Guest post by Bradford Hancock
Have you heard about the new show on TLC? It’s called Extreme Couponing and It will air tonight at 8PM eastern. To be fair, the only clips I have watched were on Good Morning America, so I don’t know the full scope of the show.
However, my initial reaction to what I saw is that this in no way represents couponing as I know it, as you know it or as many bloggers know it. Faithful Provisions has always erred on the side of buying what you need and leaving the rest. If you find a good deal, buy some and then be generous with the rest…give it away. What I saw makes couponers look like hoarders. So, if you watch, let me know what you think.
I can tell you this: I’ll be 40 in March and have yet to use anywhere close to 1,500 Speed Sticks. I’m just saying….
I don’t have cable and I was really trying to find a way to watch it. Then I started hearing more about it. I believe I will pass.
this is nuts i’m not happy about it. still excited to watch but not happy on how it will make us *helping our family* look.
After watching the video my thoughts were that there is balance in everything. Some people maybe come obsessed with couponing and they put coupons/good deals before everything and everyone. When God becomes 2nd (instead of first to couponing) it is so unhealthy. I did loved the part where the guy was donating a ton of food to his church and they called him a modern day Robin Hood! We should all try to be like that guy.
I saw the video today on forthemomma site http://www.forthemommas.com/articles/extreme-couponing
Watched the first 10 minutes of the show, it is definitely “EXTREME!” What I have seen so far I would classify as hoarding. Another thing I thought of while watching is, these extreme people are driving up grocery prices. The first person they profiled had 9 carts full of stuff and paid virtually nothing for it, that has to drive up grocery prices in general. Just an observation…
As a person who has a family member who is a shopaholic and a hoarder, I recognize that at least two of the people featured on the show display the same OCD behaviors as my relative. IMHO, the first lady probably has an addictive personality in which if coupon magically didn’t exist, she’d simply find another addiction to fill its place. I admire a great stockpile but just like anything else, there has to be a limit, and a balance to one’s life. I feel sorry for someone who lets anything totally dominate their family’s life so much as I have seen it destroy some of my own relatives.
Bradford,
I agree, err on the side of not having enough for yourself and giving it away to those who really need it.
Shannon
The show came across to me as an obsession with couponing — not saving money on your groceries. If you have to pull a trailer to get your coupon buys I believe it’s over the top. I do appreciate him getting the cereal for his church’s food bank–that is actually a good idea for church food banks to consider maybe asking members to bring coupons on these type of things. Hope he contributes the toothbrushes and deodorant to some charity also. It’s an obsession if you go through people’s trash. All this attention to couponing could have a negative affect for those who need them to feed their families. Wondering if this is a one time show or a weekly?
I just saw the show. I coupon and I would never go to a store and use 9 carts unless I was shopping to give it to a children’s home, food bank, homeless shelter etc.. That is just down right greedy. I would never dumpster dive for a coupon. Beg neighbors for their unused coupons? Maybe. Why would you order $70 worth of coupons? I thought the idea was to save money not spend it.
I didn’t see the show (don’t have cable; too cheap to pay for it!) but saw the trailer and the GMA piece. I loved it, as it made my 13 boxes of cereal and 8 tubes of toothpaste look like nothing to my husband!!! 🙂
Well the show was called “Extreme couponing”, so of course they will show the most extreme behaviours. Would they have had as many viewers if they didn’t make it seem like Joanie was diving in a dirty dumpster instead of a recycling bin? Would it be TLC if they didn’t show the personal side of the story (psychological) instead of the donating? Of course they will exagerate, it’s called television. I just hope the two hoarders (first woman and last man) will go to counselling after watching the episode.
I did not see the show, but I did watch the clip of it. I found it really sad that people found satisfaction (joy!) and security from their HUGE stockpiles. The reason why I coupon, other than to bring the grocery/household expenses down, is to be able to give. In some ways we are able to give more money to missions & other charities. (I am able to move more money into giving when I save with coupons.) Sometimes I give items such as bath gel to places like the veterans hospital. I find the joy in my life comes from not taking for myself, but giving to others. Luke 6:38 explains it best for me. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I did see the show and I think it was a little much! It portrayed couponers as a bit crazy, but also showed the power of coupons on a exteme side. I wish they would of talked more about giving to charities, because who needs 40 boxes of pasta or 150 candy bars!!!! 😀
This is one of the reasons why (a) we cancelled cable and (b) we don’t watch “reality” TV. Throws all of us coupon users in the same category in some peoples’ eyes, and I don’t appreciate that. When I get extra free items (NOT CARTS FULL OR BAGS FULL, MIND YOU), I give them to the local food bank so others can be blessed. Much more satisfying than overflowing my pantry/bathroom closet.
Ok, I posted on another blogger’s site..(she was one of the featured couponers on the show) One man’s crazy is another man’s sane….There before the grace of God go I…etc. etc. etc…
That being said, I was disturbed by the first woman buying HUNDREDS of candy bars. Not BUYING them…they were free. (oh my goodness ya should have heard me talking to my television set!!) Now, my 9yr old boy observed, “Mom, ya only need that much CANDY if you are a bear going into hibernation!” haha!!! Outta the mouths of babes, eh? But what he AND I noticed is that ONLY … ONLY ONE of the profiled said anything about GIVING TO CHARITY.
I coupon. I stockpile somewhat. I run hot and cold and I adhere to some of my own strict rules. (don’t just get it cause you can…don’t clean out a whole store…don’t let it overwhelm my life with 70 hours a week on a computer….don’t run from store to store…See, I have my own set of rules cause I NEED them…not everyone does.) But one rule I have is EVERY 90 days… EVERY 90…..we give to our St. Vincent Depaul Pantry. If God gave me the fortitude to do this, the family to be patient when I do, the joy I get from conquering “the big bad retailer”…then I must… MUST give to those who cannot. 100+ boxes of pasta don’t make me “happy”. But, I will bet that a person who can’t afford pasta, and goes to our food bank and CAN get a couple boxes of pasta, is pretty darn happy. And for THAT I am happy.
I think shows like this are slanted for ratings and to garner the “crazy” in people. Check out the show that followed it…it was about people’s “strange” addictions…. like a girl eating detergent…another eating toilet paper…(boy I hope they coupon! LOL!) but that “strange” behavior is a LIGIT disorder, Pica. It’s real. BUT… TV, well, they play up the CRAZY in us, they bank on people wanting to see CRAZY..so they don’t feel quite so CRAZY. (Yeah, it’s true… I watch Hoarders so I feel better about my messy craft room and disorganized garage!) TV people play on us Americans that we are not very bright and that we aren’t smart enough to take time to listen or understand another person or their “story”. TV people bank on us Americans being judgemental, and sadly they are right a lot of the time….I know people who do not coupon, do not stockpile, do not invest the time, they all think “man, those people are crazy! Wow, they must have so much time on their hands. Sure…bet those women don’t have jobs…” I know those people. But what those TV people don’t show enough of is the real stories or back story of the why behind this “new craze” (hardly, I remember when my mom was a devoted couponer!) …because then it would just be an ordinary story about regular people. And well, THAT doesn’t get ratings. “Not getting ratings… CRAZY!!!” LOL!
Will I watch more…probably. Will I continue to talk to my TV “at” these people… probably….But that is just because I’m CRAZY!!!!!!! LOL!!!!
Amen! The show was a disappointed 🙁 they really picked some bad examples of Extreme Couponing…I do not agree that clearing shelves, hoarding goods or “beating the store” is a valid representation of what most of us REAL extreme couponers do. It’s sad that they chose to portray the show in that light…but it’s all about the ratings for them!!!