I have little to no interest in watching the new TLC program “Extreme Couponing” but I can see where it would appeal to people.  In the current economy with the prices of everything except our paychecks on the rise people are trying to figure out how to save.  The show lures you in with get mountains of stuff for almost no money.

And it’s true you can get mountains of stuff for almost nothing, you can also not be welcomed back into a store for abusing their coupons, you can be shot down because you are clearing their shelves and you can be given a really hard time in line trying to check out.  Please lets all remember that this isn’t reality of course a clerk/store is going to be courteous to these women they do afterall have a TV crew for national station with them. 

But when these women get home and unload their bags what are they going to make for dinner?  As I said I’m not watching this show and didn’t watch the previous one so I can’t claim for sure but I know the sales and the items that you can get for free don’t always equal balanced meals.  I’ve been couponing long enough to know that canned veggies go on a great sale at my stores only twice a year, frozen veggie sales are more frequent but not as good, fresh?!? well forget about it you aren’t buying all your fruits and veggies for free.  How about meat you ask well there are deals to be had on meat (on occasion) but if want real fresh meat it’s not free either at least not in large quantities or frequently.

If you’d like to learn about real life couponing, you know the kind that actually feeds your family I invite you to stick around.  My family eats healthy balanced meals most of the time we are a real family, I have days where I don’t feel like cooking and I make mac and cheese or chicken nuggets.  I’m not going to preach healthy living to you since we don’t always conform either, but I will encourage you to maximize your savings while feeding your family real meals (sometimes they are out of a box and sometimes from scratch).

If you are fairly new to couponing I have to warn you this show is not going to make things any easier.  I experienced the rath of this stupid program after the first one aired when I was asked multiple times if I was “one of those shoppers” and each time I had to explain that most of us don’t clear shelves or hoard our freebies.  When I do go a little overboard buying something it’s something that we have a real use for.  Yes a few weeks ago I bought 12 jars of peanut butter but I make at least 12 PB&J sandwiches a week and yes this week I bought 12 containers of Smart Balance milk but with 2-4 bowls of cereal, 1 mocha latte, and at least 1 glass of milk drank a day it unfortunately won’t take us long to go through that much milk.  A few weeks ago I purchased 6-8 boxes of dog treats but my dog only goes through a box every 6-9 months however the people at the animal shelter must have thanked me a hundred times for the donation.  So please buy what you’ll use before it expires (food thrown away is not money saved!!!!) or buy items you intend on donating, from what I’ve heard the next logical step for some of these people is to go to TLC’s other program “Hoarding”

So have you watched this program?  Are you new to couponing?  Please feel free to chime in and if you are looking to cut your bill down and have a pantry/freezer full of food you can actually eat stick around you can also like me over on Facebook for easier access to all my posts.