Couponing Is a Lot Like Golf

Couponing is a lot like golf.  You aim for a certain place to land, but sometimes it takes you longer to get there. 


I have not gotten efficient in my couponing.  I have a pocket system where I put a coupon in my right pocket if I use it as I place the item in the cart, the left if the coupon is not the right one to make a deal. Occasionally the coupon goes into the wrong pocket.  I put my keys in my pocket once -- bad mistake, because I must have pulled them out in the middle of a visit to CVS.  Thank goodness CVS is not a big store. I found them in the middle of a paper towel display. I routinely get so exhausted after shopping that I stuff all the unused coupons in a wad in my purse, not refiling them in my coupon notebook--and remember only before I prepare for another shopping trip that they are there.  I routinely cross and recross the same aisles.  Unfortunately because I had extra time this past Monday, I just went ahead and filled it all up with bumbling around the stores.

At Walgreens, I had in my notes, as noted in a blog I follow, that if I bought five boxes of Nature Valley breakfast bars, I would get $3 coupon for anything on my next trip from Walgreens and an additional $3 one from the manufacturer.  This $6 is on top of the bars being two for $4 (regularly $4.29).  I had the proper coupons to maximize the savings. 
Here is the deal from Common Sense with Money

I got to the store.  The ad showed the two for $4, but no mention of $3 plus $3.  I froze.  I doubted my notes (maybe my blogger is in a different Walgreens marketing region, I thought) and did not do the deal.  I went home, pulled up the blog -- and there it was, with that critical word unadvertised.  I took another trip to Walgreens and got it -- yahoo -- but it was in the second trip.  

At CVS, I wanted to use some of my accumulated free Coke Products 12-pack coupons (gotten with Coke reward points) in the four-for $10 deal.  I was really looking forward to four free 12 packs. But as the clerk scanned my coupons, she said that they were coming up at $4.99.  I froze.  I did not comprehend what she was saying.  I mumbled to give the coupons back to me.  I should have told her to manually run them through as $2.50 each.  I had to get the Cokes because they were part of a buy-$30-of-certain-product,-get-$10-back deal.  But I left the store feeling deflated.

I realized what I did and went to Kroger, where the clerk knew how to run the coupons.  After I paid a little more sales tax than I would have at CVS, I walked out with my Coke products. 

I went to Food City to buy two Lean Cuisine salad makings and I would get a free bag of lettuce.  I had coupons.  I swiped my debit card, put in my security code--it did not go through.  I tried again, and again, and a few more times.  The clerk apologized, saying that probably their system was down.  Aha, they are wrong; and I am the harmed party!  I said thank you and went to another store.  Same thing -- process credit denied.

I went and sat at the far end of the parking lot in my car and called my debit card company.  Sounding very solicitous, but feeling very smug, I explained my situation and waited for an apology.  But it was I who made the mistake -- I had attempted to put in the wrong debit card code at the grocery stores.  And then it hit me -- There is a security cover over the keypad at the grocery store.  I had not bent down to see and use the highest row of the numbers.  When I meant to hit a 2, I hit a 5.  After three times of entering the wrong number, the card gets frozen.

Never mind, my inner voice said to my self -- in my best Gilda voice. (here is a clip of Gilda as Emily Litella)

Yes, couponing is a lot like golf.  When I went back to Food City, the clerk on my first trip was not at the check-out line.  I wanted to show her that I was not a deadbeat.  I felt let down, like I had gotten a birdie while playing by myself.  

Here are some good coupons:

COUPONS.COM

$0.75 off one Welch's Light Grape Juice Beverage
$1.00 off two Johnsonville Sausage products
$1.00 off on any TWO Keebler Crackers
$0.75 off any ONE (1) Wrigley's Gum Car Cup
$3.00 off two JOSE OLE products, 16oz or larger
$5.00 off any Weight Watchers Scale by Conair


COUPON NETWORK

99¢ off when you buy any SIX (6) Gerber® 2nd Foods® Organic Pouches
75¢ off when you buy any ONE (1) Pure Via® any size
$2.00 off when you buy any ONE (1) NECTRESSE™ Natural No Calorie Sweetener 5.9oz Canister
$3.25 off when you buy any ONE (1) Osteo Bi-Flex® Supplement or Powder (Excludes Liquid)
$1.10 off when you buy any SIX (6) single cans of Mighty Dog® dog food