Thursday, April 7, 2011

TLC's extreme couponing - WTF? {why the flack?}

image from TLC
so i am sure if you saw the ad for this show you were as intrigued as the rest of us: "how the heck do these families save over 90 percent of their grocery bill every time!"

we watched the show {that premiered last night}, and we were very impressed.  yes, some of these ladies have taken this skill to an extreme {thus the name of the show} but they have basically made a job for themselves.  and they have figured out how to beat the system and save money- who doesn't love doing that? while we watched, we looked up various coupon sites and tried to figure out how they do it and where they get all of the coupons!!

one of the women featured, also has a website called the Krazy Coupon Lady {KCL}. and she teaches beginners how to become a KCL by going to the right sites, doubling up, getting extra sunday papers...etc. sounds like a decent plan. if you can make the time to do it. and quite frankly, if you have no other way to make an extra income for your family.

while i was surfing, i kept reading all of these nasty articles about the show, and how some are saying that these women are greedy, selfish, or "spending too much money to save money..."

to that i say, "why the flack?" these women have found something that they are good at. yes, it feeds into our need to watch crazy extreme behaviors on tv nowadays {i.e. strange addictions, intervention, hoarding...etc} but they are moms that simply found a way to help out and yes, now they are extreme about it. some possibly even OCD.

a lot of them are LDS women that most likely started collecting their year-supply of extra goods and created a stock-pile and when they realized what it could save and how it would help the family financially- they went for it!  that is called, using your talents for good! so again, why the flack?!!

most women that stay-at-home now have a way to bring an extra income. women are starting more home-based business and make up more of the business owners than men do now.  you probably took up photography, or you sell your talented craftiness on etsy, either way, you have found something you enjoy doing that also brings in more income. 

they say that is the key to happiness- find a way to make money doing what you enjoy! so lets say that this is a full-time job for the KCLs and leave it at that- it is fun to watch and we can take a page out of their book without getting all mean and antsy.

but check out her site for the best coupon-clipping sites. 
i think i will be getting into it {though on a much lower end of the spectrum....}

3 comments:

  1. i saw one of the commercials where a lady said she spends up to 6 hours preparing for a shopping trip. that seems out of control to me. also, it's great that they bought $600 worth of groceries for $6 dollars, but who needs $600 worth of groceries? stocking up your food storage? awesome. all of the time? i don't know.

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  2. I follow the Krazy coupon site and it has really helped me save. I think you can do it at whatever level you wish. I love it though because now I can never pay more than 50 cents for deodorant, and that Old Spice, and I never pay for toothpaste because I can always get it free. I really use it a lot with personal hygiene products. Coupons would be a lot more useful if I was in a larger town with more options. I think it is a great way to go and save and I enjoy doing it. Good luck!

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  3. I watched that show and am afraid they will be on Hoarders next week. But I must say couponing is AWESOME! I have done it for over a year now.
    I use CouponSense.com. It is a great community and well worth the little fee to use it. So far in the year 2011 I have bought $890.31 of groceries BUT only paid $237.81...making me save $652.50.
    You CAN and TOTALLY SHOULD coupon! It is such a rush walking out of the store paying with so little. DO IT!

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