Well with my milk house project underway, I wanted to run to town ‘quick’ and pick up some landscaping edges and also get to another store to be able to use their sales flyer and my coupons – it was a Win Win type of trip right? With my coupons in hand and as I climbed into the truck, I wanted to be home somewhat early. If I budget my time right, I was going to get to the grocery store and also the craft store. But first things first, I needed some gas in Daryl’s truck. I had enough to get to town, but probably not enough to get back home. No big deal and after I put it about 1/2 full, I also grabbed a slice of pizza and a couple of Diet Cokes. The cashier was busy talking to someone in the store when I was paying my bill and I was soon rolling down the highway . And you know when all of a sudden you just know something isn’t quite right? Well, I had one of those feelings. I couldn’t just figure out what it was, and then I knew. The gas station didn’t charge me for the gas. OK, not a big deal and I’ll call back to the station right? Well, the girl who checked me out was gone and they wanted me to come back in tonight so their drawer counts were correct. I said that I’d stop back on the way back home. Even though it’s kind of out of my way, I didn’t want to be on some list that bring out on people who didn’t pay! I was sure hoping that this isn’t how the whole night was going to go either! Well, I soon found out that it was just the beginning.
After weaving around all the road construction in town, I finally saw the Walgreen’s that I wanted to stop at. Well, the road was closed and there was no way that I could get to it. OK, it’s not a big deal and there is one on the opposite side of town and I’ll just go there. I finally got to the other store and with my coupons and list in my hand, I knew that I was running late against my schedule but this shouldn’t take too long. So as I’m walking through the aisles and seeing that some of the sale prices were right and some were not. I was pretty confused and off to find the sales clerk. To be honest, she was also pretty confused, but also pretty nice. She said that she’ll help me when I’m ready to check out and make it right. Well, a little later she came to me and said that even though the ‘monthly sale prices’ are right, I have last week’s flyer. Yea, not cool. So now I have to make a decision. Do I want to just leave and call it a day? or should I go in the truck and get my coupon binder and go from there? Well, I’ve never brought my coupon binder into the store before – until tonight. I thought as long as I’m here, I’m going to see what I can buy against the flyer and my coupons. Now I normally only buy things that are Buy One get One 1/2 Off or Free so it makes it a little challenging. As I was trying to figure out my list, I was getting hot and flustered but I stuck with it! I thought I’d be in the store around 20 minutes and it ended up being 90 minutes!! When I was checking out, there was a lady behind me in line and said that using coupons are such a challenge. Man if she only could have hung out with me this last hour and a half, she’d really think that this was true! But as I’m loading the 6 bags of stuff into the truck, I took a quick glance at my very long receipt and saw that I saved over 44% off the overall cost of my bill. Score!!
With spending way too much time in this first store and knowing that I had to drive back 40 miles to pay for my gas yet tonight, I knew that I could only get to the Home Improvement store to pick up my landscaping stuff. The kid who was helping me was really funny and nice and not only did I find what I needed right away, but he helped me load it too.
I stopped back at the gas station and paid for the gas and I went home. It was much later than I had hoped, but I guess that’s just how some nights go. And will I keep clipping coupons? You bet!