The Internet Coupon Saga
When I went to pay at Walmart today for the groceries I’d bought, I handed over a bunch of internet coupons from coupons.com. Well, I have an inkjet printer so the bar codes don’t print as crisply as they need to to be read by the scanner. In the past, with much grumbling, the employee has manually entered the number code on the bottom of the bar code and the coupon has rung in correctly.
Well, no more. I learned today that our Walmart has changed their policy so that it it won’t scan, they don’t take it. No ifs, ands or buts. That has basically ended my use of internet coupons in the future, for the prices are generally much higher at my other supermarket option (Kroger) and the savings with the coupon wouldn’t be worth the higher price.
I was very proud of myself today though. When my coupons wouldn’t scan and were refused, after the cashier manager came over and told me in no uncertain terms they would not be accepted, I went through my bags, took everything out that I had been using a coupon for (except laundry detergent because I needed to buy that today or else), and told the cashier to take it back. I get all embarrassed feeling though and I am sure my cheeks turned bright red, I felt them getting hotter the longer I stood there. I hate that. But I did it, I returned a bunch of things that I was only buying right now and the name brand vs store brand because I had coupons, and I am proud of myself. For that.
What I’m not so excited about is the basic demise of our entire grocery budget this week. I spent $83.42 at Aldi and $57.25 at Walmart for a total of $140.67. Ouch. There are a few big reasons for that. One is that I have been buying cat food in 4 lb bags, which is the exact same price per pound as the 8 lb bags, but the 20 lb bags are significantly cheaper per pound (about $0.50/lb less) and today I bit the bullet and bought a 20 lb bag for $25. Another reason is that my spouse decided this week to run out of every toiletry at once, which added quite a bit to the bill. I am hoping as I start to figure out this whole CVS thing I will be able to get most of the toiletries there for a lot less and that won’t happen again. And finally, I had a number of side dishes related to Thanksgiving to buy. I knew when the grocery list was twice as long as it usually is that I was in trouble.
I really didn’t buy a huge amount of impulse items, a jar of spaghetti sauce for $0.99 and a new shampoo and conditioner at Aldi to try for $1.49 each ($2.98 total) so $3.97 or 2.8% of my spending was impulse items. As I said, this week was a really long list.
Now that I can’t use internet coupons I guess I am really going to have to bite the bullet and start getting the Sunday paper. Argh.
There is only one more shopping Saturday in November, thank goodness, but I am still going to go over budget for the month I think. I only have about $30 left and although all the shopping this week did stock a lot of things up, I think our weekly perishables spending (dairy, fruits, veggies, breads) is probably at least $30 alone, even if I didn’t buy any non-perishables at all and lived off the pantry. And my week to supply school snack for my son is that week.
What a week. Ack.
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November 17th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Way to go on the returns! I’ve done that (usually just for an item I thought was cheaper but I’ve been known to get to the register and cut them off at $60 and leave everything else on the belt *blush* but hey they don’t know me what do I care? my budget matters more than my pride
Good luck scrimping for next week. Tell hubby no shampoo for him this week lol
November 17th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Good for you! It can be hard to give things back. I remember during my childhood, my mom feeding three of us and the dog on $50 a week. There were many times she had to ask the cashier to take things off. It’s hard to do that without getting embarrassed. But you did it to stick by your principles, which is even more awesome. Any business that wants to make shopping more difficult and more expensive for me doesn’t get my business for long.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
You should experiment with your printer settings to see if you can get your coupons to print crisper. If you see “preferences” or “properties” or something like that come up when you go to print, then click on that and see if you can click on “photo” or “best photo”. It could also be the quality of your paper. Of course you don’t want to spend more on ink and paper than you would save with the coupon. What kind of printer is it?
November 18th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Good for you for making them put the things back!
November 18th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I have an HP Deskjet 832C. it is several years old. I do print the coupons “best” quality - but better paper would probably help. I might have to ask for some for christmas… although I don’t know if I feel like challenging the walmart idiots again lol
November 18th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Good for you for putting stuff back! I think that’s great. And bah on walmart. Depending on the week, you can get some really good internet coupons at Kroger. And you don’t print them out (saving printing costs). You just “load” them onto your Kroger shopping card and go. I’ve found although in general Kroger has higher prices, with coupons and the shopping card you can sometimes beat even walmart.