Coming into the Living Room this afternoon I found Beth raptly watching a new program on TLC called Extreme Couponing. The show follows several individuals who take couponing to a whole new level, hence the title ‘extreme’. Armed with 100+ coupons, one woman purchased over $1,000 of groceries/household goods for a grand total of $8. $8! That is very impressive! Other people on the program also saved enormous amounts of money due to their extensive research and wise use of coupons. As I watched the program I began to evaluate it.
First of all, I must applaud the frugalness of the individuals involved and how they made their money stretch a long way. This certainly is much better than most people who spend their money so carelessly and have little to show for it.
Secondly, anything that has ‘extreme’ associated with it is usually not good. I don’t care if it’s extreme sports, extreme gardening, extreme Bible reading or whatever. ‘Extreme’ is generally synonymous with ‘out of balance’. As you might expect, extreme couponing is no different. One woman said that she spends 30 hours a week clipping and organizing coupons. That’s not to mention the time she spends shopping, putting her groceries away or inventorying her supplies, nor the space or the shelving materials that are required to store her 4,000+ product inventory. Several other individuals involved also used the word ‘addicting’ and said that couponing and saving money was ‘their life’. Now, I don’t want to be too critical but Jesus is supposed to be our life. How easy it is to let other things, even good things, such as couponing and providing for our family, become our priority.
Thirdly, the extreme couponing seemed to fuel some less-than-desirable traits. One of the principles behind extreme couponing is that when something goes on sale that you have a coupon for, you buy it, a lot of it, all of it. These individuals will go into a store and buy up all the product that’s on sale. We’re talking 50, 60, 70 items or more. One husband suggested to his wife that they only needed about half of the available product on a shelf but his wife insisted that they purchase all of it. I think it was mustard. I’m sorry but this is pure greed and selfishness. It is that me-first mentality that says ‘I am going to get everything that I can for myself, too bad about others’. One extreme example of extreme couponing was a man who admitted that he has purchased enough deodorant for 35 years! 35 years! Am I the only one who feels that this is way over the top? When purchases like this are made I see greed, hoarding and selfishness, not exactly traits that Jesus wants us to have. I will give one woman credit though. In the midst of her mega-purchases she donated some of them to a local charity and also gave some product to her daughter-in-law to help her get stocked up.
Lastly, and this is something I can’t know, I wonder how many of these people are putting their faith in their product? It’s their security against tough times. Now while saving is good, and more of us should engage in this, we have to be careful not to put our trust in the food that we have stored away in our pantry or the money that is stored away in our bank account. It seems to me I remember a certain rich man in a parable that Jesus told in Luke 12, who built bigger barns to store all of his crops (read ‘groceries’ here in context). All stocked up, the rich man was ready to relax and enjoy life when God told him that he was going to die that night. This bring us to verse 21 - “So is the person who stores up treasure for themselves, and is not rich toward God.” The recent floods, tornadoes and tsunamis we have seen in our world bear testimony to the fact that anything we have can be lost in a matter of minutes. This is why our faith needs to be in Jesus. He is our Provider no matter what life brings our way.
Lord, one of the things that You want us to do is to live wisely, to be industrious, to be smart in our purchases, to make plans for the future. In so doing, help us not do this in a greedy, selfish manner - that we will remember to share with those who are in need. Also help us to continue to put our faith in You and not in our plans or our savings. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
First of all, I must applaud the frugalness of the individuals involved and how they made their money stretch a long way. This certainly is much better than most people who spend their money so carelessly and have little to show for it.
Secondly, anything that has ‘extreme’ associated with it is usually not good. I don’t care if it’s extreme sports, extreme gardening, extreme Bible reading or whatever. ‘Extreme’ is generally synonymous with ‘out of balance’. As you might expect, extreme couponing is no different. One woman said that she spends 30 hours a week clipping and organizing coupons. That’s not to mention the time she spends shopping, putting her groceries away or inventorying her supplies, nor the space or the shelving materials that are required to store her 4,000+ product inventory. Several other individuals involved also used the word ‘addicting’ and said that couponing and saving money was ‘their life’. Now, I don’t want to be too critical but Jesus is supposed to be our life. How easy it is to let other things, even good things, such as couponing and providing for our family, become our priority.
Thirdly, the extreme couponing seemed to fuel some less-than-desirable traits. One of the principles behind extreme couponing is that when something goes on sale that you have a coupon for, you buy it, a lot of it, all of it. These individuals will go into a store and buy up all the product that’s on sale. We’re talking 50, 60, 70 items or more. One husband suggested to his wife that they only needed about half of the available product on a shelf but his wife insisted that they purchase all of it. I think it was mustard. I’m sorry but this is pure greed and selfishness. It is that me-first mentality that says ‘I am going to get everything that I can for myself, too bad about others’. One extreme example of extreme couponing was a man who admitted that he has purchased enough deodorant for 35 years! 35 years! Am I the only one who feels that this is way over the top? When purchases like this are made I see greed, hoarding and selfishness, not exactly traits that Jesus wants us to have. I will give one woman credit though. In the midst of her mega-purchases she donated some of them to a local charity and also gave some product to her daughter-in-law to help her get stocked up.
Lastly, and this is something I can’t know, I wonder how many of these people are putting their faith in their product? It’s their security against tough times. Now while saving is good, and more of us should engage in this, we have to be careful not to put our trust in the food that we have stored away in our pantry or the money that is stored away in our bank account. It seems to me I remember a certain rich man in a parable that Jesus told in Luke 12, who built bigger barns to store all of his crops (read ‘groceries’ here in context). All stocked up, the rich man was ready to relax and enjoy life when God told him that he was going to die that night. This bring us to verse 21 - “So is the person who stores up treasure for themselves, and is not rich toward God.” The recent floods, tornadoes and tsunamis we have seen in our world bear testimony to the fact that anything we have can be lost in a matter of minutes. This is why our faith needs to be in Jesus. He is our Provider no matter what life brings our way.
Lord, one of the things that You want us to do is to live wisely, to be industrious, to be smart in our purchases, to make plans for the future. In so doing, help us not do this in a greedy, selfish manner - that we will remember to share with those who are in need. Also help us to continue to put our faith in You and not in our plans or our savings. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Greed is a sin.
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