Extreme Couponing: I Ain't Got Time For It *Rants*

I went to Target and was standing in line watching a woman with a $200+ dollar balance whittle it down to nothing with coupons and gift cards. By the time she was done she had a zero balance. As he scanned the gift cards, she stood with her eyes fixed in a hawk eyed gaze at the register's price display. With each scan, a faint smirk would reach the corners of her mouth and the outrageous sum would diminish steadily.
I turned to my mother whose mouth was literally hanging open. You see, my mother prides herself in getting outrageous deals so seeing this Target Coupon Goddess make over $200 in purchases disappear before our eyes was like cat nip to my mom. She was in awe. I rolled my eyes. Partially due to authentic hating and also because I'm impatient and all of those coupons were driving me up a wall. Incapable of utilizing a filter, I asked the Coupon Goddess if she were an extreme coupon enthusiast and she nodded yes in a condescending couponier than thou sort of way.
My mother tapped my shoulder, and I knew that meant an interpretation was in order. "Ma, people go wild on coupons and then strategically use them all at once so they can get all sorts of things for thirty cents and sometimes free." My mom shook her head, processing the bull excrement that is extreme couponing.
Okay, to be fair, if you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year couponing, I think thats awesome. However, most people that I see couponing are getting 50 bottles of dish detergent or 10 cases of paper towels. While I admit that I use both of those items, I'd rather go to Costco. Having my basement look like some sort of bomb shelter with canned food and 6 cases of Caress Body Wash is just a bit much for me. The Coupon Goddess said she gets a $10 coupon for every $50 she spent at Target. She used about 10 coupons which means she still spent a significant amount of cash to get the $100 in coupons. Unless she found ways to coupon the merchandise purchased to get the coupons, I don't see the point.
So I give people a lot of credit if they have the extreme couponing skills down to a science, but for me it's a lot of headache for products I don't want sitting in my house until The Rapture. Besides, if God comes within my lifetime I would think he would be able to strum up a paper towel if I needed it.