Adventures in Extreme Couponing

already got caught up in the Extreme Couponing craze, but if not, let me fill

you in - it's TLC's new show following different people who go to extreme lengths to strategically plan a

shopping trip and can bring a bill up to $1,000 or more down to less than $50

(and sometimes even less than $10!) through the combination of coupons and

in-store sales.

When I was watching those women walking out of the

store with cart-fulls of groceries and paying less than I do on one of those oh-I-only-need-a-few-things trips I got

really motivated to do it myself. Now, there's a reason why this show is called

extreme - one couple bought over 70 bottles of mustard, just because it was

free. I wasn't looking to create a glorious stockpile for a rainy day (or

zombie apocalypse); I just wanted to save some money.

On the show, one of the biggest complaints heard by the couponers is that people don't have "enough time" to plan their shopping trip. So this past weekend, Sunday paper in hand, I decided to see how much money a "normal" person could expect to save.

Those on the

show employ methods of paying companies to clip their coupons, doubling coupons

(Florida is nearly the only state that does not allow coupon doubling,

darnit!), using competitor coupons, and printing even more coupons from the

Internet and then comparing the weekly sale ad to the coupons.

And no, I don't

have time for all that. With working full-time paired with being a full-time

student, I'm often lucky if I have enough time to make a list before I run to

the store. But, I decided to give it a shot. In under 30 minutes I was able to

clip all the coupons (for products I actually use) out of the Sunday sale ads,

compare to the weekly Publix ads, and write down a game plan.