Wal-Mart Clearance Shopping, Part II

If you were married to me for 32 years like David was, you would have known I would go back to Wal-Mart the next day after I loaded up on the amazing $1 deals. Deal-shopping and couponing was so much a part of mine and David's relationship that I've really had a difficult time garnering much enthusiasm for either since his death in March.  I have yet to make it through a Hy-Vee store and my poor coupon binder is getting dusty from lack of use. I have felt alternately guilty (paying full price for products!) and deeply saddened by the loss of something that had been deeply integral in my everyday life for so many years.  Just as David and I have hit every book sale in the 50-mile range for over 15 years, and now I can't bring myself to go to a book sale, I just am not enjoying shopping much anymore.

Hitting that $1 clearance aisle did something for me, besides fill a couple totes for my attic gift stash; it brought back a joy that I'd worried was gone forever.

I had fun.

Not only that, but I went back the next morning and was pleased to see they had added some things to their clearance aisle. (someone asked me after the last column where they could find the clearance aisle in a store like Wal-Mart and the answer is nearly always at the back of the store) Unfortunately, these finds are likely regional, as our store is remodeling to become a superstore, so don't run to your nearest Walmart and figure you will find the same good deals.

Pictured are the beautiful folders I found for just 25-cents. I'd been buying the cheap, plain colored folders for my writing workshop students, but these beautiful folders will really add to the freebies each student gets when they take my class. Each folder will contain handouts and valuable resource information, along with samples of query letters. I always give prizes in my workshops, too.  One attendee at each couponing workshop wins a basket full of health and beauty products and the prizes at the writing workshops usually involve nice journals and writing books. Then there were two acrylic oil paint sets that come with one canvas, priced at just $5 each and some scrapbook sticker sets that normally retail for $4 for just $1. And the Coleman $29 jacket? Just one dollar! The HP ink was a super deal at just $10 and I couldn't resist the Italian leather NOOK Color protective cover with soft interior lining. On the front are these words, "A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it."~ Samuel Johnson.  The regular retail price was $39.88, and it was on sale for only $5!  Do I have a Nook? No. Know anyone with a Nook? I don't think so. But this beautiful cover makes me want to win the Nook Color our local library is giving away to one adult in the summer reading program. Who knows? Maybe that will be me.

Yes, I enjoyed this shopping trip.  Yes, I miss my shopping partner. Did I go back again today? No, I think I've done enough damage to my pocketbook for one week.

Sometimes, a deal is too good to pass up, but get too many of those good deals, and it still adds up to $100 total on items I wouldn't have purchased otherwise, except maybe for folders and HP ink.

Savings Without Coupons

"Always check the clearance aisle," is the sound advice I give attendees at my couponing workshops. And THIS is why:

When I stopped at Wal-Mart this morning I saw a woman marking items from the $5 clearance section and putting them in the $1 section;leather cases for ipods, 6-packs of women's black socks, 6-packs of underpants...I started filling my cart. When the woman saw what I was doing, she asked if I was interested in the small bottles of perfume that normally retail for $6 (yep~think Christmas stocking stuffers), the Uni-Ball pens that sell for $6 (yep again), and the Phillips head phones with the $19.99 price tags (are you kidding me? of course!). Then there were the 3-packs of cute Carter shirts and pants, bags of seashells, Tulip fabric paints, wires for beading and jewelry-making, boxes of HP photo paper, and some tools that are going into my boy's stockings, even though I'm not sure what they are, but man, oh man, they were originally $16! There were even $16 toy sets that will go to my grandson Jacob to donate to the University of Iowa pediatric unit. A lot of these items will be put away for Christmas, some will be used right away and several will be sold at my sister's consignment store. These items retail for approximately $800 and cost me $82, an amazing 90% savings, and without coupons!

Romance at Edgeton Sanitation

This is a piece I wrote for a now-defunct refund magazine, from sometime in 1994. Please note that the new generation of couponer is not even familiar with the concept of refunding but as a long-time refunder/couponer, I used to make approximately $80-$100 a month~easily~ by sending in proofs of purchase of products I had purchased. I also provided approximately 80% of our Christmas gifts through refunding premiums offered by companies in the 80′s and 90′s.

Unfortunately, my husband and I didn't make it another 25 years, and my taste for shopping and deals has (temporarily?) gone down the tubes. He has left a huge void in my life. I have yet to make it through a Hy-Vee without crying. We did a lot of the grocery shopping and deal-getting together.

Romance at Edgeton’s Sanitation

Our eyes met across the newspaper recycling bin as our hands brushed against each other’s in our search for the glossy coupon inserts amidst the piles of newspapers. My heart started beating faster and my cheeks flushed red with excitement. After fifteen years, this man knew the way to my heart. He smiled as he handed a huge stack of uncut coupons, and smiling more broadly, he pulled a Motrin IB box from his coat pocket. “Look what I found in the cardboard bin,” he said excitedly, “And I bet there is more where that came from.”

Sound like a trashy romance novel to you? Write what you know, successful authors advise, and I know what it’s like to have a husband who not only supports my hobby, but who also believes I’ll have a book published by the time I reach 40. Most of us have some type of support system in the form of a spouse, a parent, a refunding sister, or our regular traders who visit us via the mailbox. If we are really lucky, we live with our supportive person. I’m one of those lucky enough to have a spouse who thinks refunding is both fun and profitable.

Pulling an old curtain rod from the back of his maroon station wagon, David deftly cornered a 42-load ultra detergent box in the cardboard bin, flipping it over the side with one twist of his muscular arm. My knees trembled and my heart raced as I saw him reach deep into the large bin for yet another treasure to warm my heart. Dimly I was aware of another car approaching the site. I busied myself unloading my own box of recyclables, keeping an eye on David, who continued to look through the cardboard filled bin, oblivious to the well-dressed older couple who’d pulled up in their van.

There have been times in my life when I’ve actually been embarrassed by my relationship with trash. It helps to have a spouse who has offered to buy me a Halloween mask to conceal my identity for trash digs. David tells me that someday we will look back on these days and laugh, or I will write about our experiences and be invited to the Oprah show. Our children have seen the great gifts I get for Christmas morning so they are well aware what refunding can do for them. Anyone who looks in my bathroom cupboard and sees the shampoo, toothbrushes, soap and makeup that I’ve gotten practically free through the wise use of coupons is impressed. But my husband also sees the piles of undone refunds on my desk, the stacks of trades to be answered, the overflowing basket of labels and UPC’s on my kitchen counter, and the huge box of qualifiers in my office/schoolroom. I can’t pinpoint the exact day when my husband did more than just tolerate my hobby, but I do know that the arrival of the Camel/Salem camcorder in the mail did a lot to convince him of the value of refunding. A shopping spree where I paid $45 for over $295 worth of groceries didn’t hurt either.

I couldn’t resist checking out the magazine box, where I’d been caught by a worker at the site recently who encouraged me to take the magazines home. I love reading and can’t always afford to pick up the latest women’s magazines. Besides, I’d recently bartered ten Mother Earth News magazines I’d found for two books by an author who wrote about homeschooling. I noticed the couple in their van warily eyeing David before finally getting out and emptying their own boxes. I was pleased when they approached my bin with a bag of what looked like People magazines, a gold mine for me! I smiled at the woman as she dumped them, and she smiled back. I saw her speaking to her husband when she returned to the van and he nodded. I wondered if they were feeling sorry for the poor woman who had to get her reading material from a recycling bin. I caught David’s eye and nodded to him that I was done for the day.

Together, David and I are learning what we can do without, what we really need, and all the fun stuff we can get free. I like being thrifty with my husband and would love to get a government grant to study the effects of couponing and refunding on the average marriage. Surely someone who has seen you bent over digging through a recycling bin and has not only stayed with you, but joined in, must love you a great deal.

I took hold of David’s hand as he started the car and leaned over to kiss me. “We got a good haul today,” he said, glancing in the back at the boxes brimming with coupon inserts, magazines and detergent boxes. He sighed with contentment as we drove out the entrance of the recycling center. I looked at him with appreciation, then saw his face change from pleasure to that of surprise as he looked in the rearview mirror. He abruptly braked, then pointed back to the recycling center. “Look,” he whispered. I turned to see the older couple facing each other across the same newspaper bin David and I had shared a tender moment at just minutes before. The woman was gesturing excitedly to her husband, waving a stray coupon insert in front of him. He laughed and caressed her cheek lovingly. I looked at David and we didn’t even need to voice the thought we were both having…
That’s us, in 25 years.