When I first saw people collecting tons of coupons and bringing them with them to stores I though it look weird. I thought that for a long time until I saw a friend start doing it. He told me in one month alone he saved about $1500. And that was just him saving on things he normally purchases, excluding luxuries. Because of that, I'm seriously considering giving it a shot myself. I can do a good many things saving that kind of money on normal expenses.
One of my best friends does extreme couponing, and she is crazy about it..She does mostly bulk buys though, and I don't have the room in my house for that, but it looks like some people are super successful with it just buying things they normally buy, like your friend. I've been doing a lot of research on it and may give it a try, I definitely have enough sources now that I should be able to save a decent amount of money! It does seem like a lot of effort going through all those coupons though.
You're right, it does seem to invlove a lot of work. I suppose if you broke the savings down into an hourly rate, it might not seem as laborious!
I've tried extreme couponing before and saved $280 in one trip. But it feels like I spent a lot of time planning the trip and looking for coupon matchups. I also spent the entire day shopping. It's too tiring for me to do weekly. I don't know how some people manage to do it every week.
I used to have a little pocket sized portfolio that allowed me to categorize the coupons. I would put the oldest coupons first so that when the date was expired I could throw them out (that's embarrassing when you try to use an expired coupon and the cashier calls you out on it). This method is very effective if you honestly stick to what you need and not just buy things because you have the coupon for it. Also, one would still want to look at instore coupons and non-brand names to ensure they can't get the same thing for less even with the coupon.
There's no such thing as extreme couponing. It's just regular couponing. As long as you can maximize your time compared to your savings, then go for it. Far too many people basically pick up a part-time job trying to coupon (based upon time spent doing it), and then they don't actually save that much compared to what they'd earn if they were actually working in that same amount of time.
I have tried but it honestly involves so much work. Plus you really have to know where to find the really good coupons and keep an eye out on all the flyers to see what goes on sale. With two kids I would love to save a lot of money but I just don't have the time it involves.
I make far more per hour couponing than any part-time job would pay. Yes, it can be time-consuming but there are ways to make it less so. I generally have around 600-800 coupons on hand at any given time. The key is to develop a system of cutting/filing that works best for you. Don't be afraid to enlist others in the house to help, either. You can still save a ton of money without spending a ton of time. You just have to focus on doing it the way it works best for you. It really doesn't take a lot of time to do on a regular basis if you're organized.
Wow, just wow! I have heard of extreme couponing but never thought of it as a time intensive process. This thread is making me thing otherwise. The thought of having 600-800 coupons on me at a time blows my mind. I think it's a good day when I have 5 on me (which I don't completely use). I will look into this some more and try it out! I am really motivated by the thought of saving a lot of money on groceries.
The big question I've always had with couponing like this is...where do all the coupons come from?! I mean...inserts, yeah, but I'd have to pay for like...15 papers. That really adds up. Plus, like many of you have mentioned, the time that I would put into this. I'm pretty bad a figures and math and numbers, so I feel like it would just take me double the amount of time. I'm going back to school in a few weeks though, and I really can't afford to pay what I have been paying on groceries, so the thought is tempting.
