As much as I love watching Extreme Couponing on TV, that show is wildly exaggerated. Many of the stores allow shoppers to film after hours, ignore stated coupon policies, even—gasp—use fraudulent coupons! (Everyone knows how big I am on ethical couponing.)
Is it possible to extreme coupon under normal conditions without breaking the rules?
Absolutely!!!
Here is an example of how I do it. I bought all of the items in the above pic at Walgreens this week for $4.00. Not per item, total! And that’s 53 items—26 bottles of AZO Cranberry Supplements and 27 boxes of Culterelle Probiotics.
I started with a $6.00 Register Reward from last week. I used that, plus $4.00 cash to buy the first box of Culterelle. I got a $10RR in return.
Because both items are exactly the same price and produce the exact same $10 Reward, all the subsequent items were free!
How did I do this? I did 53 separate transactions, over the course of 3 days. I’d pay for an AZO, then use the Reward to pay for a Culterelle, back and forth. Walgreens has a maximum of 20 transactions per day tied to each Balance Reward account. Usually, my store has a limit of 4 per item. This is at manager’s discretion. Because my store had boxes and boxes of extra product, I was allowed to buy as many AZO and Culterelle as I wanted until I hit the 20 per day mark. There were no extras on the other deals this week, so I skipped them.
Please keep in mind that this is an advanced couponing technique! I couponed for at least 2 years before I ever tried extreme couponing. If you do want to try this, here are a few tips:
1. Use the register in Photo or Cosmetic. Don’t use the main register! It will back up the entire store. Shop early or late. If a line forms, let others take a turn, too.
2. Obey the store limits. If the manager let’s me have extra, great! If not, I move on to another deal.
3. Leave at least 1 or 2 on the shelf for the next shopper.
4. Take some time to learn the Walgreens coupon policy. RR are a little tricky and most deals will require a filler item.
Extreme couponing can be awesome, but it’s time-consuming for sure. The key is always planning, but no plan is perfect. For a small financial investment and a large time investment, I now have a two-year supply of Probiotics. As for the AZO, that will be donated!
Have you ever tried extreme couponing?
WHOA, I am speechless! Never even dreamed this was possible! Now I want to be an extreme coupon queen!
I did something similar last week with energy drinks. 30 transactions for 30 energy drinks for $1.09! Yay for us real extreme couponers!
This is awesome! I love the extreme couponing show, but I didn’t realize how exaggerated it is as you say. Interesting to note!
I don’t use coupons at all, like ever, so I haven’t gone extreme. My mother in law is pretty hardcore about her coupons, though.
But what do you do with 75 boxes of tic tacs? I never understood packratting anything other than TP or shampoo. It gets very specific!
I have never tried extreme couponing, to be honest I don’t really coupon at all. I really should though because I could probably save a butt ton of money!
I love extreme couponing! Why spend full price on an item when you can get it for free. Great tips for beginners!
I have never tried it, I need to spend my time on other projects, but I do save when I can with no work using my Target RedCard and Cartwheel app.
I could be considered an “extreme couponer” by some. I have enough shampoo/conditioner/toothpaste/razors/deodorant for probably 3 years. We have enough dish tabs for the rest of this year. I love it. And I follow rules and don’t clear shelves. It takes time to properly build a stockpile 🙂
I’m terrible at couponing! I’ll even have one in my purse then forget to use it. My is great at it but he frustrates my mom because he ends up buying stuff they don’t need. She still loves him dearly, though.
I’ve never tried extreme couponing because our stores don’t allow doubling coupons or using more than one coupon per item, plus they don’t offer cash back or anything crazy like that. I just use regular coupons when things are on sale and save a ton!
I’ve always wanted to try extreme couponing, but we I feel like in Canada our coupons aren’t as good as in the States.
I haven’t done extreme couponing, I’m not certain I have the patience for 53 different transactions. I’m always impressed, though, by those that do.
I used to extreme coupon, but it was too exhausting. Making 53 trips is a little more than I can handle right now, but I think that is awesome you were able to stock up on healthy items for so cheap!
I’ve done couponing, but I’m not extreme, by any means. I now work 30 minutes from town, whereas I used to work downtown, and I was close to the big stores (like Target.) I can still often get items close to free at Target, if I double up coupons, but I only get things that I know I’ll be using.
Great job! Way to stock up on the probiotics. They can be quite expensive! Thanks for reminding people not to take too many unless the manager says they have extra on hand!!!
I used to coupon (about 2-3 years ago). I still have some things leftover from couponing (like way too many bottles of shampoo). I don’t go for things I wouldn’t ever use, though.
That’s good to know what their transaction limit is per day. Good job on the savings!
Wow, that is awesome! Great tips! I really wish I could do this.
I’ve never tried it. I’m amazed by people who are able to figure out how to get these deals.
Wow, I guess your bodily systems will be thanking you for all those near free supplements!
I don’t think I’d ever go “extreme”. There are too many shelf clearers in my small town so I cannot get a lot most of the time. I am not even actively couponing at the moment due to lack of time and frustration over never finding the items I have coupons for…
I have done extreme couponing- I just haven’t had time to do it in a few years. I hate watching the shows that promote doing it illegally and bending rules- like you show here, you can totally do it BY the rules!
I love that not only are you an ethical couponer, but a polite one too. It is so great that you actually leave some product behind for others who need it- I wish the people around here did that!
Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t have the nerve to do that many transactions. I’m impressed with how you figured out the deal though.
I don’t coupon at all, I don’t find it helpful. Most of the coupons and sales seem to be for items we don’t use. Our stores also don’t double coupons.
I always feel so embarrassed when I coupon often. I never thought about asking to use the register in the cosmetics or photo dept. Great tip!
Ive always wondered how people do it… Thanks for the tips. You also reminded me that I had a coupon to submit for a $10 refund. 🙂
Wow. The most I have ever done was get 10 bottles of body wash for 10 cents. But that was only once. I always want to do more of it.
That show is SO exaggerated and it makes people who do coupon legally and ethically look bad. That being said, I love couponing -we wouldn’t be able to survive without the money I save.