Extreme couponing

Last night Austin & I got hooked on watching episodes of Extreme Couponing on TLC.  I heard about this concept about a year ago and actually looked into it a little bit.  At that time I decided it was a little over the top.  Last night confirmed that initial thought.  Here are some of my observations:

• These crazy people spend an average of 30 hours a week collecting, clipping & organizing coupons and planning shopping trips.  I don't know about you, but my time is worth WAY more than these people are saving by doing this.  I usually spend an hour or less a week doing the same thing.
• Getting things for free or next to nothing requires a store that doubles coupons and has some kind of loyalty/rewards program.  I remember certain stores doing double coupons on certain days of the week growing up, but I am not currently aware of any local store that doubles coupons.
• In order to make the deals work the shoppers often buy large quantities of items and create a "stockpile".  The stockpiles tend to take over their homes.  One lady converted her bedroom closet to more pantry storage and put personal items in rented storage.  Seriously?  My husband would never go for this.  And Mom, your "gray shelves" in the basement growing up were nothing compared to these people.
• Along with large quantities of items is piles of items they'll likely never need or use themselves.  Like the lady who had a 1.5 year supply of diapers and wasn't married and didn't have any kids (I hope for her sake that Walgreen's brand works for any future kids she might have).  Or the 25 boxes of sleep-aid medicine.  Or 50 tubes of toothpaste.  Apparently, it doesn't matter to them that a lot of the stuff they buy has expiration dates.  How fast can two people really consume 60 boxes of cereal?
• The shoppers brag about how little they spend on groceries--like $50/month for a family of six.  They'll buy $300+ worth of items and end up paying like $4 out of pocket.  However, in four episodes featuring eight families, I saw exactly two pieces of produce and not a single fresh meat or dairy item in the carts.  No milk.  No eggs.  No cheese.  Granted, the TV show never says how often they go shopping, or whether they do separate trips for fresh stuff, but from the way it looks and sounds these people live off of pasta & sauce, canned soups, cereal (apparently dry) and sports drinks.  The one couple with 60 boxes of cereal was hoping to not have to go shopping for 2 months so they could save to go on a dream vacation.  From the looks of them, they should maybe think about trading in the 10 boxes of Reese's Puffs in the guest room for some oranges and lettuce salad.  I'm just saying.
• Which leads to the annoying statement of "I made like $30,000 in a year by couponing."  No you didn't.  The money you "saved" didn't pay the rent or put gas in your car.  It just accumulated a bunch of useless products junk.  And it "cost" you a lot of time that you could have spent doing something else that actually produced a real income.  Or you could have spent actually raising your kids.
• On the TV show (and probably in the shoppers' minds), they do not take into account the costs of accumulating coupons through multiple newspaper subscriptions, ink for printing out hundreds of online coupons (one lady had three dedicated computers for couponing), paying babysitters to watch your kids while you spend 4 hours grocery shopping, etc.
• There are smart and simple ways to save on your grocery bill without going crazy.  I consider myself to be a pretty frugal shopper.  I always plan ahead with a list to match my menu.  I shop the sales and stock up on things, but only to a degree that I know I'll use in a reasonable amount of time.  I often buy meat in bulk and repackage it for the freezer.  I do clip coupons and use them regularly, but only for items I was going to buy anyway.  I have price limits for what I'm willing to pay for certain items--especially produce.  I try to provide my family with a somewhat healthy and nutritional diet.

Overall, I think extreme couponing is really just a sad example of people with another form of addiction.  It's not really that much different than being addicted to Facebook or video games or collecting any other kind of item.  It's more for the thrill of the chase rather than a final reward.  Although, one lady commented that if her stockpile suddenly went away it would be like losing a member of the family.  If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.  So unless you're planning for a nuclear war, or you give most of what you "buy" away, I believe this phenomenon is more than just a hobby--it's a sickness of the mind and soul.