First I want to thank all of you that left me advice on shopping at CVS and Rite Aid this week. I waited until this afternoon to finally hit the stores. After spending 40 minutes watching videos on the Rite Aid Video Values site so I could get a $5/$20 purchase coupon I had a plan of action :
- Hit CVS and see if I got any $/$$ or Pampers coupons from the coupon machine to make my deal sweeter. If not pay $7.94 for two packs of diapers after coupons and ECBs
- If not, then hit Rite Aid (virtually across the street from each other and do this:
Buy two packs of Huggies diapers $8.99 each
Buy one Kashi cereal
Use $5/$10 Rite Aid Values coupon
Use two $3/1 Huggies printable coupon
Use one $2/1 Rite aid Values coupon (I am still confused if I could use one or two per transaction)
Use free Kashi coupon from Vocalpoint
Pay $4.98 plus tax out of pocket
So that was the deal right? WRONG!! I hit Rite Aid and picked up what I needed and then when I get to the register I am told that I can’t combine a Rite Aid Values coupon with a manufacturer coupon because they are both manufacturer coupon. Of course I explain that the Rite Aid values coupon is a store coupon but Manager won’t budge. Can you spot my mistake here? Not bringing with me their coupon policy. But I still needed the diapers so I asked her to use the $3/1 Huggies coupons instead of Rite Aid values and left paying $6.98 out of pocket which is still a better deal than at CVS.
So, I am sharing this not so much to have a pity party but to share this: everyone has a learning curve. In the perfect world we would all start couponing like a pro and score the best deals right and left. The truth is that using coupons is a learning process in which we learn from our mistakes. You don’t get to be a pro right out of the gate. It takes time and how much time it takes is directly related to how much effort you spend learning the ropes.
I could throw my arms up and give up on Rite Aid, after all there is a CVS right in front of it and a Walgreens right down the road. But I won’t. I know Rite Aid can have some really good deals and I am not going to give up just because I had a set back. Instead, I am going to learn the ins and outs of shopping and continue shopping there until I find my groove there.
Care to share some of your own set backs and what you did to conquer them?
