Rant!

I'm sure most of you have heard of or seen the show on TLC called "Extreme Couponing." Or something like that. From the very first episode I was beyond annoyed by the whole process. I don't care what people do with their time. If they want to spend 40+ hours a week cutting out squares from paper, that's fine. Whatever floats your boat. But when you turn that into rooms full of crap that you could never use in your lifetime is ridiculous. They call it a stockpile. 100 bottles of laundry detergent, 1000s of tubes of toothpaste. Insanity. They use hundreds of coupons each visit to the store. They clear the shelves at the store. They clear the shelves so that when the average Joe wants to come in and buy that product, just one, they can't. They can't because these product hoarders take it all. And they don't care. These coupon freaks go through dumpsters. They involve their kids in their dumpster diving. They move their kids out of their own bedrooms so that they can set up shelves for their stockpile.
To me they are taking advantage of a system. As a result of these people, some stores are already changing their coupon policies. When they change their policies they are hurting the average Joes who want to save 5 or 10 bucks a week. Some area stores are already saying "no more doubling on coupons." And some are saying that you can no longer use a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. There are limits on coupons now. All of these changes are recent. They are hurting the average shopper. Thanks to a few people who need therapy for their addiction, the rest of us are going to take a hit.
Some of the extreme couponers do donate some of what they buy to charity, and that is fantastic. I applaud them. But they are still guilty of hoarding. I don't see the point or benefit to having a wall of toilet paper or toothpaste or a closet full of pasta. Why would you buy stuff that you will never ever be able to use? Personally I think that it is an addiction. They need therapy. It is greedy.
The food part of their stockpile is frozen, processed food that is junk. I guess that is part of what I don't get. Why would you fill your freezers full of stuff that isn't good for you? Why don't you spend some of those 40+ hours you use to cut paper, and spend it making wholesome meals? I am not saying that I am Martha Stewart here and that I cook ONLY healthy meals, because that is not the case. But I also don't feed my family junk all the time either. And I don't understand why they buy SO much of that junk. They are proud that they have 3 freezers full of frozen Banquet brand dinners. It is all about greed. They are addicted, and greedy. I have someone on my Facebook page that has recently started this insane couponing. As her stockpile grows, she has been taking pictures of it. Each week she posts the results of her shopping trips. It is extremely irritating. She is just like the rest of these couponers. Freezer full of frozen crap, and a stockpile of products she will never use. 20 Mr Clean Magic Erasers. Really? I think I have had the same one for almost a year! I wouldn't use that many. Ever. 10 cans of aerosol room freshener? Yeah. I'd never use that either. I guess it all bothers me because I see it as a form of greed. And this is my blog and I can talk about whatever I want.
I do use coupons. It's never much. But it does save me about 5 bucks here and there. I buy store brands a lot. And they don't give coupons for fresh produce, and rarely does the store give you coupons for fresh meat. When they do, I use them. The biggest part of my grocery bill are those fresh items. Even with them costing much more, and not having coupons, I still buy those fresh items. I wont buy frozen dinners, just because I have a coupon for them. Even if I could get them for "free" with coupons, I still wont buy them. Sometimes I will come into the store with a coupon, and then find that even with the coupon, that the store brand is cheaper, so I will buy the store brand and lay the coupon down on the name brand for someone else to use. I am all for saving money. But greed, I am not all about. That is my issue with most of this. Agree with me or not, either way is fine.
There is my vent for the day! Man it feels good!