Image Credit: TLC
After last week’s premiere episode of Extreme Couponing, I was a little doubtful that the novelty would last. How much couponing can a person watch without getting bored or annoyed? Well, two episodes in, I’m not there yet. My obsession continues … for now.
What helped last night’s episode feel fresh was returning couponer Nathan, who set out on a charitable grocery outing to hopefully put to rest complaints that the hoarder-esque behavior displayed by some couponers is selfish — or some other adjective that means that extreme couponers are terrible people. (I reject this criticism probably because if I didn’t live in a 300-square-foot studio apartment, I’d have a stockpile, too. I’m also sort of nuts.) The goal of his trip was to purchase the products he’d need to complete 1000 care packages for soldiers overseas. And he did it for under $50.
Nathan’s noble cause helped dial down the crazy and gave a reason to root for him at the register. Toward the end of last week’s double-dose of Couponing I found myself hoping one of the couponers would fail in their quest for 99.999999 percent savings, because I was growing tired of their terrible attitudes. The last straw was when one woman claimed she loved her stockpile “almost as much as my family.” Last night, I nearly turned against the “double-saving divas” (twin sisters from Chicago), too, particularly when one of the twins talked about her stockpile of diapers … for children she doesn’t have. Oy. Luckily, they weren’t hateful, and their two half-full carts of products didn’t seem too terribly over the top. Also, they were a pretty clever pair. In fact, my friend, whose birthday is coming up, excitedly declared she was going to attempt a savings-heavy outing on her birthday, just like the twins. She’s being sucked in …
I’m straddling a line here, PopWatchers. I want to like Couponing because it’s a fresh idea for a reality show that makes sense in this economy, and I’m totally fascinated. But just like every time I get drawn into a Real Housewives marathon, I can’t decide if I’m watching because it’s so good or watching because it’s so bad.
Thoughts? And if you’re still watching, how should they keep the show fresh and interesting?
Also, VOTE on this important matter: How do you pronounce “coupon”? “Coo”-pon or ”cue”-pon?
Read more:
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this show fascinates me so much, but then you see the couponer’s house and you realize they are just hoarders. i saw an ep where a lady bought 100 things of cold cuts and yogurt. um…that stuff spoils. what do they do with all that perishable food? why do you need 150 bottles of mustard? i can understand it if you have a huge family or you use that food to donate to the food bank or something, but these folks appear to be doing it just for the thrill of saving money and to see how much crap they can get in their house.
I agree with you…they are truly hoarders, it’s just nicer stuff, not filth. If you aren’t the Duggars or the Sister Wives with 20 kids in the house or aren’t donating any of it to a worthy cause, why do you need 100 cases of cereal?
At least Nathan did have good intentions with this particular trip, but as we saw he’s just like the rest of them – toothpaste wall?!?!?!?!
Yes, they are just hoarders, only better organized.
This show annoys me to no end. These people are nuts. I watched the special on TLC about a month ago, so had no need to watch it again……First of all, who has 30 hours a week to spend sourcing and finding these coupons? Some of us have lives and jobs. Second of all, yes, they do hoard way more food than they will ever need. I mean, who needs entire rooms full of food? That’s just greedy and wasteful. How about donating some of that food to a food bank, huh?……Third of all, as someone who used to work in retail, I feel for the poor clerks and the people behind in line who have to spend 2 hours on one transaction. That’s just selfish. This show is good for a one time novelty viewing, and that’s it!
I could not agree more. No one person or family needs that much stuff. I would love to see the majority of these people donate their hauls to a food bank. Like the episode I just watched, why does an overweight couple need 100+ chocolate bars, 125 boxes of pasta and many bottles of sugary drinks??? No wonder Americans are killing themselves with food consumption.
The husband doesnt even eat mustard!
They said on the show that mustard is the Holy Grail to coo-poners because it doesn’t spoil.
Although, I would think the 100 bottles would last me more than my lifetime.
I thought the same thing, who eats that much mustard and all those cold cuts are going to rot! These people really need psycological help. They have every cupboard and closet clogged with food that they will never eat while there is no room for kids toys or even clothes in some cases. I won’t watch this again. It just caters to the unstable.
For the love of god, it’s CUE-pon.
Actually, it’s coo-pon. Anyone saying cue-pon really annoys me.
I know! The only person on any of the shows that have aired that pronounced “coo-pon” correctly was one of the ladies’ sons! Couponing is their life and they don’t even know how to pronounce it!
either is correct. it’s called dialect – like envelope or ONvelope. try looking in a dictionary. or do people not know how to read pronunciations anymore?
Here in TX it is a c’pin.
Get over yourselves, K & Peggy. Either way is correct.
COO-pn. (No, I didn’t omit a letter.) I wish I could remember where that reference is from. Family Guy? Movie?
You say potato,, I say potato….
Why do people get mad when people pronounce words differently? That’s why they made a whole song about it (“You say tomato…” etc). People have different dialects, get over it.
Cue-pon, Coo-pon, let’s call the whole thing off!
(Coo-pon is so right btw)
This is not a dialect issue. In the case of tomato & envelope, different people pronounce the letters in the word differently. In the case of coupon, there is no way to pronounce those letters differently than “coo-pon”. All you have to do is read. The person above who was snotty and said “look in a dictionary” should have actually looked in a dictionary. The dictionary says the pronounciation “kyoo-pon” is “unhistorical and not justified by the spelling”.
But for these people it is more like Cue-Porn.
The dictionary doesn’t SAY anything. It READS. Unless you have a talking dictionary. I suppose you could. (Since everyone was getting crazy about pronounciations, I just thought I’d throw that in).
I extreme coupon and its bunch of fun I am not a hoarder at all i get a ton of stuff for free all the time maybe with perishables they donate or freeze like i do? or donate? and alot of times i just give stuff to friends or family
i think that should be the spirit of it-fun and helpful. if you get $2000 worth of groceries for $5.00 and you keep some and give the rest away, i think that is GREAT. however, filling your home with food just bc you got it for pennies is not normal.
I would love to coupon more, however I do not get how they can buy 50 of a product and get it for free – perhaps it the stores in the state I’m from – don’t coupons limit to one per use or something like that.
I was talking to my husband and told him we should try this. But with so much extra.. hells ya, i would be donating a ton to shelters, food banks and overseas..
so good for u for helping those who needs it!!
Coo-pon. One of my bigger pet peeves is people who say cue-pon.
I say cue-pon…have all my life. So does my mom. I didn’t realize this was a pet peeve. Now I’ll have to check with other people to see if it’s just me and my family, or a regional thing! (I’m in PA.)
cue-pon here as well…coo-pon is just way too weird and sounds stuck up to me but lol whatever. Is it worth all of this hype?
I live in Las Vegas. We’ll take bets on the correct pronounciation.
I agree. It is so annoying. Not sure why it irritates me so much to hear cue-pon, but it does. Maybe it IS regional. Nobody I know here in L.A. says cue-pon.
I’m from NC and I say “cue-pon”. Or “cue-pawn” depending on the heaviness of your twang, haha. Hearing “coo-pon” sounds funny to me; not irritating but funny.
Same here. I’m from KY and I’ve always said “Cue-pawn.”
At some point, it seems to me that they aren’t saving any money because they are purchasing things they clearly do not need – who needs a wall of toothpaste? Clearly, people who are this extreme are addicted to the game.
I find this show to be so annoying. Glorified hoarding. I can see the birthday deals being worth it. Idiodic to collect things. The guy that donates the stuff – I actually think that’s very nice but it’s tempered by the fact that he still has a massive hoard.
There was one really annoying woman with blond hair that obviously loves the attention of this show. I would like to tell her that, with the outfit she was wearing and her overstressed hair, that no one on planet earth would ever think she had a lot of money. It didn’t even match.
I honestly would have suspected she was a stripper. Those were costume boots!
her makeup looked like she could be a side show for the circus, I would never think she had a lot of money but more so that she needed a lesson in applying makeup & dressing for her age. It was horrible!
It’s just a version of Hoarders only they aren’t living in dirty filthy places. I think it’s shameful the amount of food these people keep. Donate it a food bank. What an excessive waste of food and time.
WHoRders – really, TLC does that chick really need to put on make-up 20X on the show. Why put it on TV? Seriously bad show.
It’s a little fascinating and a little annoying at the same time.
I live in Canada and this sort of thing is impossible. If it was, our local food bank would have no problems. I don’t understand why more of these people aren’t donating half or more of this to their local food banks. The guy who did the pkg’s for the troops is great but what about the family down the block who can barely afford to eat. One family cannot go through 150 boxes of cereal that stuff goes stale. I use coupons here in Canada but you can’t double them or use 20 of them at once. It’s starting to seem like a show about greedy hoarders.
I think what disgusted me in the first episode was the woman wanting all 63 bottles of mustard, when her husband made a comment that he didn’t even like eating it. Then he kept saying ‘We should stop at such-and-such number’ and she’s all ‘no, take more’. When there were three bottles left on the shelf, she told him to take two and leave just one. That really bothered me, it’s just greedy and pointless.
I totally agree. Do they think of all the needy people in the world? Buying more food than you need just for the sake of it? That’s greed.
I totally agree with you. The mustard was all I could talk about after I saw that episode. To me that was just plain selfish!! I think they are just organized hoarders, at least those that don’t give anything away. And who has the time to go through all the coupons. I can’t handle what I get in one newspaper some weeks, let alone 100 papers!
According to dictionary.com, it “coo-pon” though “cue-pon” is acceptable though not technically correct. Apparently coupon is of French origin and it is related to “coup”. “Cue-pon” is an American variant. The more you know…
It is actually not possible to do this at most stores. 1 coupon per item typically. And discount stores usually do not take coupons
I agree that it is the attitudes of some of these people that gets to me. They will take all of a product with no concern for other shoppers who need to save monoey too. They use as very many cash registers as they can get. The worst was a guy who saw a container full of a certain product and dumped the whole thing into his cart. They fail to realize that someone will pay for these products, such as the other shoppers when the prices have to be raised. It’s the idea that they are “entitled” that exemplifies the how our country is goind downhill.
this seasons couponers willbe next seasons buried alive: hoarders. TLC is winning!
It’s COO-pon not CUE-pon.
These people are freaks and it’s interesting watching them because they don’t realize how selfish and wasteful they are. I think we are all amazed at how much time and effort they put into this and how they don’t even think they are addicted or have a problem, this is OCD AND hoarding all at the same time, it’s an obsession and watching them justify over 1,000 tubes of toothpaste that expires or 200+ mustard containers is truly sad. It’s like watching a train wreck.
People say it both ways!!
People say it both ways, but the people who say CUE-pon are WRONG!