19 February 2013

can't win 'em all


I went to the Dollar Tree the other night to score some deals.  Out of everything on my list I came out with 2 boxes of Hefty Slider sandwich bags.  I paid .67 for both boxes, and that included tax!  However, sometimes couponing can be disappointing.  There are a lot of variables; a lot of things that *could* happen, and although you can prepare for various scenarios, you can't ever predict them.  

1. The store might be out of the item you want.  You can usually get rainchecks for these, but  with having 3 kids with me I don't have the patience or the time to go to customer service for that. 

2. The store's price for your item might be different/higher than the price you found on the coupon blog.  Prices in stores vary by region so if you are following a blog that is located in a different region of the country than you are, you can't always guarantee the prices they find will be the same at your store.  I usually try to do my homework via store mailers, fliers, paper inserts or online sites before going to the store to make sure the price is what I expect.  

3. You may not have the right coupon with you.  If you don't do your coupon shopping with small kids in tow,  you are less likely to have this happen.  :)  With the diaper bag, car seat (little guy is 7 months so we still cart him around in the seat), and now that it's winter, coats and hats, there just isn't room in the cart, let alone in my hands/arms when trekking from car to store, store to car, for my big coupon binder that holds all of my coupons.  So if I happen to be walking by something in the store that I see is on sale that I didn't know about, knowing I have a coupon for it back home in my binder doesn't help me.  

Coupon shopping with kids is definitely a challenge, and something I wouldn't recommend if you can help it.  I stay at home with my kids so I have made it work and have just had to missing out on a deal here and there.  I still get great deals for things that we need and use on a regular basis so to me it is completely worth it!

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