Is extreme coupon shopping the new obsession?
Posted
May 22 2009, 08:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We've thought that "buying" toothpaste, shampoo and other items for free is the hallmark of the very best shoppers -- the people who know how to maximize the use of those rebates, coupons and ExtraCare Bucks.
But have some people gone overboard? Are they filling their homes to the rafters with more toiletries, etc., than they could use in a lifetime? Has the thrill of the hunt in the "drugstore game" taken frugality's place as the goal?
"Coupon Artist" humorously alluded to this in her post called "Coupon Queen Quiz: Are you a true-blue coupon shopper?" (One of the signs she mentioned is that "somewhere in your house there is likely a room that resembles the back room at Costco, with paper towels to the ceiling and a tower of shampoo and toothpaste that you could use to build a small shelter to house a family of four, perhaps with a cough medicine pool in the backyard.")
But now we're seeing other indications that suggest the search for the ultimate bargain has become an obsession.
For instance, "Metromom" wrote at Frugal Dad, "Once you figure out the whole CVS thing, you will be saving money like it's a very addictive video game."
Blogger Rebecca Currie calls it "hyperactive tighwaddery," a play on Amy Dacyczyn's "active" and "passive" tightwaddery themes. This type of shopping makes sense, Rebecca says, if your large family needs all the things you buy or you're fine with having your home become a mini warehouse.
"Otherwise, I think it's not a great approach, because it keeps you firmly wedded to the consumer treadmill," she wrote at Less Is Enough. "There are so many things I'd rather spend my time doing than figuring out how to save money using coupons that I can't even begin to count them." This from a blogger who experimented with spending only $1 a day for food for an entire month (sans coupons).
"LAL" at Living Almost Large tends to agree. Doesn't this super-saving activity encourage people to buy and use more stuff than they otherwise would? That seems to be the antithesis of frugality.
LAL wonders, "Do coupons allow you to be a ‘spendthrift' instead of a true tightwad?"
What do you think? Are you married to someone for whom extreme coupon shopping has become an obsession?
If so, Steve, the husband of The Bargain Jargon blogger Christy, has some advice for you (tongue planted firmly in cheek, we hope) in a special post. He appreciates and admires the efforts of his wife, but says they do take some getting used to. In that post he writes:
For those who have just recently recognized that their beautiful bride has joined the growing ranks of the frugal fanatics (a term of endearment), I have decided to offer some FREE advice. (That last sentence alone, containing the word "FREE," has likely triggered the spidey senses of coupon sentinels the world over, who, in countless homes across America, stopped in mid-sentence, lifted their head ever so slightly and, while sniffing the air, whispered, "I sense the word ‘FREE' has been posted on the Internet. I must go investigate.")
Related reading:
She's spending $1 a day on food
Be a bargain-shopping champ
A fond farewell to Walgreens' EasySaver rebates
