It happens. After putting in hours of planning and organizing, clipping and printing, you get to the checkout with a perfectly balanced shopping cart and everything goes in the potty. This is what happened to me today so I wanted to share my experience, and some things I learned in the process.
It was a typical Walgreens shopping trip. I set a $20.00 out of pocket goal, for each week. So the combination of stacking store coupons with manufacturers coupons and splitting my order into two separate ones, my total should have been around $12.00, well within my limit. See, I am an everyday coupon mom, with a hint of anal retentiveness, just for fun.
Nothing came out right. Nothing. My Register Rebates were not valid, because I mixed up the actual variety of razor. Then the rebates I did receive, would not go through because I broke one of the gospels of coupon shopping: I tried to get the rebate to work on an order that already had a rebate from that same company. To be clear, I did not try to fake anyone out. I was using the rebate from the first order, combined with the rebate from the second order, to buy the rest of the items. It couldnt be done. My carefully planned shopping trip turned out to cost me $33.00 and one angry teenage-helper. He is easily flustered (another rule breaker). So, what did I learn? The manager was extremely helpful, and I asked him a bunch of questions as I was checking out. His good natured attitude helped me to stay calm and finish the transaction, despite not getting out of there at a huge discount. The top 5 takeaways from today's trip:
- No matter how much planning, sometimes things just go wrong. Do not enter a store without being able to purchase your items if you had to. To do so is not only putting undue pressure on yourself, and dare a say; a bit of naughty? Feel free to put some items back if you have to, but to walk away from the entire transaction because of your own error is not in the spirit of couponing and saving in a good way.
- Despite what you see on TV, not all stores will have triple coupon, twice cash back and 100 cans of squeezy cheese available for you to add to your stockpile. They can certainly order the sqeezy cheese, but as the manager told me today, the corporate office will not be sending them.
- There is no need to try and get a huge order when you go. Remember that this is a system that will get your pantry in shape over the course of at least 2 months. Do the best you can and try again next week.
- Let the cashier know that you will be couponing and ask if there are any preferences. I found out today, that the alternate check out register was the best place to purchase my order. It didnt hold up the crowd, and everyone was happy to take the extra time to get me through the process.
- Really, just be honest, kind and hope for the best. Be flexible and friendly to the employees, so your couponing experience is a good one for everyone involved.
