Target:
- Free – Glade Soy Candles (coupon was expiring)
- Free+ – 5 Star Folders (made for .52 overage)
- Cheap – Glade Round Candles + refills (.17 for both)
Houston Area Extreme Couponing Blog
Welcome to your home for the BEST savings, where you can find the hottest Houston store/coupon matchups, printable coupons , Houston coupon classes and MORE. Come in and sit a minute!
Target:
Where do you find all of those wonderful coupons?
Here’s some simple steps. Just take them one or two at a time.
Start buying 2 newspapers a week. You may not need all of the coupons, but if you just use 3 or 4 different coupons on products you already use, you’ll make your money back. And as you get better and more addicted to it, you’ll do better. I bought 8 of the papers from 6-7 and actually ended up with $125 worth of stuff for FREE! That is not a newbie step though. 🙂
Figure out what things you are absolutely brand loyal to. In my house, that’s Axe body wash and deodorant for my husband and son, Tampax and Always pads for me, and Pampers for my littlest. My daughter uses ethnic hair stuff, but I buy that at the novelty store where there are no coupons. If you’re brand loyal to some things, find out when the coupons are coming out for that product, because they will, and usually the sales will follow.
Figure out how much stuff you use. Whether that’s toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, razors, diapers, whatever. How much do you actually use in a week, a month, etc. That way, when it’s at it’s rockbottom price, you can buy enough to last you till the next extra good sale.
Find out what a rockbottom price looks like. For example, I don’t pay for razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, or deodorant for me. I get it free, or even better than free when combined with sales, promotions and coupons.
Learn your stores. Which ones are coupon friendly. What the policies are. Who doubles and triples coupons.
Then find a blogger that covers your area. They’ll cover the stores you have, along with probably knowing where’s best to shop. I’m in Texas, Houston area, so I have one good source, and then kinda link search from there.
Find an organization system that works for you. I have two coupon envelopes that I use. One is just for food, one is just for non-food. I also have my inserts filed away at home, so that if I hear about a great deal, I can clip my coupons and go if I don’t already have them. My two little envelopes go with me to every store, in case I find a good deal or something on clearance. Some people clip every coupon, every week. I’m not that good.
Has probably the least friendly staff to a couponer that I have ever met. And I used to go shopping with my granny who never bought anything that wasn’t either on sale, had a coupon, or both. You could say I’ve redeemed a coupon or three.
Last night, DH, Son2 and I went to pick up a few things. Not a big trip, just a spur of the moment, there’s a couple deals I want to get type thing. So we go to our nearest Walgreens. Which isn’t the best one, but it was on our way. It’s small, not 24 hr, and located across the way from a Wal-Mart. I find my coupon items, we grab a few things from the clearance aisle and go to check out. By this time, it’s almost 10. Great. Closing time. Everyone wants to go home.
So, there’s an older Hispanic woman cashier and no one behind me. I love it when I’m the only one in line, because I always have coupons. I hand her my stuff and my coupons. She looks at them and says “You can’t use this many.” Uh oh. First mistake. I am an ethical couponer. I don’t use the coupons for things that aren’t allowed. I will take advantage of a price mistake, but I don’t cheat the rules just to cheat them. So, I tell her ok, no big deal. There are other Walgreens to hit, other deals to gather. She rings up the tote bags I picked up on the clearance aisle that were supposed to be 75% off. They ring up regular price and she has to do a price check. A line has started by this point. She rings up the rest of my stuff, and has her manager read the language of the coupons. Second problem. She tells the manager that she won’t do it, and the manager agrees. I tell her to take that stuff off. If you won’t take my coupon, I don’t want it. She looks all shocked and appalled. Voids it off. Instead of starting a new transaction. Tells me she’ll just give me cash out of the till. Not acceptable. Both from my standpoint of being a good customer and hers of being a good cashier. Has to call the assistant manager up. Starts talking to the manager in Spanish. Um, this is Texas, lady. Most people understand what you’re saying. And I did. I let it slide that time. I told her that I would be calling the district manager. Mumble mumble under her breath. Then the straw broke this camel. She called me crazy.
I’ll pause for a moment to let that sink in.
This lady called me crazy.
Now, at that point, I should have probably put all my stuff down and came to cry on the internet. Not so. I wanted my stuff. So, I start to lose my temper at this point. I told her how rude it was to 1. assume that I didn’t speak Spanish and 2. to talk about me like I wasn’t there. THe lady behind me started to pipe up. Blah blah blah was all I heard from her. I was so pissed I could not see straight. She argues with me that $1.75 is the right price for the tote bags. Um, no. It’s not. They’re 75% of $5. That’s $1.25. Interfering woman is still interfering. The other manager comes up and fixes the void. Tells her that my math is right, because half of 5 is 2.5 and half of that is 1.25. Simple, right? The cashier tells the woman behind me that she’ll talk to her after I leave.
I called the Walgreens number after I left. I should hear back from them sometime today. And if I don’t, I’ll be taking my very unhappy self down there to return my stuff and rebuy it at the Walgreens that *doesn’t* give me a hassle about redeeming coupons and *doesn’t* talk about me behind my back.
CVS – Sunday
$5.98 – 2 pairs of scissors
$1.98 – 2 bottles of glue
$1.98 – 2 1 subject notebooks
$1.98 – 2 rulers
$7.99 – 1 Gillette Fusion Razor
$11.97 – 3 boxes of Tylenol Arthritis
$2.97 – 3 packages of pens
$8.99 – 2 boxes of Purex All in One detergent sheets
-$4 Razor coupon
-$6 Tylenol Arthritis coupons (3 @ $2)
-$4 Purex coupons (2 @ $2)
Total: 43.85 – $14 coupons -$29.00 ECB = $1.23 OOP, after two transactions. I’m too lazy to get all that typed out right now. I did tell S, CJ’s aunt, that I’d help her next week. Sadly, it’s not that good of a week next week. Oh well.