In an effort to save money, plenty of people go to the extreme, and one of these extremes is the practice of extreme couponing. Although it seems like a really effective money-making solution, it’s not as easy to do as it seems. If you’re planning on joining this trend, the question you need to ask is: “Is extreme couponing worth the time?”
What is Extreme Couponing?
Using coupons in your purchases is called “couponing”, but when you use coupons in ALL of your purchases, even if the things you’re buying come in packs of 100’s, that’s called “extreme couponing”. It’s a radical approach to a simple budgeting solution. In the most ridiculous cases, extreme couponers have received free money for shopping at a grocery store. That’s not common, but most extreme couponers enjoy around 50-70% savings in their purchases.
Why Do People Engage in this Activity?
The primary reason why people do this is because they “think” they save money. Think in this context simply means a subjective point of view. If you ask some people, they would say you actually spend more when you do extreme couponing because you tend to buy things that you don’t really need. Some of them may even end up unused after expiration.
A few extreme couponers may be considered hoarders, especially if they buy a particular product all the time. For those who are preparing for a post-apocalyptic world, they always buy canned foods, toiletries, bottled drinks, and home supplies. Others may just buy a whole shelf of a single product in the aim of availing the coupon discount, even if that many packs of spaghetti will have absolutely no use.
Do You Really Save Money?
If you’re going to use the products you bought, then yes, you do save money. Some deals are ludicrous and can get you up to 90% discounts on certain products. However, it’s not easy to find coupons on items that you actually want to buy. For instance, your favorite brand of shampoo may be Syoss but you only have a coupon for Finesse. Even if the discount is huge, if you’re not happy with what you bought, you may not use the product at all.
You also need to sort your coupons to make sure none of them get expired. There’s nothing more regretful than a coupon that never got used. After spending hours clipping magazines and organizing the coupons based on their products, your efforts will only go to waste.
Conclusion
Yes, it does seem that extreme couponing is worth the time if you’re looking for a way to really make the most of every penny whenever you go shopping. It’s also worth the time if you don’t have anything to do, i.e. you don’t have a full-time job or a family to look after. If you can dedicate your whole life to finding coupons in magazines and newspapers, sorting them, and clipping them, then extreme couponing is definitely for you.
However, if you’re after a more practical way of saving money, you can still use coupons but in a less aggressive way. You can just use the occasional coupons you find in newspapers, or you can go online shopping and use coupon codes instead. The rewards are just as satisfying but not as strenuous to achieve.