Ever since American cable channel TLC started airing the reality TV show “Extreme Couponing”, my friends have been snickering that I should be on the program. The truth is, I have never even watched an episode. I am so cheap, I don’t subscribe to premium cable channels! From what I’ve heard, the premise of the show is to highlight people who buy as many groceries as possible using massive amounts of coupons to pay for them. Being from Canada, I’ve never had the opportunity to “coupon stack”, which is using multiple coupons on the same item. The only Canadian store that I know of that allows this practice is London Drugs. Unfortunately, there are no locations east of Manitoba and I’m from Ontario.
Despite what a lot of people think, collecting and organizing coupons is not a lot of work. I take pleasure in having a cup of tea on the weekend and a enjoying a few quiet minutes to clip the coupons from the week’s newspaper insert or the ones received through the mail and then file them in my organizer.
I have used this organizer for my coupons since 2004. I bought it for $1 at Dollarama.
Yikes, I just realized that I’ve been couponing for over 8 years. At one point, I tried writing down the amount that I spent/saved. I wish I had kept that up because it would have been fun to see the statistics. But I have no doubt in my mind that I have saved hundreds of dollars over the years just by using coupons, and especially using them on items that are already on sale.
The following are some of my favourite online coupon sites:
*Save.ca – Check frequently for various coupons.
*P & G brandSAVER – High value coupons for Procter & Gamble products such as Pampers diapers, Tide laundry detergent, Bounty paper towels, and various health and beauty items. This website only releases coupons several times a year, at the same time as the newspaper insert, and usually timed with P & G store sales.
*Websaver.ca – The only website that I’ve seen that offers coupons for fresh food, e.g. eggs and meat.
GoCoupons.ca – This site contains less coupons than the others but the ones offered are generally useful, e.g. Royale paper products.
* Tip for advanced couponers: The first three websites may contain “hidden portals”. This means there are additional coupons available for ordering but can’t be browsed from the main page. SaveaLoonie.com has excellent instructions on finding the extra goodies.
For each of the websites shown above, all you have to do is register with your contact information, select the coupons that you want and the company will mail them to you. I prefer to have coupons mailed to me as opposed to using websites that offer print at home coupons. Cashiers already give me dirty looks for using coupons; I don’t need the additional hassle of having them reject my coupons because they look suspiciously homemade.
So you see, I’m not exactly what you’d call an extreme couponer. I use them on products that I would normally buy or if the price is right, something that I would like to try. My mom has a simple way of reminding me not to get too extreme by mentioning a scene from the old 1970’s television series “Three’s Company”. Chrissy, the character played by Suzanne Somers, was clipping a coupon for birdseed to save money, even though she didn’t have a bird. Remembering my mom saying, “Don’t be Chrissy”, is all I need to give myself a reality check!
Awesome post Fay! I must be “cheaper” than you! We don’t even have cable…lol….only Internet and Netflix. I really wish I had the motivation to clip coupons and surf coupon sites. I guess it really isn’t my thing. I tried buying the local Sunday paper that costs $3.00 to get the coupons. Many times the coupons were crap or they expire too soon. Really depressing. I am good at a lot of things but couponing is not one of them. We really need to get a coupon system established. I did have the chance to watch the TV show “Extreme Couponing” when I was in a hotel room during a family trip to San Antonio, Texas. I like the show, but some of the people were pretty extreme with their purchases. There was a lady that had cases after cases of baby diapers with no plans on having any children. I remember reading a story of a man that bought $2000.00 worth of pudding with his airlines credit card and every pudding package he bought gave him airline miles. He got miles on his credit card and from the pudding and took his family to Europe. He then donated the pudding to his local food bank and got the tax deduction. Sounds like a win to me!
I don’t buy the weekend paper, it’s too expensive! LOL. We get coupons through the free local newspaper. Knowing what products you always buy makes it easier to get the coupon you want. Couponing allows me to pay a lower price for name brands than buying generic.
In Canada, we only receive a tax credit on monetary deductions. But I know about the Pudding Guy. Adam Sandler made a movie about him.