“Extreme Couponing,” How Discount Coupons Can Save You More Than 90% at the Supermaket

TLC's "Extreme Couponing" doesn't disappoint. How can you not marvel at a coupon-clipping woman who shows off 1400 rolls of toilet paper stashed under her son's bed?

Or another who spends 70 hours a week collecting coupons and free gift cards as well as shopping, in addition to her full-time job?

Yet another woman's coupons have saved her from paying for toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant for over 34 years?

One shopper has a 2-car garage filled with more than 10,000 items purchased with coupons. His 1,500 sticks of deodorant are enough to last the average adult 150 years. He values his stockpile at $50,000 to $75,00 for which he paid around $1,000.

What many of the extreme couponers have in common are rooms that look like mini marts or closets filled with suits and Cheerios boxes. They have passion that one couponer's husband says is like an addiction. At checkout they get rapid heartbeats and adrenaline rushes.

The recession was the inspiration for many to start clipping coupons, but several suggest that even if they won the lottery, they would never stop couponing.

Whenever I get a coupon, I worry it will expire and I have to remember to use it. Below are some experts' extreme couponing tips that may help. Warning: some of what you are about to read is, well, extreme.

• Dumpster Dive. Coupons, of course, are your ticket to freebies. One woman takes her young son and her pregnant friend dumpster diving for coupons.
• Consider Insurance. If you get hooked, keep in mind the man who insures his stockpile for $35,000.
• Go to the Internet and Online Forums. A great source for coupons is the Internet. Online forums help shoppers learn from one another and find out where the deals are.
• Plan Your Shopping Trip Ahead of Time. The extremists plan what they intend to buy, figuring out ahead of time how much they will end up spending. One woman makes a separate trip to the market to firm up her plan.
• Match up Coupons With Store Sales and Pay Nothing. Say a bottle of juice retails for $3.00. And the juice is on sale for $2.00. If you have a coupon for $1.00 and the store gives double credit for coupons, your cost for the juice is 0.
• Check out Online Coupon Clipping Services. For a fee you can get bunches of coupons that are already cut, saving you time and blisters from clipping your own.
• Enforce Discipline. When a couponer's son wanted Spiderman cereal, she explained to him that they didn't have a coupon for that. All the children on the show seemed eager to clip or help shop and to comply.
• Get a Binder. One woman's binder, which she has separated into 36 categories, weights 8 pounds. She keeps 4000 coupons on hand at all times and takes her binder to the market.
• Organize Stockpiles by Expiration Dates. If you accumulate in bulk, use the oldest items first. It never became clear how someone uses 35 bottles of Maalox before they expire.
• Products Go on Sale Every 3 to 6 Months. It's good to keep in mind that a 3 to 6 month supply will last you until the product is likely to go on sale again.
• Profile Cashiers. One woman thinks a young men at the checkout cash register is more likely to be laid back than an older woman.
• Walk the Neighborhood. One extreme couponer starts at 6 a.m. and walks 7 miles in 2 hours to collect coupons neighbors save for her. She picks up $200 in coupons a day and says coupons have allowed her to be debt free.
• Call Products' 800 Numbers. Tell them you are trying to eat better. Ask, "Do you have any coupons for your products?
• Buy Newspapers. Often couponers buy newspapers in quantity solely for the coupons.
• Use an Industrial-Sized Paper Cutter. With a heavy duty paper cutter you can cut 15 coupons at a time, according to one extreme shopper.
• Learn the Layout of the Supermarket. One woman asked the manager of her market for a list of every product along with the aisle where she could find each item. Extreme couponers spend hours planning and shopping. Organization is key.
• Get Rain Checks. If a sale item is sold out, go to customer service and ask for a rain check. Or, like one couple, head to the store at 6 a.m. to beat the crowds.
• Phone Ahead. Sometimes stores change their policies, putting limits on how much they allow you to buy of sale items. They might also change the policy on doubling coupon discounts.
• Buy Small Packages. If you buy the smallest size the coupon allows, you'll generally make out proportionately better. 75 cents off a product that sells for a dollar is a better deal than 75 cents off a larger box of the same product that sells for, say, $3.00.
• Keep the Less Fortunate in Mind. By combining coupons with an in store sale, one man bought 1100 boxes of cereal worth $4,000 for only $150. He planned to donate the cereal to his church.

And the Total is: $680. After coupons and discounts, you pay $6.46. This shopper earned savings of 99 per cent!

If I had stayed tuned to TLC, the show that followed "Extreme Couponing" was "Hoarding: Buried Alive."

How do you save at the checkout counter or elsewhere?

For more on frugal living:

Easy Do-It-Yourself Picture Framing 

My Mom's Do-It-Yourself Decorating Tips 

Numerous articles by my frugal colleague Leah Ingram