This one is for all of us....LOL Starting now!

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I love love love coupons and could not imagine my life without them. They have literally saved me thousands and thousands of dollars each year. I also love to stockpile from all the coupons. I am watching it now and I would be livid if someone ripped or destroyed my coupons , however they would need some serious time because my collection of coupons is in many many boxes all totally organized by the aisles of the stores I shop.. On a personal note I would love to show people how to save more money and use more coupons. But I never would be able to live in anyone else's home and nor would I ever want some lady living in my house... Good show.. Peace. Catherine

I'm afraid I don't use them much anymore. We get carryout alot-I do use those sometimes, like Olive Garden, Carlos O'Kellys, etc.. And maybe store coupons but not the ones that come in the papers for products.

Well I will take full responsibilty and admit I suffer from ocd when it comes to coupons did I say I love them... lol.. Catherine

I watched that show tonight. That family that refused to use coupons and made fun of the couponing lady just frustrated me so much! The lady who said 'I get "BORED" finding coupons. I really don't think people realize how much $$$ they can save by shopping the grocery ads and using the coupons with them.

I didn't think it was a particularly good show. A little predictable and ho-hum. I thought the weight lifter guy's eyes looked really weird....like he was on something.....but I was glad that he connected with his teenaged daughter.

Couponing is fine, but to build your life around it....and not end up having much of a life in the end is a bit over the top.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

They always chose "over-the-top" people for the show to make it more lively!
I would never give up couponing even if I won the lottery. I might buy more expensive items with them tho! Back to the show..........I hate it when there is too much controversy and I love it when people actually learn something from it and improve their lives.

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Square dancing is friendship set to music!

I also watched the show,,

The part that got to me was when the couponer dad made the lady buy separate pizzas to save a dollar and the lady was like " You only saved 1.00!! ??

I went through that with my DH and it took me a while to teach him that yes its only 1.00 BUT it adds up one dollar at a time will add up.

And even I was impressed when they got all those groceries for 10.01 I was like WOW thats great.

On the other hand I also totally understand the having some fun part,, like when the couponer family went to the bowling alley and they had fun, and payed like 20.00 or 22.00 for it ( not bad) for a good time with his kids.

Two extreme sides of the coin but moderation is key.

LIke i said I do love coupons and my dh is always soooooo proud of all the money I have saved him over the years..He also loves all the stockpile items we both would never have it any other way.. All I need is about one hour a day to always make sure they are organized. We are a group of several ladies and we all get together and help and cut were a awesome team us ladies.. Peace. Catherine

I have to admit I would rather shop at Costco than spend all that time looking for sales, cutting coupons, matching them with other offers, etc.

I do understand the idea that saving one dollar at a time adds up to lots of dollars but how much time do you spend to save that dollar? It's not worth it to me to use an hour or two of time just to save a dollar. There is a lot I could be doing in that hour or two. I think that's the point she was making.

I go through the coupons in the paper and in my magazines and mail but I am not digging in newspaper boxes, picking up garbage on the ground or using time I could be spending reading a book, playing with my pets, or taking a walk on a nice day doing a "job" to save the equivalent of what I could earn in one fourth the time.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I don't use many coupons anymore either, for a few reasons - 1) we don't get the newspaper, so I never had many to begin with. 2) I just don't buy many items for which coupons are offered. It seems like most of the coupons are for junk food or preprepared food that is high in calories. 3) To me, it isn't worth the time it takes. I look at store fliers and shop the sales. I like yard sales too, so I guess that's where I spend the time that others spend on couponing.

Oh, and I didn't see the show. Its too contrived for my tastes.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I used to coupon like crazy when the kids were babies. I needed those diaper coupons and baby food, etc. We used a LOT of them on food. I was one of those people who used a minimum of 20 coupons at the store.

We have changed our diet a lot since then (7 years really). Most coupons I couldn't use. I don't use the items that have coupons. I will do an ebay search if I see a coupon in our paper I will use (Uncle Bens rice or cascadian farms cereal) but really, I don't use many. I always try to buy on sale and I buy a lot online (ie: Amazon grocery store) and at Costco

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I think many couponers have a "knack" for it. I started out of necessity when very young and just haven't been able to quit. I cut back at times, but it's !money! and that's valuable to me.

It's been years since I've paid for shampoo, toothpaste, and laundry soap without thinking of other items.

I don't get the excuse of it takes too much time. Anyone who watches even one hour of tv a week (note I didn't say a day) can clip and sort their coupons while sitting there.

It's not for everyone and that's good because if everyone did it, the bargains would be fewer and most likely, also the coupons.

dl

But if you don't get a paper, you don't have anything to clip them from. I save more by not buying the paper! There are too few coupons out there for products I actually buy. My husband and I both have very short hair, so we use about 1 bottle of shampoo per year. We don't use "standard" cleaning products anymore, in the interest of avoiding pollution. (Plus, eh-hem, we are lazy about cleaning, so we don't clean the house as often as most people. ) So, my coupon usage usually comes from checking online to see if there's a printable coupon before I buy something that tends to have online coupons -- like OTC medicine.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

If it's not worth it to you, then don't buy it. Here, it's $1.50 and there were 3 inserts today, normally 2 on a regular basis. I also like to read the paper and the ads.

There are many things I get free - for instance Colgate toothpaste. There is virtually always a coupon out and a store having a sale = free. Easily, I haven't paid for shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc, etc, etc for my family in years.

(can't see how 2 people can use 1 bottle of shampoo for a year)......and it's a great way to try new products.

As for printing, #1, the ink is expensive and #2 I don't enjoy trying to use internet printed and getting told no at the store. There are very few interent printables that entice me for those reasons.

dl

I'm pretty sure this show was a re-run, but, I'm glad it came on again since I missed it the first time.

IMO, these type of shows rarely portray coupon clippers as anything resembling normalcy. Coupon clipping has a stigma.

I still use coupons, and will use them on items I don't use myself, if I know someone else can benefit from them (blood glucose monitors, for example). In fact, DD and I just put together a nice "goody bag" for one of her friends who's Mom is struggling very badly right now. I doubt this Mom has the time to coupon, and it is no sweat off my behind to do this for them. I enjoy doing it, in fact. You never know the impact you can have on a person's life, even in a small way.

Couponing is not something DH and I do together, like the couple on the show. In fact, I prefer it be left to me. As another poster said, you have to have a knack for it.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

"I do understand the idea that saving one dollar at a time adds up to lots of dollars but how much time do you spend to save that dollar? It's not worth it to me to use an hour or two of time just to save a dollar. There is a lot I could be doing in that hour or two. I think that's the point she was making."

I have to agree... I will use them if I see them and it is something I really need however I do not spend too much time with them.

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Be careful what you wish for.....

*sigh* when we lived in DFW area, couponing was great! Good sales, double and triple coupons---it was fun and saved money.

Where we live no is the black-hole of couponing. Our inserts are mostly advertisements, if you present an internet coupon the cashier looks at you like you've grown a third eye, and 4 grocery stores--2 chains, 1 locally owned, and "the" Walmart store. Not much competition, thus none of them feel the need to offer double/triple coupons.

I like couponing. It's a challenge to see how much I can get for as little money as possible.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I have to admit that my interest in couponing has gone way down because I don't really need to save that money anymore and because I value my time more than I value that money at this point in my life. I still use my Extra Care bucks and did start on the Wag's Register Rewards until I decided they did not deserve my business. Most of my couponing is targeted at getting things free or cheap for my soldier care packages.

I do take comfort and/or pride in the fact that I absolutely know how to live on a dime if need be....so retirement, for example, isn't going to throw me for a huge loop because I know how to live on the cheap and to live well below my current means.

DH, on the other hand, still saves everything for that rainy day and still does not use a full piece of paper towel when he can get away with less. Bless his heart. (Drives me crazy)

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

That part cracked me up.

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Friends are like butt cheeks.
Crap might separate them,
But they always come back together.

Our Sunday paper is $3.75. Reading it online is free. As for the shampoo - it's a big bottle of shampoo and we literally each use one drop per day. We are "tree huggers," so we try to use only "green" products. Not many coupons for those. But I do look online and most of the stores around here take internet coupons.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

You can coupon and NOT be like that pathetic couple.

They both dressed like clowns, especially the womans outfit with the two completely different polka dot patterns! You can buy clothes off clearance racks or from thrift stores/garage sales and put togther outfits that look nice.
I buy 75% or more of my clothes off clearance racks and from thrift stores but you'd never know it to look at me. Yesterday I wore a pair of denim shorts I got for $3 and a shirt that cost $4 and it looked fine, not clownish at all.

I use a lot of coupons and have a little stockpile, mostly of non-food items. I had no problem with the amount of stuff in the couples stockpile but the way they went about getting it was a bit much. Making a special trip to the store to get cold medicine you don't need just because it's free(and may well expire before you need it)seems counterproductive to me but that's what the husband did.

At least this couple wasn't as bad as another couple I saw on that show. This couple was COMPULSIVE about entering contests. They would spend HOURS a day entering contests online, forced the kids to go out and pick up trash that had qualifiers/pieces on it to enter contests with and would buy products they did not need, at regular price, just so they could get qualifiers to enter contests. It was WAAAYYYY over the top.

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Jesus SAVES by shopping smartly and using double coupons!

Like I stated before if I spend between 45 minutes to one hour a day doing my coupon stuff it is so worth it for me and my family and also for my parents which I can then afford to stock their cabinets since they are both elderly and sick and having to worry about shopping takes some of the pressure and worries off of them. Again I also stockpile but I only stockpile items we use and that we use most frequently. My dh is always so so proud of all the savings and loves to tell alot of people how much his wife can save him. I could or would not live another way. Fact be told even if I had millions I would still use coupons, I would still go to garage sales and of course ladies I would still shop with our favorite friend Mr Clarence lol... peace. Catherine

I spend less than 1 hr per week sorting my coupons, and maybe another hr going through all the fliers. Some weeks I have nothing to buy, others I save well over $100. So for 2-3 hrs of work, to get $100 is really worth it to me.