Extreme Waste

So, today, TLC is showing back to back episodes of Extreme Couponing all day.  Man.  I don't understand stockpiling to the level that some people do it.  So, people will keep enough inventory in their houses to last one or two years, maybe more.  Do they worry about if there's a storm, flooding, a tornado, a blackout?  This one lady has 6 freezers.  Six freezers!!!!  What kind of electric bill does she have every month?  I do not want to walk into that house after a Katrinalike storm....

And then, there are the health implications.  A lot of the food items that have coupons are not the healthiest.  Microwave dinners, frozen pizza, canned pasta, canned anything, frozen anything, junk food!  This one family wanted to save enough money so they could afford to go on vacation.  So they stocked up so that they would not have to go grocery shopping until vacation.  This means, not one fresh fruit or vegetable in the house.  Sure, they can get IQF frozen veggies and fruit.  But, it's not the same.  It's still processed and handled way more than a banana.  And this family had kids.  I understand the need to save money, having kids and all, but I also believe in offering healthy meals for kids as well.  

I mean, a lot of these people are overweight.  Not all of them, but the ones who eat yakisoba freeze dried meals and frozen pizzas usually are.  I mean seriously, if I have an endless supply of candy that I bought on sale, I'll probably eat way more of it in a short amount of time, then if I just buy a bag of it when I absolutely crave it and I break down and buy it.  This one woman just bought 93 bags of croutons.  So, do they use croutons every time they eat soup or salad.  And if they didn't have croutons would they really miss them?

And then think about the waste.  Individually packaged products.  One of the things I see a lot of on these shows is Vitamin Water.  They are always on sale at the store, and then there are also always coupons, so they get them for free.  Now, if they had to pay for them, would these couponers buy Vitamin Water at all?  And would they drink some other comparable drink, or would they just have water?  While it does have vitamins, it also has calories, unless you get the diet kind, which isn't as good.  And do they recycle all those bottles?  Some probably don't because they are busy clipping and organizing coupons.  And for that matter, do they recycle all that paper that they throw away from the flyers?

Here's my disclaimer.  Some of these people do donate a lot of their goods.  That's nice.  Some donate to food banks.  One guy uses a lot of his shopping sprees to send care packages to troops stationed abroad.  That's nice.

But, what are the implications of all this extreme couponing?  How does it affect the economy?  I mean, is Vitamin Water able to make back the money lost on all those free bottles of yummy refreshing (but good for you too) drink?

What I think, is that the hosts of the show Wa$ted should pay a visit to the people on Extreme Couponing.  So Wa$ted is a show where people go to a families home and show them how they can save money and reduce waste, and their carbon footprint in the process.  If they follow the instructions, they are awarded the money they saved, times a year.  So, these couponers would totally be into saving money.  It would be a great show.  They would probably figure out how to be green so well, that they would be awarded with thousands and thousands of dollars, bankrupting the show.  Let's do this!!!