To the coupon keeper goes the spoils
The extreme couponer is the head of the household and can do whatever he/she wants, right? Maybe not in all houses, but that was definitely true on last night’s Extreme Couponing™.
Image courtesy of Discovery Communications, LLC.
First we meet Chastity and April, a couponing duo from Atlanta whose husbands aren’t exactly thrilled with their wives’ hobby. When we view Chastity’s stockpile, she admits that her 1,000 bottles of mouthwash take up closet space that could be shared with her husband Wesley. April, however, has found an outdoor solution to the storage problem and stocks her $30,000 worth of goods in a shed. She packs so much that her hauls have warranted their own insurance policy! But now, April needs an even bigger shed, so she’s trading in her old model for a discount (cha ching!) on a newer one and needs to shave $500 off her grocery bill to afford it. With hubbies in tow, Chastity and April refuel at a local diner before their big shopping trip. That’s when the trash talking begins, which leads to Clint and Wesley to challenge their spouses to a coupon contest (that they can bargain better). Big mistake, boys! Once the four head into Piggly Wiggly, it’s clear the women are going to take over. The men can’t navigate the aisles properly and then fudge the math, so it’s Chastity and April to the rescue. The pair ends up getting free chips by stacking BOGO coupons, and all seems well and good until Clint accidentally spills all of their Crush sodas on the supermarket floor. Cleanup on Aisle 4! But in the end, the couples succeed with a $677.90 bill slashed to $40.31 (94 percent savings). Guess we’re gonna need a bigger shed!
Image courtesy of Discovery Communications, LLC.
Next comes one of the more interesting characters we’ve seen on Extreme Couponing™. Broderick, 15, houses his family’s stockpile in the basement, which includes 244 feminine products. We’ll let that sink in. His sister Danelle admits it’s a little weird.
“He acts like he owns the house sometimes because he coupons,” she says.
But don’t think Broderick is much different from the average teenager. He’s using his savings for a patio cover and pool. By his calculations, they should have enough money in seven months—but that’s not without sacrifice. In order to do so, he sends his family on a dumpster diving trip. It’s hard to watch his mom Becky and sisters scrounge through trash but worth it when they score two more razor coupons, which bring them one step closer to that pool. Now they’re ready to go shopping. The power struggle begins when Broderick shatters a bottle of vinegar while trying to take it off the top shelf, and his sisters chide him for his height, saying that’s why he coupons instead of playing basketball. But the tables quickly turn when Becky asks her son if they have enough money to buy apples (they do), and sister Michelle sneaks a jar of pickles into the shopping cart (she mustput it back and buy the brand Broderick likes). Initially we were appalled by the role reversals, but when we saw he got $989.98 of groceries for $5.23, they were justified.
Image courtesy of Discovery Communications, LLC.
Our couponing night ends with Pam from Ohio. She runs her house like a business, using her husband Darnell and five kids to clip coupons.
“[She’s] definitely bossy and controlling, “ he says. “It’s horrible.”
What’s not so horrible is her $7,500 stockpile that she got for a mere $250. That’s 205 tubes of toothpaste, 102 bottles of body wash, more than 100 rolls of toilet paper, and more! Pam even uses flow charts for each trip, and this time, it demonstrates how to save $300 for her daughter’s graduation party. She recruits her Aunt Cynthia and Darnell to go to the store with her, and they haul Vitamin Water, shaving cream, brownies, toothpaste, and more—so much more that it breaks the cash register. Pam is visibly sweating as they call the manufacturer for instructions on how to fix it. But a simple reboot is all that’s required, and Pam makes out with 79.3 percent savings and a very successful graduation party. Phew!
That’s it for this week! Tune in next Tuesday to TLC at 10pm ET and anytime on Twitter (@Coupon_Alert, #extremecouponing) for more Extreme Couponing™ fun. Happy Thanksgiving!
