Extreme couponing Nunavut-style: it exists

This couponer in Cambridge Bay often surfs websites that can tell you how to get discounts off regularly-sold items, such as this diet drink mix, which she got for free, thanks to a coupon discount. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Here’s an example of the kinds of discount coupons you can find online.

If you, like 99 in 100 Canadians, own a television set and watch it occasionally, you have probably stumbled upon a show called “Extreme Couponing,” which airs repeatedly on TLC.

The show focuses on shoppers in the United States who save hundreds of dollars or more by cashing in coupons when they arrive at the cash register.

During the 30-minute show, crazed shoppers run around stores filling up several shopping carts and then wait tensely as the cashiers tally up the items.

That’s not because, like northern consumers, they’re worried about how large the bill will be.

Instead they’re eager to see how much money they can save by cashing in coupons that offer discounts or freebies.

Generally the shoppers featured on “Extreme Couponing” walk out paying a few dollars or even less on hundreds of items — and then they head home to stockpile the new items in their hoard.

These may fill the size of a large sealift room, and include items such as bottles of laundry detergent, toilet paper, mustard or canned tomato sauce — in short, all the kinds of the items which can be costly to buy in the North.

While Canada isn’t as friendly a place to get into couponing — mainly because there’s less competition for customers so stores don’t use coupons as incentives — you can still use coupons.

And in Nunavut, as well as in Nunavik, you can use these coupons at Northern or Northmart stores, confirmed Connie Tamoto, manager of corporate communications for the North West Co. in Winnipeg.

Coupons generally give you a discount at the cash or allow you to buy two products for price of one. They may even offer you a free sample.

Although you might not suspect it, there are already aspiring extreme couponers in Nunavut, including a woman from Cambridge Bay — who didn’t want to be identified here — who once managed to pay $100 for $1,000 worth of merchandise.

She regularly finds coupons that lower the cost of pricey hygiene items, such as a toilet bowl cleaner device. This item which can retail for $7.99, often goes on sale for $4.99, but can cost nothing when you get to the check-out with a coupon offering a $5.00 discount.

“It can be fun and you may make money,” she said.

While this woman’s big successes at cashing in coupons took place in the South, she’s still hooked on coupons now that she’s in Nunavut.

She sends coupons to family members in the South, stockpiles them for visits to Yellowknife or uses them, when possible, at the Northern store.

But, first, you have to get your hands on coupons, which aren’t handed out in flyers or brochures, as is common in the South.

Online is the place to go, says CamBay’s couponer, who recommends exploring websites like smartcanucks.ca, websaver.ca, save.ca, extremecouponingcanada.net and canadianfreestuff.com.

You can also search for other sources of coupons by using keywords, like “manufacturer coupons,” “brand name coupons,” “new Canadian coupons,” “grocery coupons,” or “buy one get one free” offer, and then narrowing down the search results for Canadian websites only.

You can print up coupons offered on-line (which some stores may not accept) or, in other cases, request they be sent to your home address.

“There are so many different things people can also get for free,” she added.

These giveaways often include free vitamins, gift cards or cookbooks.

You have to be patient and organized, she said — although maybe not as obsessive like the extreme couponers shown on television, who admit to spending up to 40 hours a week on their couponing.

But “there’s no reason that people in the North can’t get into couponing if they have an interest,” she said.