Do you ever have one of those bleh shopping trips? Well, I just did today. And sometimes when this happens I think, this is just NOT blog-worthy, so I’ll skip it, but today I wanted to share my mistakes with you. Who knows? Maybe it’ll show you what NOT to do or if nothing else, remind you that you’re not alone!
Here’s what I did today at Albertsons:
I bought:
(5) Organic Raw Better Oats (plain) $1.25 each
(2) Prego $1.67 each
I used:
$5 Catalina earned from the Tresemme deal
$0.40/2 Prego coupon which rounded up to $1
I paid: $3.59 and saved 82% (but that feels a bit inflated to me)
Now, you might think, “Angela, that seems pretty decent to me, what gives?” Well the problem with this transaction is I just tried winging it. I wedged this trip in with a couple other errands and guess what? I screwed up!
The oatmeal was part of a “buy 10, save $5″ promotion today. I don’t know why I thought buying 5 would work! Oh wait, I do know why. I was going too fast and not paying attention. What’s worse, there is a $1/3 printable available for the oatmeal. Grr…..
This would’ve been a better plan:
I bought:
(10) Organic Raw Better Oats (plain) $0.75 each
(2) Prego $1.67 each
Less $5 Catalina
Less $1/3 better oats coupon
Less $0.40/2 Prego coupon rounded up to $1
Bottom line: $2.84
(And possibly less if I was able to print the better oats coupon more than once)
Yes, folks. I could’ve actually bought twice the amount of oatmeal for less than what I paid today! Now of course I could’ve gone back and made a fuss, but I was pretty time crunched today so I left as-is. However, should this happen to you? You can always head back to customer service and try to sort it out.
To sum up: 1) always shop with a plan for the best savings, 2) if you are trying to “wing it” when it comes to a mix & match promotion, take extra care to make sure you’ve purchased the correct items at the correct quantities. Honestly this should’ve been a pretty simple transaction.
Now, I’m sure some of you are killing it this week at Albertsons. How about we feature some of YOUR successful trips since mine was a bit of a flop? 
Send your pictures and trip details to me at angela @ thecouponproject dot com for consideration. All I ask is that your trip demonstrates you’re abiding by coupon & store policies and coupon guidelines (e.g., don’t send me a pic of a a fort made out of free Bounty paper towels you scored today).
Planning a trip? Check out this week’s Albertsons Deals!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the lesson. You know, there are times I *REALLY* hate Albertson’s Buy 10… blah blah blah deals…
I often can’t find storage for 10 of whatever…
Oh, I am so glad this doesn’t JUST happen to me—and I never go to customer service to clear it up because thats just too much hassle. I just about given up on those deals that take too much thought, so I’ve given up on Alby’s and Safeway is almost as bad –I still love FM because its just so easy and for a few items I go to Costco. I’ve even given up Riteaid although partly because I have a good stockpile. So sorry to hear you had a bad day
Thank you for posting this. I do this often….when I try to cram in a “couponing trip” during my lunch hour or something. I hate it….and know that I should take my time and get it right…but sometimes you just don’t have the time….and we surely don’t want to miss a deal!
This is why I like your blog, the realness! I have made those same errors or have been at a store knowing I could save another $1 or so with a coupon I forgot at home. But most of the time it is not worth the time/gas to get it. We cannot be perfectly organized/prepared all the time.
So I am content with the great savings I do get and do not worry about the misses.
Thank you for sharing this! Refreshing and real!
I am new to couponing and following your blog. I have learned that planning is key, and having a back up plan or two when it comes to double coupons.
We all have our off days on sunday i went in & bought the homel sides with $1/1 for 3.99 bogo bought 2, had 2 coupons & didn’t realize until 10am 4 hours later I hadn’t got my free items. I was wondering why she had asked me if I’d bought 2
Angela, thank you for sharing this, it shows us your are human too, and this does happen to me and i hate the customer service desk and I hate the buy 10 sales. thank ypou for everything you do for us to save $$$
Hi,
Just fyi – Seattle eastside we get the Smartsource select on Friday’s … there’s a $0.75 off any 2 Better Oats Instant Oatmeal that will round up nice — if my math is correct you’d save $1.00 on the roundup off so only $0.25 each if you do the buy 10 save $5… but beware the fine print says only one coupon per person per day … any use of “multiple coupons at one time voids this offer” …. so the max you can do is 2 boxes to get the low low price and you’ll need to find 8 other items to get the instant savings…