Couponing Fail = Couponing Success

True to what I said before, I have turned into one of those crazy coupon ladies. Yes, I have a dorky binder that I take shopping with me. This week Smiths is doing a great deal where they round up any manufacturer coupons to a dollar (a $0.25 off coupon is rounded up to a $1.00 off). This means you can get lots of stuff for just cents or free. This also means there are a lot of couponing ladies that go nuts and raid the store shelves. This morning I woke up at 5:00 to head off to Smiths to make sure I got everything I wanted. When I got to the store, I was expecting to see other couponing ladies, but there was only a couple of cars there. I thought, “they don’t seem open, but I know they are open 24 hours a day”. I didn’t see any posted hours on the door, and the door was open so I went in and shopped.

All the shelves were stocked and I didn’t see another shopper, just lots of workers shelving. It was wonderful. Ignorance is bliss. After about a half hour I was almost done when I young man said “hey mam, we’re closed!” I felt like an IDIOT. Funny thing is that I saw lots of workers who didn’t say anything to me. So ya’ll know, the Pleasant Grove Smiths hours are 6:00 AM to Midnight. So I put back the few refrigerated items I had, stashed my cart somewhere and went to Maceys to pick up a few sale items there to kill the 20 minutes before they were actually open.

When I got back to the store a few minutes before 6:00, I found the sight I was expecting before: a line of binder clad couponing ladies with carts ready to go. When they opened the door, they all ran in like men going to battle. I slowly strolled to my cart and got the last few things I needed. Some lady accused me of loading up a shopping cart last night and hiding it somewhere. “No! I’m just an idiot and came at 5:00 AM!” I went to the check out line well before any of the others had finished so I didn’t have to wait. It is thrilling to see the total go over $100 and then plummet down to $32 as they scan your card and all of the coupons. I spent $32.40 and saved $68.06. (Some of which was my regular shopping for things we need not necessarily on sale).

Here’s a picture of some of the better deals I got.

The receipt said I saved 69%. I hope as I get better at this, that amount will be more like 80% or more. Next time, I will have to race through the store with all the crazies though. Worth it? Definitely.