A New Form of Hoarding

I'm watching this Extreme Couponing show on TLC. I can't help but to feel sad for these people. This is an addiction, and of one of the worst kind.

The first woman profiled tonight was near tears in the beginning of her profile. She was talking about how this has taken over her life. She's changed plans, given up time with her husband and works her life around this. The woman has 40 years worth of toilet paper! The groceries have left their storage room, and now over takes the rest of the house. The one spot in the house that was her husband's area was over taken with groceries. They already had 2 years worth of a stockpile and yet, she still needed to go and get another $1000 worth of food. (All for $50 out of pocket.)

This is hoarding. Granted, it's grocery store items and not just a case of being an extreme packrat. But it's still hoarding. When you're buying things that you can't use in a reasonable amount of time, and when it's over taking your home and your life, there's a problem.

In this next one, I'm watching a woman shopping with her toddler son and he is literally buried under groceries in the cart.

Don't misunderstand me. There is nothing wrong with couponing. My husband and I watched this show once and talked about what we would do in those situations. One of the things we had decided was that we would keep only what we could use in a reasonable amount of time, and then donate the rest to the food banks, women's shelter's and children's homes. There would not be a shortage of food in the food banks if we all did that!

And yes, in these difficult times, it is great when someone can go and get what they truly need, plus a small bit extra, for very little out of pocket expense. But where do you draw the line? At what point in time do you say, "I have more than enough. It's time for me to stop now."? For many of the people profiled, this moment doesn't come.

Yes, I realize that this is just a show, and that the people profiled are not the norm. And I'll be honest here. Once every couple of months, I take about $900 out to the grocery store, and I purchase so much that it over flows out of the kitchen and onto my desk in the bedroom. When our stockpile shrinks, I start working more and harder to save up for the next big trip. When the cabinets are empty, I start to panic.

But I never buy more than what we can use in two to three months of time. At any point in time, I know that we can lose our income and still be okay until that income is replaced. And that's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to keep a stock of food and toiletries to last you between three and six months. Longer than that though is just over kill.

And no, I don't use coupons. I'm not patient enough, organized enough or motivated enough I guess.