More Coupon Organizing

A few weeks back I did a blog about how I repurposed an old DVD case to hold my coupons. While I really liked this idea and was proud of my resourcefulness, there was a slight problem. Even though I tried to plan which coupons I was going to use, often I’d find something on sale and realize that I had a coupon for that item, but I’d left it at home.

A co-worker had the same problem but had fixed it by buying a small organizer that fit nicely in her purse. I’d looked at a few of these organizers at WalMart and Target, and the ones I found were four or five dollars. I know that’s not a horrible amount to pay, but it still seemed pretty expensive to me.

Last night, Jon and I took a trip to the Dollar Tree and as luck would have it, sitting there on a random shelf was a cute little coupon organizer for a dollar!
I’m not yet sure if I like their organizing system, but I’ll try it and if I don’t like it after awhile, I can always re-label. Already I feel better about having something to keep in my purse should I find a good deal to throw a good coupon on.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have a printer that works so I’m unable to print coupons. For now I’ll use what I get in the mail from various sources and what comes in the paper, plus the odd coupon that prints without the coupon program download.

Today's Gift from Dillons

A cool and interesting thing happened at Dillons today. A week or so ago, I clipped a coupon from the paper insert for $20 in free groceries if you transferred your prescriptions to their pharmacy. I'd been wanting to transfer anyway, but this was the perfect time to do it since things are tight and we're trying to make sure we have money to go to Michigan. The credit was put on my Dillons card and so I figured I was good. I did up a grocery list and a meal plan and was pretty excited because a week's worth of groceries wasn't going to cost me more than ten dollars, and that was high ending everything.

I went shopping today, figuring everything would be good, but when I got to the checkout, the credit didn't come off. I kind of freaked, and I realized I was testy about it, but I was really frustrated and kind of embarrassed because there were people behind me. I explained to them I was supposed to have the credit and that I'd been relying on that and would have to void the order if it didn't work.

Apparently, Dillons will do everything possible to avoid voiding a transaction. The floor manager called the store manager and told her what was going on and was told just to store coupon $20, that they'd been having some issues with that particular promotion. After my coupons, my actual total was only $5.11...talk about a sigh of relief.

However, after the cashier scanned my coupon, the credit from my card kicked in and the system took off the $5.11. The floor manager looked at my receipt and laughed and said that I still had a credit of fourteen dollars. I told her that wasn't right, I didn't feel right taking the extra credit and asked if we could go to the service desk so I could make it right (yes, I am that honest). So she went with me up there and we showed the store manager what happened. I told her I wanted to work it out and pay what I owed since it wasn't fair for me to get extra for the promotion.

The manager looked at the receipt and asked the floor manager if the cashier's till would be off, which it wasn't. The manager said "Okay, Merry Christmas. Keep the credit." I just kind of looked at her and said "Are you sure?" She said, "Yeah, we'll do the paperwork and take are of it."

So Dillons paid me to shop with them today. I made sure to apologize to the girls for being testy and told them I just panicked because I didn't want to be that bitchy lady the store does what they need to to get rid of. Tonight I had to go get orange juice and sure enough, the credit came off and I got my orange juice free too. As long as we're okay on groceries through the next week, we'll use that credit to buy snacks for our trip. Our goal is to avoid fast food restaurants on the drive to Michigan to save money and attempt to be healthier on vacation.

Not a bad shopping day at all...I would definitely chalk this up to an ultra success.

Today's Savings

My first saving of the day was the gas I saved when my BF and I walked to the 2-Mile Fun Run/Walk we participated in today. It's only a short distance, but it's still a few cents in gas, not to mention the stress it saved me in having to find a parking spot.

This afternoon, we went to Dillons to get some lunch. They have a big salad bar that we've been wanting to try and I figured today would be a good day. While there, we picked up some good deals. My faves?

A box of Special K Blueberry cereal for 1.99 with coupon (normally about $4.00, on sale for 2.99, used a coupon for $1.00 off)
Two boxes of Kelloggs Fiber Plus Bars for 1.39 each (normally $3.09, on sale for 2.39, used a coupon for each box for 75 cents off, and then the Dillon's system multiplied it to take off an additional 25 cents).
Half gallon of one percent milk on Manager's special for $1.19 with a week left before the expiration date (we'll finish it by then).
Fuze drinks (part of their 10 for $10 sale, and since I'm trying to cut back on soda, I got five of them to take to work with me this week).

It's a good thing we saved where we did because our salads ended up costing ALOT. Jon's was over $10 (4.99 per lb...he was hungry). I got a regular salad and a fruit salad which weren't that high. They both cost about $7.50 together. Mine could be made for alot cheaper I think, but I can justify Jon's since he piled his with all sorts of things that would have cost more to buy individually. But I'm cool with it...it's a nice treat for us having finished our walk this morning.