Surgical Shopping

I've come to learn a bit about “Extreme Couponing.” While there is no question that there is a certain satisfaction to buying $600 worth of groceries for $50, what they do is really the most extreme example of “a penny saved is a penny earned.” They essentially have their own business where they “make negative money,” working hard to save.

I'm not saying this is wrong, but when you think about it, if you spend ten, twenty, thirty hours a week on a part time job, say, babysitting, dog walking, envelope stuffing, and get $300 or $500 for it, no one raises an eyebrow. All they are doing is spending a lot of time cutting coupons. To really understand the value of what they are doing, consider the two sides of the spectrum of convenience and savings. One one extreme, you want a bottle of Pepsi, you need it in the next ten minutes. You go down to 7-11, wait on a short line, pay two dollars, and go back home. You have what you wanted, and it cost you ten minutes. On the other extreme, maybe you'll get some coupons, you'll save up rewards points, you'll wait for the right sale date, and you'll end up with ten two-liter bottles for the same two dollars. Not bad, I guess, but you have to find what works for you.

Consider the hidden costs of all these savings: There is the cost of real estate (usually their basement, but sometimes all over their house—note that we rarely see people with small apartments with a giant pile of toilet paper rolls), the cost in actual money of subscribing to several newspapers (about $20 or so a week, which they make up for in savings, but they'll scoff at paying wholesale club membership fees), and, most notably, the cost in time of clipping all those coupons, reviewing when the sales are, going to the store in a mindset usually reserved for Olympic training, then the time spent at the register, and adding to their horde of grocery items. Again, I don't want to sound dismissive; I admire these people. But, don't think what they do is easy, or something you can just pick up once you see it on television. It takes time, and it takes work. I'd also want to add that they walk the fine line between being practical (saving money) and being impractical (having more food than you know what to do with), and they walk the line between being proud of their ability to save money, with having external validation from a big pile of stuff.

But there is a balance. You certainly can learn a lot from them, even if you don't adhere to all their methods. I like the term “surgical shopping.” You do have to make a commitment to yourself to buy for price, not need. Take some time to clip coupons, but then wait on them. Wait for a good sale. If you get circulars from three different stores, you'll notice that most of the same items are on sale at all the stores, and one will usually have a better deal than the others. For example, at the same week, two stores may have pasta on sale, one is four for $5, the other is 88 cents each, limit of four. Which one sounds like a better deal to you? It's also a good idea, if there's a good sale, to just Google the item and add the word “coupons,” there may be something from the manufacturer's site. From there, print out some coupons, make more than one trip (even if you just turn around from the parking lot, that counts as a trip), and use different coupons for different trips; sometimes you'll get what's called a “catalina,” which is the coupon you get at the checkout for your next trip.

Here's a similar technique: I call it “buy big or stay home.” Now, this is going to take some time and space to set up, and it's somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of convenience and savings. It does take some startup cost and money, but it doesn't require a horde either. Get a wholesale club membership. Trust me, it'll pay for itself in milk and eggs alone. Then get to work taking notes on the most common items you buy, what they cost, how much you get, then do the math and determine the cost per unit. Then, compare to other places. You might want to consider the store brand of your favorite grocery store or drug store, even better if there's a coupon. Amazon has their own version of a bulk club called “subscribe and save.” Pick your favorite brands, experiment a little, don't ever have too much store or brand loyalty.

Don't forget, there are popular web sites dedicated to extreme couponing. At the very least, check them out, and print coupons you think you'll use. They'll toss around terms like “BOGO” and “Stack,” and while it doesn't hurt to learn these terms, don't get thrown by the fact that the audience for these web sites are experiences “couponers,” who will casually rattle off that you can get this or that item for four cents if you doublestack an MFR right before the EXP. Trust me, you sound exactly the same when you talk about the Heisenberg Compensators that make transporting possible.

So, quick takeaway: time is money.