I'm the first person to encourage others to use grocery coupons. It's amazing how much money you can save on your everyday grocery purchases by using coupons. And I'll admit that yesterday, when I found an about-to-expire "save $5 on your next purchase" coupon in a pocket of my purse, I made a trip to the supermarket to take advantage of that $5 in free groceries (hello, chicken drumsticks for tonight's dinner!)
While I keep my freezer and pantry well-stocked, I know I have to draw the line somewhere. If we don't use it, I won't buy it. I won't buy more than my family can use up before it goes bad. And if I'm out of storage space, then I'm done shopping.
That's not necessarily the case for the shoppers profiled on TLC's new show, Extreme Couponing. That picture above is not a store or food bank--that's someone's home pantry. She's ready to clean up the mess after the next Zombie Apocalypse. One shopper purchased 60 containers of mustard, even though no one in her home uses mustard. What good is that?
Guess my grocery-shopping strategies are not made for reality TV. My philosophy is: save where you can, buy what you need, and use or donate what you buy.
Do you watch Extreme Couponing? What's your grocery-shopping strategy?
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2 Responses to “Grocery Coupons: Do You Go to Extremes?”
Most of the stuff in grocery stores doesn't go bad over night. If you pay attention to the stuff the couponers are buying, it is long-lasting items. 100 boxes of cereal wouldn't last a family with 7 children a few months, way before it would expire. Watching the show it is easy to forget that the people do use the products. I guess neatly organized shelves make us think that the stuff is never touched.
The Mustard remark was inaccurate. Only the husband doesn't eat Mustard.
Oh my! I thought that is a grocery store. I want to know your shopping strategies!