A Hairy Good Deal

My fall has been busy conducting couponing workshops and not doing a lot of couponing. When the workshops slowed down, as they inevitably do in the winter, I worked on restocking and organizing my binder. One coupon I was intrigued by was the $5 off two TRESemme product coupon. Surely I could net some inexpensive hair products, I thought when I saw that one in our inserts, so I collected as many as I could and waited for a sale. Unfortunately, I wasn't seeing the smaller cans of hair spray that others were finding for $2.48, but I did pick up a few cans at $2.98, figuring 48-cents for a can of hair spray was a pretty good deal.

That couldn't beat the deal Target had on TRESemme this week. Through Saturday, November 30th, select TRESemme products are on sale for $3.99 and $4.99. Not only that, but the purchase of four of those select products will prompt a $5 gift card. Yesterday the girls and I were shopping for Christmas deals in Cedar Rapids so we stopped at a Target for pumpkin pie ingredients, and to stock up on TRESemme products. The shelves were well-stocked with the $3.99 products so I concentrated on those. My first trip through the line I bought four bottles of shampoo ($3.99 each X 4=$15.96), used two $5 off coupons (minus $10)=$5.96, and got my first $5 gift card. The girls watched my cart while I did it again, only this time I used that $5 gift card to pay just 96-cents (plus tax) for the next transaction, and I got another $5 gift card. I did this several times, until both the girls and I were tired of the game, but this is what I came home with:

Those shampoos will fill our stockpile cupboard and will be added to the Christmas baskets I make up for my adult children. There will likely be TRESemme products added to the baskets I bring to the coupon workshops in the spring, as well. I always bring a basket full of products I purchased with coupons and ask attendees at the beginning of the workshop to guess how much I paid for everything in the basket. The person who guesses closest to the actual price I paid wins the basket of goodies.

This couponing trip reminded me of why I love this hobby and reiterated the importance of keeping my coupons organized. Besides the TRESemme deal, I saved nearly $100 on other products in my shopping cart, including some gift sets that I used both Target and manufacturer coupons on. I did notice that many of the current gift card deals were not labeled on the shelf, so although the two gift sets I purchased did trigger a $5 gift card at the register, there wasn't any indication on the shelf that this would happen.