Extreme Couponing

Have you seen Extreme Couponing on TLC. I watched the premier last week and am enthralled. I would love to pay $20 for $1,500 worth of groceries. Since last week, Extreme Couponing is all I can talk about. My children want to know if I'm going to become an extreme couponer too.

This morning, armed with my Safeway Club Card and about a dozen coupons clipped from the morning paper, I set off to pay virtually nothing for all that I was going to bring home.

At the grocery store, I made sure to place all coupon items in the front of the cart, and all non-coupon items in with Alex. I really wanted to see how much I would save with my precious coupons. At checkout, I told the cashier that I wanted to ring the coupon items separate from everything else. You see, on Extreme Couponing, the shoppers always make odd-ball requests and almost always, the cashiers oblige. I felt confident that my cashier would be just as accommodating.

I watched as the cashier ran my items, and coupons, over the scanner with elation. With each beep I felt in my heart that I was saving big and that my grand total would amount to mere pennies. It's true what they say on Extreme Couponing, you really do feel a rush as each item is scanned. After the very last item was scanned, I swiped my Club Card to realize even more savings and sure enough, the amount lessened. But, it didn't lessen as much as I thought it would. "Here you go Miss Langa." Said the cashier as he handed me the receipt. {And for the record, my last name isn't Langa, but it's what my Club Card says so I usually just go with it.}

When I examined the receipt, I was disappointed to find that I saved only a meager $2.50 -- I brought with me over $10 in coupons, how is it that I only saved $2.50? I saved $12.50 with my Club Card -- savings I would have had with or without coupons. I ended up paying $20.11 for 16 items. Not bad, but not great. Turns out, my coupons were for items that were already on sale and therefore I only saved a penny here and there. BLARGH!!

Despite this minor setback, my couponing days are not over, they're just beginning. One day I'm going to look just as happy at checkout as this woman.

One day, I too will have a cart or two or three filled with items that I will pay next to nothing for.

I'm pretty sure I can do it. I just need to learn a little bit more about how these darn coupons work, because after today's experience, they're hardly worth the trouble.