I decided to go to Safeway because I really didn’t feel up to Wal-Mart. I wonder how much more money I spent than if I had been up to facing the crowd.
I fourteen manufactures coupons from the newspaper and aisle displays and two store coupons. This new Bertolli pasta sauce was on sale for $1.50 if you bought ten (mix and match with other items throughout the store) and there was a display of $1 off coupons just sitting there for the taking. I took 7 pasta sauces and 9 coupons. I’m saving two for later. So 14 ounces of pasta sauce for 50 cents is pretty good, I think. I saved $12.25 using coupons. I also used their current special of buy ten certain items and get $5 off. This brought one kraft salad dressing down to $1.50 and I had a coupon for $1.50 off a Kraft dressing. So it was free!
Those successes had me feeling pretty good until I got to the cash register. My total purchase came to $120. I know this is a month’s worth of groceries for two people and two dogs, but it still seemed like a lot. I had made a mistake in buying the 10 correct items for one of the specials, so I was sent to customer service to sort it out. I got 3.75 back. Which, now that I think about it….oh….I guess it makes sense. Have you ever tried to read a Safeway receipt to see if you got all the deals? It is so confusing!!!! Anyway, that was the least of my mistakes. After a kind gentleman walked me out to my car and loaded up my dog food, and after I had buckled, blinkered, and left the parking lot, I realized my biggest mistake. I did not use my $10 off coupon. See, Safeway often has a $10 off coupon if you spend more than $50 in one purchase. Well, I certainly did! And I have two of those coupons that are good tomorrow and one that is good today and I didn’t pull it out at all!!!!!
I guess I just need to get organized a little bit more, and see how it all goes. Was it worth it to spend $5 and over an hour on newpapers today for a few coupons? Did I spend more because of them?
After reviewing my purchases, I saw that I didn’t get the buy one get one free deal on Lysol mix-and-match that I understood from the signage. I lost $8 there. I might go back tomorrow and complain if I have the energy.
But I don’t want to get known as the naggy penny pinching lady either. So I might not. Still, if I go back, do you think they’d give me the $10 off? Should return the cleaning products if they don’t give me the $8?
Is it all worth it? Is $18 dollars worth complaining about? Well…kind of. I mean, that could pay for gas to visit my grandma or school lunches for a week.
Adventures in coupon world…
——————-
This is so not a crafting blog entry, but I guess it is what I’m thinking about these days as we all try to save a little money.
