If you watched TLC’s widely watched “Extreme Couponing” program — where ordinary people used coupons to slash grocery bills by hundreds of dollars — you’re already acquainted with the idea of extreme couponing.
If you never tuned in, the concept was straightforward: each segment opened inside a couponer’s home — giving viewers a peek at that person’s enormous stash of coupon-purchased goods — and wrapped up with a trip to a local supermarket where couponers demonstrated their skills at the register.
Store clerks scanned their hundreds of items, applied coupons and tallied the final savings. The savviest extreme couponers could reduce their subtotals by more than 90% — and occasionally even receive money back.
After I became enchanted with the thought of buying a lot for very little, I decided totry extreme couponingfor myself — without doing any homework.
I stopped after just three weeks.
Extreme couponing is extremely demanding, extremely time-consuming and, worst of all, extremely unlike what you see on television. Still, I learned quite a bit from the experiment.
Here’s how my three-week challenge unfolded.
Week 1: The Clipping Begins
I launched my first week of extreme couponing on a Sunday, the day the coupon-packed newspaper is delivered.
Realizing I didn’t have a paper subscription (oops!), I drove to the neighborhood dollar store to buy one, took it home and started the monotonous task of cutting coupons.
After two hours, I had collected a modest assortment of coupons for items like laundry soap, toilet tissue, deodorant and vitamins.
But I also ran into a few questions:
The coupons were for brands I rarely buy. Would I have to give up brand preference for bargains?
The coupons had expiration dates. How could I use them in time?
What should I do with the coupons I didn’t want? Toss them?
Manufacturer limits prevented coupon stacking. How could I save hundreds if I couldn’t combine coupons like they did on TV?
Where on earth would I keep all these coupons?!
A little overwhelmed, I tossed my cuttings into a pile and shoved them into a closet. I wasn’t close to being an extreme couponer, but I wasn’t doing terribly. I just needed more coupons — many more coupons.
So I spent the remainder of the week collecting the coupon inserts that arrived in the mail.
I also combed store sites for sales. Was Publix running a yogurt deal that week? Was Target marking down lipstick? Was Walmart cutting the price of cereal? To track everything, I bought a small notebook for $2 and jotted down what I needed to remember.
By the end of week one, my coupon stack had grown to just under 30 pieces. I resolved to keep accumulating as I moved into week two.
Week 2: Not-So-Extreme Savings
On Sunday I returned to the dollar store for another newspaper.
This time I was braced for the clipping grind… but not for what I discovered when I flipped through the coupon section.
Many of the coupons were duplicates of ones I’d clipped the previous week! And since stacking wasn’t allowed, I’d have to use them in separate transactions, which limited my savings. Frustrating.
It was a small setback, but not a deal-breaker. I concentrated on clipping fresh coupons and adding them to my collection.
As I reviewed my bounty, I noticed two coupons were expiring that week. I’d have to use them soon or forfeit them entirely. Unwilling to watch them go to waste, I made a special trip to the store to buy the items, even though I neither needed nor wanted them.
But hey — it was savings, so…
I used a $0.50-off coupon for laundry detergent priced at $6.99 and a $0.55-off coupon for toilet paper priced at $9.99 in a single transaction that yielded a 6% savings — a far cry from the 90% magic seen on TV.
Not exactly ecstatic, I spent another hour clipping coupons from weekday inserts and two more hours scanning store websites for promotions.
As week two wrapped up, I began to wonder if couponing was really for me.
Week 3: Accepting My Couponing Fate
By the third Sunday, my stockpile consisted of exactly two products: laundry detergent and toilet tissue.
I bought the Sunday paper, cut new coupons and added them to my pile.
I chose to buy a coupon organizer so I could sort my finds by product category and expiration date. Lacking a coupon for the organizer itself, I grabbed one at Walmart for $6.96 and spent two hours carefully slipping my coupons into the sleeves.
By then I was losing patience, so I began planning the biggest shopping trip possible with the roughly 70 coupons I had.
After three hours of plotting, I abandoned the plan.
I realized I didn’t possess enough coupons to produce major savings. And since coupon stacking wasn’t an option, the effort seemed even more pointless. Plus, very few of my local stores were advertising sales on items for which I had coupons.
As week three drew to a close, I chose to end my couponing experiment.
Lessons From My Extreme Couponing Attempt
Extreme couponing isn’t impossible, but it demands hours of prep and practice, some upfront cost and spare storage — particularly if you’re a beginner like I was.
After three weeks, I had invested about 50 hours, $29.39 (for newspapers, a notebook, a coupon organizer and my small two-item stockpile) and a chunk of closet space into locating, cutting and sorting coupons. In return, I’d saved $1.05.
But there was more. I also learned that extreme couponing requires realistic expectations.
Shortly after I stopped, I discovered that stores featured on shows like “Extreme Couponing” sometimes allow coupon doubling just for filming — meaning everyday people aren’t likely to score the same savings seen on television. In fact, programs like these have pushed many retailers to tighten coupon policies.
Fortunately, there are practical ways to capture coupon-style savings without surrendering hours of your life or being hampered by restrictive store rules. Instead of going extreme, here’s what I plan to do now:
- Install apps that make coupon finding simple. RetailMeNot is quickly becoming a favorite. Many of these apps let me pull up redeemable discounts right at the register.
- Follow favorite brands on Twitter and Facebook to catch coupons and exclusive offers. This helps me keep brand loyalty intact!
- Email brands directly, share positive feedback and politely request coupons. Companies like Aleve, Folgers and Kraft have been known to respond to coupon inquiries.
- Use straightforward strategies such as following sale cycles and combining store promotions when permitted. For detailed tips on saving aggressively, check out how to start extreme couponing.
- And when shopping at budget-friendly grocers, review helpful advice beforehand — for example, first time shopping tips for aldi can help you make smarter buys without clipping dozens of coupons.
Your turn: Have you ever experimented with extreme couponing? Did it work out for you?
