Extreme Couponing

QUOTE from Neil Simon: "Don't listen to those who say you're taking too big a chance. (If he had), Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor."

I've been reading the latest issue of TIME Magazine. This was a special money issue and I've read some pretty enlightening stuff. What I want to share today is what I LEARNED about those folks who are into couponing big time. TIME interviewed a lady named Shannon Shaffer who is an extreme couponer. They wrote an article about Shannon to illustrate what serious couponig can do for the grocery budget.

Shannon takes five hours to plan her shopping trips and two more to actually complete the shopping. She has cut her weekly shopping budget for her family of three from $250.00 to $50.00. On the shopping trip in which TIME went with her, here are the results.

She bought 92 total items.
Total retail cost was $293.82.
Amount paid was $38.04. (A savings of $255.78.)
Coupons used - 76.
Hours in the store - 2.5.
Fights with management - 2.

Shannon, who runs a couponing site called For the Mommas, says any family can use coupons to reduce their tab by 25% to 50%. "I can't figure out why people wouldn't," she says.

In 2009, consumers saved $3.5 billion redeeming 3.3 billion coupons - a 27% leap from 2008. "When the financial markets collapsed, people suddenly became very interested in coupons," says Todd Hale, senior VP of consumer and shopper insights at the Nielson Co. What started out as a cost-saving measure has spiraled into a craze, thanks in part to TLC's EXTREME COUPONING; housewives have been seen stealing newspapers and dumpster diving in pursuit of good deals. (I'd call dumpster divers some pretty serious couponers.)

With just Ruth Ann and I in the house I don't plan on getting into couponing. As we've aged we eat less and we eat more and more fresh fruits and vegetables and less and less processed foods. Our food budget is very reasonable so I see no need for taking the time to coupon.


HUMOR for today: I have degree in Liberal Arts. Do you want fries with that?