Kat’s Money Corner: Forget extreme couponing, being reasonable is the better … – Kansas City Star
“Extreme Couponing” may be the hottest new reality TV hit, but is this version of “reality” realistic?
katI say no. First, the kind of couponing depicted on the tube is time-consuming enough to be a full-time job, and while the savings are often dramatic, there are a lot of full-time jobs with benefits that generate a higher net. Walletpop points out that one coupon clipper featured recently on TV spends about 70 hours a week on the effort, for a payoff of … a 40-year supply of toilet paper.
In my view, when people start turning their homes into warehouses in order to pack away their growing “stockpiles” of bargain purchases, things start to get out of hand. I’d rather park my car in my garage and watch TV in my den than use the space to store 5,000 rolls of paper towels. Beyond the time demands, though, this approach appears to dominate people’s lives to a degree that seems potentially obsessive.
I’m certainly not saying that using coupons to save money is a bad idea. In fact, one of the best ways to significantly cut your grocery bill is to clip and file coupons, and then match them to weekly sale specials when you plan your supermarket trip.Penny Pinchin’ Momis a great local resource for finding both coupons and a roundup of the weekly sales specials. Stocking up on frequently used items at the best price is a good idea – within reason.
Once you have to start rearranging your home to devote more space to storage, though, you’ve probably crossed a line. As one extreme couponer told the Today Show, “I kind of feel like sometimes the walls are just closing in on me.”
Another red flag is letting coupons dictate your purchases and menus. One of the reasons businesses issue coupons is to get people to try a new product, and that’s fine. But if you’re eating Rice-A-Roni for 11 consecutive dinners because you have a case of it in the garage that expires at the end of the month …
Another important consideration, as Ruth Bowman points out at the Financial Help for Single Mothers blog, is that coupons almost always apply to brand-name processed foods. If couponing is pushing fresh fruits and vegetables off your table, you might be saving money but you’re doing yourself and your family no favors in terms of health and nutrition. Fresh fruit and vegetables can be relatively cheap especially when you buy them at one of Kansas City’s many farmers’ markets.
Still, if you feel like you can get more out of couponing than you are right now, and want to upgrade your skills without becoming obsessive about it, check out a post by Stephanie at Couponing 101 where she describes a strong-but-realistic approach to couponing that makes a lot of sense.
Better yet, you can use your couponing skills to give back to your community. Check out Kansas City Mamas – a local blog focused on saving money and shopping smart – that features weekly deal match-ups marked “CHARITY” to help readers identify very inexpensive or free items to donate to charities in need.
And remember: It may be “reality TV,” but it’s still TV, and that means ‘keeping it real’ only goes so far.
The Money Corner is posted on Dollars & Sense every Tuesday. Kat Hnatyshyn, when not blogging or caring for her newborn, is a manager with CommunityAmerica Credit Union.For more financial chatter, click here.