Stockpiling and Coupons…Who would have thought?

by Nicole Comeaux, owner of Grocery Getters, LLC, www.grocerygettersllc.com

I had the most interesting experience this week with coupons. You see I just recently adopted the Budget Queen Method. I have tried to use coupons in the past and I never had any success. There were so many reasons why I failed. First, I wasn’t using my coupons in conjunction with sales. My experience taught me: why bother going through the paper, clipping coupons, and getting all excited just to get to the market and find the store brand less that the item I am shopping for with a coupon. I was frugal enough: I made a menu, and shopped my list and no more. Second, I did not believe in stock piling. My thoughts were that if I stocked then we would eat the same things over and over and that is boring, I mean hey, my favorite channel is Food Network! I love to experiment and the idea of stock piling made me feel trapped. Well, feel free to stock and get creative is my new motto. So, here’s why my Friday was really interesting.
I went to BQ’s forum to check out the really good deals and saw that Super One was having a sale on their Ronzini Pasta: 1/$0.48. With the manufacturer’s coupon which $1.00 off two, the pasta would be free. Well, I just got all excited! So I had some coupons and a list of other items on sale that I had coupons for and I was about to embark upon my first experience of seeing coupons really work for me! But, I was greatly disappointed. At the register I was told that I couldn’t use the coupons because they were more that the item was listed for. Now, mind you I knew their coupon policy said that I was allowed to use them and I even had a friend do this just the day before. Well, because I was about to cry and I needed to be home soon, I didn’t take the time to argue. I left everything at the register and left. Then, I got on the phone with The Budget Queen and boy was she angry too! But, here was her secret: she used the self-checkout lane!! She knew they would probably give her grief so she by-passed them altogether! Eureka! Well, I went to another store and used the self-checkout with no problems. So, the solution is using the self-checkout, right? Not necessarily. Because I didn’t have the time to argue my point I would have found this to be the case: the floor manager didn’t want to give me the credit balance that was due. No, problem, she could have just erased the credit and made the pasta free. So in the end I got my EIGHT boxes of pasta for free in the self-checkout lane and used my coupons to my advantage for the first time! Yes, I need to get a little more aggressive, but for all you newbies like me out there, don’t be dismayed. Know your store’s coupon policy, and be ready for cashiers who think you are trying to pull a scam. Ask for the manager if necessary and when all is settled guide the cashier to www.thebudgetqueen.com! He or she will be your new best friend!
And what do you think I’m going to do with all that pasta? Well, get creative, of course! Stockpiling is not a trap; it’s a way of life!