It really does add up!

I have got the best story about couponing! First, a little background. I just started getting into coupons since Matt and I are on a pretty tight budget. I have searched the internet, newspapers and I have even asked two girls in a store that looked like couponers for the best deals.

So when the weekly ad came out for our local grocery store I started to make my list and get ready for my monthly shopping event. After I created my list I looked for about 2 more hours searching for deals and trying to get the most for our money.

Finally I was ready to go to the store. I was so excited to go spend so I could save! Matt was at work so I waited for him to get home so I could have the car and he could watch Thomas. I got to the store at about 8:45pm. I got off to a pretty good start everything I picked up was on sale and I had a coupon for it. About an hour later I was still in the midst of my shopping and a clerk asked me, “Weren’t you just here?” I said, “Ya, but I have no clue what I’m doing so you may see me again in about half an hour.”

As I continued shopping I was finding more coupons in the store that they had on things I was already buying as well as a couple free items. I could feel myself getting more excited as I got closer to the check-out stand to see how much I saved. With my cart full to the brim with groceries to last us a month I started unloading my cart.

After the cashier scanned all my items my total bill was $162, then I gave her my coupons. I began scanning my cc card etc. not paying too much attention to the coupons going through and the cashier said, “Wow, you have a lot.” I replied, “I know my husband will be so proud.” When she announced my bill I wish she could have said it over the PA for the whole store to hear, “$48.80” she said. My heart jumped! I paid and went on my way. On the way out of the store the “bagger” asked me, “How do you save so much? I going to be married soon I need to learn how to save more.” I couldn’t believe she was asking little ol’ me for tips on saving. So I told her, “It’s a little stressful and time consuming but searching for deals and coupons is worth it.”

I got in my car and it was 10:30pm, I spent two hours there and I was tired but I was so excited. I raced home and ran in the door and told Matt how much I saved! He was pretty happy too. We started unloading the groceries and I said, “I want to take a picture of what I bought.” As we put all the things on the table Matt asked again, “Okay, so how much was it?” he was so surprised that we got so much for $50…so was I.


We got all the food put away and started off to bed and I decided to look at the receipt just one more time. As I scanned over the coupons I noticed there was a coupon for $91.82, I thought that’s weird, I wonder if they just add them all up or something yet I felt something was wrong with the bill so I decided to take it in to the store the next morning to make sure.

That night I had dreams about all that I had saved. I woke up and went to the store. I told the manager what my bill looked liked and then my excitement dropped to about 25% when he said, “Oh, they have been worried about this all morning. Let me call the accountant over.” He got on the phone and said, “Hey, that lady is here with the $90 coupon.” It was over, my great story went to the pot and I knew I’d pay the 90 bucks. The accountant came to the front and she said instead of entering the coupon price they entered the last four digits of the UPC code and it was 9182 which turned into a $91.82 deduction off my bill. We got everything worked out, they said I could go get something for free for coming back in, so I went and got a box of donuts. Yum.

On the way back home I was a little sad that I didn’t get a screaming deal but I am glad that it worked out and they were able to find the money. I walked in and told Matt, “Look Matty! We got these donuts for $90!” He laughed and we enjoyed our free donuts.

The moral of the story is keep couponing…you really do save. I ended up saving $22 with the coupons I had which is a great start to my couponing career and I hope to get a screaming deal, for real, one of these days.