Extreme Couponing on TLC

Have you seen this yet? These women (and men) are amazing.

The show estimated that Americans throw away about 57 Billion dollars of coupons per year. 57 Billion!! That is why Joanie collects 500 coupons a week. She does this by dumpster diving at the recycling center after everyone throws away their coupons from the newspapers. She estimated that she spends 30 hours a week couponing. One lady spoke about how her family of six only budgets $160 a month on groceries.  I think my family of 3 spends around $250 per month.

Joyce, AKA "Coupon Diva", rang up two buggies full of groceries totalling $230.38. After her coupons were rang in she paid $6.92. I find this absolutely remarkable. During her interview she said that someone once told her that, "I just don't have time for coupons." (Sounds familiar). Her response was, "Well Baby, You just ain't been broke enough."  Well Joyce... excuse me.... Coupon Diva, I am broke enough! I want this also!

Apparently the trick is to save all coupons and then match what is on sale each week with collected coupons.
I am ready to take the challenge. Here is my story.....

Sunday morning Steve went out and bought a Sunday Charlotte Observer.  I spend 30 minutes that morning cutting and organizing all the coupons. Mom brought over her circulars from the Independent Tribune later that afternoon, another 15 minutes spent cutting and organizing.
Sunday evening after I put Cam to bed, I took the CVS flyer for the week and spent another 20 minutes matching the sales to coupons I had collected. I then grabbed the calculator to estimate how much I would spend.  My total came to $91. So, I went back through the pile and eliminated the larger items - medicines, etc..- that I didn't need and reduced my expected bill to $20.
Monday afternoon, I went to CVS with coupons and flyer and made my purchases.  While I was there, I reduced my list by two items because the sales were not as good as it looked. This took around 15 minutes.

Total Time Spent:         1 hour 20 minutes
Total Money Spend:     $17.88
Total Money Saved:     $33.48

Here were my scores! Savings like that makes me giggle inside. But here is the question I pose myself and I pose to you - oh anonymous reader - Is it worth it? Are there Coupon Divas reading this blog who can offer their words of wisdom to all of us fighting The Suburban Challenge? Do any of you know of websites to get coupons easily without having to download a coupon maker?

At the end of the day, I spend $17.88 on items I did not need! Did I really save any money?