The Pot o' Gold (plastic coins) at the End of the Rainbow

Extreme Couponing was a stroke of genius for TLC.  The show is as addictive and awe inspiring as any of TLC's other voyeuristic series, including but not limited to the somewhat related series Hoarders.  For those of you who haven't seen it, or heard about it, the show follows savvy shoppers who spend hours matching up store sales, coupons and promotions to whittle down grocery bills in the hundreds and thousands to single digit price tags. 

This ain't your mama's coupon clipping.  These women (and with one notable exception they are almost always women who sometimes bring their spouses along to carry carts) spend 40-60 hours a week planning and couponing; they have garages and even bedrooms devoted to food storage; and some even dumpster dive for coupon inserts.  It's not the kind of savings everyone can achieve.  It comes at the price of your time and often, your dignity. 

And for one woman, perhaps her freedom.  That's an exaggeration because I don't know many self-respecting white collar units in district attorneys offices who would prosecute for "coupon fraud."  But, Entertainment Weekly reported that TLC was "looking into" J'aime Kirlew (pronounced Jamie, not like the French I like) for just this offense.  Reportedly she had been fraudulently using coupons to purchase items not covered by the coupon discount. (http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/04/14/tlc-coupon-fraud-extreme-couponing/)

I have experienced a marked increase in instances of women pulling out envelopes of coupons in line in front of me at the grocery store, or checking out in 5 or more transactions to take advantage of as many coupons as possible.  But heed the advice of the experts ladies, always check the store coupon policy first!  Nothing is more annoying than getting behind someone who has to reorganize their order or put back half of their purchases because they failed to call ahead to find out that the store will only honor 256 mustard coupons per day, per household. 

This is not to say that I'm one to denigrate a deal.  In fact, I love a good deal.  Which is probably the source of my fascination with the show in the first place.  So I was beside myself to find out that at Big Y you can now get certain items FREE even without a coupon.  Big Y now gives out oversized, plastic gold and silver coins to those who sign up for a membership card, shop frequently, or play the "Instant Rewards" game at the register.  Who needs Foxwoods when you could win coupon coins at the grocery store?  The other day I went with one gold and three silver plastic coins in my purse and I came away with a FREE box of blueberry muffins.  And let me tell you, never have mediocre muffins tasted so sweet.