Did you watch the new Extreme Couponing on Monday?

It's back! Yes, the show about extreme couponers making coupon magic on a massive scale is back! Did you watch the new episodes Monday night on TLC? What did you think? Are you boycotting the show because of questionable couponing practices? Are you watching every episode with pen and paper in hand to take notes?  Share your thoughts!

Most of you know my thoughts about Extreme Couponing. Over the last couple years I have blogged about it more than once. For those newer to the blog, basically I think it's a good concept gone bad. There are some very good techniques described in the show but it's taken to a level of excess that I find hard to believe is healthy for any family. The amount of time, effort, space in the home and hoarding that many of the couponers exhibit is disturbing. The stores consistently break their coupon policies to allow the show to film these massive shopping trips and NO stores in the Raleigh Durham area will let you do that kind of shopping, using that many coupons.

Here are a few things I noticed from the episodes Monday night. I did not watch the full hour of the show, but I saw plenty.

* Kmart let a woman do 23 back to back transactions using a ton of coupons. Kmart's policy here in the Triangle is to let shoppers use 5 coupons per day per customer with a purchase of $25 or more. Yes, 5 coupons per day. I guess Kmart in her state doesn't have that policy. Or maybe they do. She and her husband and daughter spent 10 hours shopping in the store during that shopping trip. By the way, I believe I saw a commercial for Kmart during the show. And, the show rarely mentions a store by name but they  were very obvious about mentioning Kmart's name in this episode and showing the entrance to the store with the Kmart sign.

* They showed a lot of people clearing the shelves buying 20, 40, even 60 of an item and using a coupon for every one of them. Again, no stores here in the Triangle will let you do that.

* A number of shoppers got overage for their coupons. If the product was $2 but they had a $3 coupon for the item, the coupons were accepted at the $3 value and the overage was applied to the rest of the shopping total. In our area, the only store that will do that is Walmart. It is their policy to give you the overage on a coupon towards the rest of your transaction. No other grocery stores in the area will let you do that, as a policy.

* Most shoppers used massive amounts of free product coupons. Those coupons had to be obtained from somewhere. The young college students saving up for their toga/Jello-O wresting party (I wonder if the Jell-O people were happy about this type of free advertising) went knocking on neighbors doors in togas to request coupons....in February. I am officially not going to knock on your door in a toga to ask for coupons. I draw the line there. My guess is that many of the free product (or huge value) coupons people used so happily in the segments came from coupon clippers and cost a fee. Regardless, the amount of time spent procuring those massive amounts of coupons is more time than I am willing to spend. Time with my kids is much more important than having a mountain of free soda, as one woman had.

What are your thought son the show? Will you continue to watch it?