The blog we have chosen to discuss is “The Krazy Coupon Lady” ( http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ ) . The blog was created by two stay-at-home moms who met each other in college, and now work together on the blog website that focuses on “extreme couponing”. “The Krazy Coupon Lady” focuses on giving its readers insights as to how to save money on groceries and many other commonly purchased goods by helping teach consumers how to locate coupons (and provides coupons on the website itself), how to organize coupons, and how to use coupons effectively. More specifically, the goal of “The Krazy Coupon Lady” is to help its readers save over $10,000 a year.
“The Krazy Coupon Lady” is related to the class theme because it brings attention to the means by which people of a variety of social classes and employment backgrounds save money (and, in some cases, obtain it). Furthermore, it brings broad attention to the phenomenon of extreme couponing and the fact that it is grabbing attention in pop culture (for example, one of the bloggers was featured on the pilot of the TLC show “Extreme Couponing”). It likely has the intended audience of people in the working and middle classes, but could appeal to anyone who is looking to save money. But, although the blog could have wide appeal, it seems to be primarily directed at stay-at-home moms because it was created by stay-at-home moms, and because extreme couponing seems to be most effective and most useful for people who have the time to search out and organize coupons.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Do you believe that extreme couponing is worthwhile or do you waste too much time preparing the coupons to really make this effective?
2. What class of people do you think this blog appeals to and why?
3. There is a retail therapy section of this blog, do you believe retail therapy is a real thing or is just a marketing strategy created by businesses?
4. How do you think extreme couponing represents class struggle in our country?
I don't think that couponing that much will last for long. The public attention it attained from the TV show will also be seen by many business ownwers who will just change their stores policies so that they still make a profit. In the end, its the companies who put out the coupons so they won't continue to use them if they don't have the desired effect. I feel that this extreme couponing idea will be a short lived novelty but it does have good lessons to be noted. For example, it implies that people should be aware of how much they are paying for things compared to their own income.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the idea of extreme couponing, and I've seen this on the news before. The ones that go out and shop with this idea are buying a lot of items in bulk. It makes me wonder if that is such a good idea unless it's for a big family or you plan to donate some of it. I saw a woman in a Kroger's grocery store and she was purchasing a cart full of sports drinks and bread. If I can remember correctly she only paid around $5 for the whole cart. That's amazing savings but what is she going to do with all that bread and Powerade? I also agree with David that companies are going to cut this trend down buy adjusting its coupons. Its only a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteI think the blog appeals to the lower working class because this class has not a huge amount of free money and if that blog really helps in saving money, these people could have more free money. But I think that this blog will realize a loose of attention because this blog is just hyped by the public or the TV. I think it’s a big Business strategy to get people to buy more stuff and so that these Business men make more money. But in general I think that blog is really interesting, especially in terms of our class topic.
ReplyDeleteMax
I think that the extreme couponing is really affective. I have seen the show and if you got the time, then i think it worth saving money for. However with the amount of groceries they get i wonder what are they going to do with all their stuff? I did watch the show and i saw hoe one of the moms used what they got and made their own little store somewhere in their house. They could use it among their families and for other needed purposes. However this could make a turn for the worse. But overrall i believe this is really useful i think that you just have to put thought into it and know what you are doing and really make the time for it. Coupons can be really useful, with me living on my own for the first time last year i had my own apartment so i know that everytime i had a coupon that saved me money i got really excited, so for people like that they can become very useful.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the person whether or not extreme couponing is worthwhile. On the show, people get into extreme couponing because their husbands lose their jobs or because they are saving for a vacation. If you have the time to devote to it, and there is a real incentive, it is for sure worth it. Spending 2 hours finding coupons and saving $50 at the store is like making $25 an hour. Some people also need a hobby, and it is a hobby that can be very rewarding and help to affect your savings in the long run. No one like spending money on groceries and couponing is a great way to make spending the money a little easier.
ReplyDeleteI can see the point, because in High School I ran track and I drank sports drinks like it was a glass of water. My mom would've loved to be able to buy the kind of cart that Ryan mentioned, because I ate lots of sandwiches and drank lots of sports drinks.
ReplyDeleteI think that Couponing is a waste of time. Time is money and the time that it takes to gather the coupons, find the deals and plan to make the trip. And it's not 'saving money' all the time. That's the trick with coupons. They are meant to encourage people to buy what they normally wouldn't buy. And promoting the brand name is sometimes worth more than the tiny lose that they occur for giving the deal. It's about what manufacturers decide is worth giving up money for.
I do not think Couponing is a good use of time. I feel like it takes so much time to find the extreme deals you see on the television shows, it's like a full time job. Also, many people buy things they wouldn't normally buy just because they're "saving money". If the extreme couponers just got jobs instead of spending their time with coupons, they could earn money and spend it on the things they need, rather than the things they have coupons for
ReplyDeleteIn my personal experience, coupons are not all they are made out to be. It seems like they are used as a marketing tactic by companies to get you to buy things you weren’t going to buy in the first place. So there may be a coupon offering half off for a product. The customer may think they are saving a lot of money and getting a great deal. Yet they would save even more if they didn’t buy that product in the first place. So the coupons influenced the person into buying something they didn’t really need, only because they thought there were getting such a great deal. Another thing is that people think companies are being so nice by giving these coupons away, but in reality, the companies are not going to print coupons that will cause them to lose money. It is simple economics; companies are still making a profit even with a lot of coupons.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Alex, I do think that extreme couponing sometimes may waste too much time preparing the coupons to really make the saving effective. Because, sometimes extreme couponings are tag high-priced and shoppers may waste their money and time when they decided to buy for the items that are couponed. Nearly all coupons are aimed to get customers to buy what they don’t want to purchase. It can be a bit krazy when businesses advertised that they are selling their products half of their actual price tags because in the market it is rare that the selling price to be lower than the manufacturing costs. Although, sometimes it is possible that we can save pretty much by just searching coupons online and using them on items that we want to buy. However, I believe that using coupons sometimes can be a venture to buyers. Other than that using a coupon is smart, but needs good pay attention. It is a good choice to just buy the items that you need and usually buy the items using worth able coupons if possible on sale.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion for those who have time it may worthwhile but for those who are busy with work and school it is west of time. If you work with time used for searching coupon you may save more. I think the coupon is the marketing strategy for large company. Sometimes the companies give promotion but it have something behind it. I think most coupons are for things I don’t need or for already expensive brands. Even if I found useful coupon to use, it takes my precious time to organize them and use. The time I used to hunt and organize coupon can be used to accomplish useful purpose. Therefore searching coupon does not worth my time.
ReplyDeleteI think the blog doesn't really help or aid people who look for saving money, although the vision of the blog is fascinating. Sometimes, using coupon does save money. However, most of the time, coupons stimulate people to purchase unnecessary stuffs or too many materials. I think coupon is one of the business abilities to hook people up to purchase companies' products. Furthermore, as group 6 mentioned, people following the blog can't save their money as the bloggers of "The Krazy Coupon Lady" because they don't posses enough time in searching coupon that they're looking for. In my opinion, to save $10,000 dollars annually, people should contribute half of their daytime in searching and organizing the coupons, which is totally time-consuming and impossible to people having careers .
ReplyDeleteThe first week after I left China and arrived at my apartment in Columbus, I was so interested in Coupon. Every day, after class, I was in hurry to open my mail box to get all the coupons out. I checked every piece of coupon carefully, collected all the coupons which are available for different kind of stores around my apartment: Big Lots, Kroger and even Subway. However, I forgot to bring these “useful” coupons every time when I go shopping outside. After one month living in Columbus, I was used to ignore the existence of coupon. But, fortunately, I find another function of these coupons, becoming place mats on the table.
ReplyDeleteI think keeping the coupon is a good way to save money and also a good habit for young people like us. Because this is usually what our parents or grandparents do. Shall we think about in the future what will we do about the coupons? When we have our child; when we have our husband or wife; what if our family situation is not so well, how can we save the money. In a fact that some people spent a lot of time searching and collecting the coupons. We can use a economic view to consider whether this is right or wrong, what if the opportunity cost is positive than we should do it-the cost of the consumed time is less than the value you saved.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Krazy Coupon Lady is a blog that represents tactics used by middle class society to maintain wealth. This blog to me doesn’t represent struggle because it was not created by women struggling in today’s society. This blog was created by women who realized that they could get more bang for their buck and even save a few bucks by clipping a few coupons before going shopping for household necessities. It is interesting to me that this is just now becoming a huge fad because I have an aunt who has been coupon clipping for years now. She doesn’t do it because she financially needs to but it allows her to keep her pantry full and her wallet too! In this economy such tactics are great ideas for everyone to adopt.
ReplyDeleteTo me, I do not like collecting the coupons because I am a lazy people. But for those who like collecting coupons, they can save a lot of money from the coupons. I think for most poor people they will choose to collect the coupon. Maybe they do not like spend time doing this thing. As they are the lower class and middle class, they have to save money to afford their life. Instead, to those upper class, they do not need to waste their time on collecting thing. They have enough money so they may not choose to save the coupons. They can use the time to do other things they want to do. To me, I will not collect coupons as there are not so many coupons in China. And I prefer to buying things when they have discount. Then we can save the time when we have a cheaper price.
ReplyDeleteJake Johnson
ReplyDeleteI think if you still buy the same amount of items as you would have before, couponing can be really helpful, especially if you are in a little bit of financial trouble. If you go out and buy a lot more items that you might not oterhwise have bought, there is a good chance that you will end up spending more money than you oherwise would have. That is how stores sometimes gain money off of coupons; people buy more than they otherwise would have, and the extra materials that they purchse end up costing them more WITH coupons than they would have spent on the normal amount of items with no coupons. They can be beneficial when you use them with self discipline though. Coupons normally appeal mostly to the lower class/middle class. People in the upper class do not need the little discounts that come from coupons, and often feel that they are above using the coupons. The middle/lower class uses them more because they have less income, and the coupons allow them to save money while still buying the groceries and other such items that they need to buy. Extreme couponing represents class struggle because it is just one more thing that shows a difference in classes. It shows a difference in how the lower/middle class value money versus how the upper class vales money.
For me,I always forget to use coupon.I’m lazy to use and collect it too. Actually,I think it is a good habit during the living life for housewife.Because they have enough time to collect coupons and also it will save money. It is the economic way to use money. And for some people who they are interested in collecting even they do not use this. It just a hobby. However,it is not good for everyone.For some people,they are very busy everyday.They have no time to do it. If we fooced them to collect coupon.I guess they will be crazy.
ReplyDelete