Coupon Sunday: Don't Judge Me

There are not many people that know I am a couponer outside of my family, a few close friends, and well anyone that reads this blog. I'm definitely not ashamed to say I kick ass and take names when it comes to saving money, it just gets old defending yourself against the assumptions people make based on shows like "Extreme Couponing".

Even though I don't feel like I need to defend myself to any of you (because you are all so supportive) I just feel like I need to put to rest those assumptions once and for all.

Assumption #1- All coupons are for junk food therefore, you eat poorly

Yes there are a lot of coupons out there for cookies, chips, candy, sports drinks etc. I get it. But there are also coupons out there for things like pasta, rice, granola, yogurt, and even fruit. Sometimes you just have to sort though the trash to get to the treasure. The truth is a bulk of our spending each week goes to things like fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, and meat. I wouldn't claim to be the healthiest people, since we both enjoy a treat for dessert, but we certainly aren't eating microwave noodles, sports drinks, and candy bars for every meal.

Assumption #2- You have to buy 50 of something to save any money

There is no way on earth SSF and I would buy 50 of anything. Maybe 4 or 5, but never 50. In fact that is my number one pet peeve about couponers of the extreme variety--clearing the shelf. SSF and I had our first run in with a an extreme shopper in our area. We had gone to buy 1 bottle of seasoning with our coupon (it would have been free) only to find the shelf had been cleared. I JUST WANTED ONE BOTTLE! Annoying. So no, I will not be clearing any shelves in the near future.


Assumption #3- You are greedy and/or a hoarder

Of course this was the perfect segue from the previous assumption,. If you've ever watched Extreme Couponing you've probably felt this way about the people featured. They stockpile mass amounts of food that makes you wonder how even a family of 4 could use it all before it goes to waste. Just because you can buy 35 mustards, should you? Thanks to the limited storage space in out home SSF and I will never pride ourselves on a large stockpile nor do we want to. We want to buy the things we need and can use within a reasonable time frame and pay (much) less for them. That's all.

Now to be fair, I had these assumptions about the people on "Extreme Couponing" when I first started watching it. I thought they were insane, but actually, most of them just know how to play the game (while others may just be crazy). As I've started becoming a more active couponer and getting into coupon blogs I've realized there are lot of people out there just trying to save money.

Thoughts?