soy sauce for $0.57 (retailed at $3.14), and two packages of dental floss for free.

Actually, the dental floss was, as couponers say, a "money-maker."

Money-makers are items that end up costing less than the amount the coinciding coupons are worth. In the case of the dental floss, each was $0.97, and I used two “$1.00 off one” coupons when I bought them. The floss ending up shaving six cents off my bill. While that’s not much, imagine if I had 200 “$1.00 off one” coupons. Or 1,000.

That’s the ultimate piece of the puzzle for extreme couponers: figuring out what items are money-makers and getting enough coupons for them, so that buying them essentially pays for the other items they’re buying. Engell said he uses money-makers to pay for things that almost never have a coupon, like meat or produce.

I can’t seem to bring myself to that level of couponing yet, but during these tough economic times, it’s a tempting idea.

The other thing moderate couponing has encouraged me to do is keep an eye out for big sales and to shamelessly stock up while I can.

Last week, World’s Best Cat Litter went on sale at Target for $7.49, cheaper than any other place I had ever seen it (normally, it’s about $9.00 at most grocery and pet supply stores).  A great deal in and of itself, but on top of that, multiple bags offered “$3.00 off one bag” coupons (nicknamed “peelies” because you peel them off the package), making those bags $4.49.

I bought eleven bags.

Sure, I had to lay down a big chunk of change now, but the almost $50 I saved can be put toward anything else over the next few months.

Serious couponing does take time and organizational skills, especially in the beginning, which put me off at first.

I felt like I didn’t have time to check all the sales at all the stores and plan my trips accordingly. I got mad when I couldn’t find a coupon for the brand of coffee I like to drink and had to pay full price for it because I was running dangerously low. And I felt like a failure after one of my early shopping trips where I only saved $5.60 using coupons.

But I know I have to be patient. Collecting coupons takes time. Learning about which stores have the best sales when takes time. I’m not ready to give up.

I may never get to the point where I’m able to purchase $200 worth of groceries for $3, but I can keep trying. As long as I only buy what I need, I won’t lose money, I‘ll save it.

In fact, the only thing I stand to lose is a little time.

And maybe some closet space.