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.

No Coupon Needed

Never go anywhere without your coupons. This is the #1 rule for couponers everywhere, and yet I was in Walmart this morning without my binder. I was there to pick up medication for my daughter Emily, who just had her wisdom teeth removed. While I waited, I wandered the nearby aisles, coming across five more boxes of marked down Kotex U pads, along with five $2 coupons. $1 a box after coupons is a great stockpile price, so of course I bought all five.  I almost didn't go in the clearance aisle because I knew there was a good chance there would be something marked down that I had coupons for~ at home~ and I didn't need the guilt at having forgotten my coupons and missing a good deal. I'm glad I ignored my initial hesitation because when I got to the clearance aisle I immediately spotted a cart of marked-down Scott toilet tissue. Now, Scott tissue has been my favorite brand of toilet paper for over 15 years, ever since we lived in the country with a septic system. And I was just thinking about how low we were getting on toilet paper.

(photo circa 2002)

I am always looking for a good deal on Scott tissue, so when I saw these single rolls marked down to 25-cents (regularly $1), I began throwing them into my cart.  Then I thought What am I doing? and I put the rolls back in the cart and added my other items to their cart full of toilet paper, instead. Then I pushed it up to the checkout, where I was met with the very wide pair of eyes of a young cashier. David would have loved this, I thought.  He was never embarrassed with my good deals, unlike my children, who would have been mortified. David would have started bragging on the good deal and called me his "Coupon Queen." (despite the fact that I didn't have coupons for the toilet paper) "She's the coupon queen who writes a column for the Telegraph Herald," he often told complete strangers in line behind us. Hey, he was proud of me, and after 32 years, used to my sometimes extreme couponing tactics.

I helped the cashier count the 89 rolls and handed her my coupons for the Kotex products. "Now you have something funny to talk about in the break room later," I told her, "You can tell everyone about the crazy lady buying toilet paper."

"Oh, I will," she smiled broadly. I think I made her day. I know this deal made mine.

EMERGENCY COUPONING!

Last night I heard the words every mother of teenage girls dreads hearing; "Mom, we're almost out of pads."

It is a fact that for 40 years, I have not run out of "feminine protection." Seriously.  As soon as I realized that my parents had a difficult time keeping the house stocked with such an important necessity, I started using my baby-sitting money to pay for my own. When I got married in 1979 I began using coupons on everything I regularly used, and at that point I stopped being brand-loyal. It was whatever pad was on sale that I had coupons for. For one entire year it was Always pads, the year I lived in Independence, Iowa and raided the recycling center weekly, netting 25-30 of the amazing $2 coupons that made the product entirely free. And up until six weeks ago, when my husband passed away and I temporarily lost my mind, I avidly perused the sale ads and the coupon inserts so that my cupboard was well-stocked with this important product at the lowest stockpile price possible.

Then last night one of my daughters informed me the stockpile was down to one single pad and I needed to go to Walmart first thing in the morning.

Without coupons.  There was not one single coupon for feminine protection in my coupon binder. No Kotex. No Stayfree. No Always.

Terror struck in my heart. Would I have to pay full-price for this pricey product?

At Walmart this morning, my eyes scanned the shelves, silently repeating the steps to saving that I recite in my workshops:

Step 1: Identify what you need.  I needed pads.
Step 2: Look for a sale price. I found a couple boxes of Kotex U products on sale for $3, regularly $5.97, and they included a nice purse clutch holder. 
Step 3: Ask yourself if you have coupons for that product. No, I did not. BUT, and this was the best part of emergency couponing shopping in action~ Right on the product were $2 off coupons, bringing those two boxes down to just $1! I picked up two other packages that were priced at $3.97, and used the $2 coupons on those as well.

There was also a refund form attached to a Stayfree product, offering a $5 refund for purchasing two Stayfree products, limited to one per address.  I picked up two packages of pads priced at $2.84, and immediately filled out the form when I got home, sending it out in today's mail to get a $5 check. (the manufacturer's count on the impulse buy and the slippage that occurs when the consumer forgets to send for the rebate)

Arms full, I headed to the checkout, only to be stopped by an older gentleman who informed me I had dropped one the packages.  He laughed when I stooped over to pick it up and dropped another one of the packages.

"Emergency run. Two teenage daughters," I explained.

"That is an emergency!" he said, "But I think you could have used a cart," and he gallantly offered me his empty one.

I demurred, and carefully made my way to the check-out.  Hopefully I won't have any more emergency coupon runs anytime soon.

A Cut Above

I managed to collect 8 $3 off Olay razor coupons for a good deal at Target yesterday. My daughters and I actually prefer these all-in-one razors, but they are normally too pricey for us. At $5.99 a pop after the $3 coupon applied, you might wonder why I would purchase eight of them. Target had the new Olay razors on sale for $8.99 in last week's ad, but what caught my attention was the fact that for each two I would purchase, I would net a $5 gift card. Now, things were getting interesting. I paid $11.98 for the first set of razors~ quite a pricey investment for a $5 gift card. However, the next set of razors rang in at $11.98, and I used that first $5 gift card to bring my total down to $6.98, and netted yet another $5 gift card, which, of course, I used to purchase another set of razors. I was able to do this as long as I had $3 coupons, which meant only four transactions, since I had eight $3 coupons. If I did my math correctly, I ended up paying $32.92 ($11.98 for the first transaction, $6.98 for the subsequent three) for eight packages of razors that come with an extra cartridge, but I have that extra $5 gift card to use next time I am in the store.  Still pricey razors when we can buy an entire pack of Bic razors for less than $4, but let's face it, when it comes to razors, you really do get what you pay for; when we use Bic, we feel like we are scraping our legs with a slab of cement, and these razors just glide over our skin. We don't have to use shaving cream with these, either.

Hitting the Sauce

The young cashier looked up at me, one eyebrow raised, "Planning a salsa party, are we?"

"No, just a good deal," and I handed her a stack of coupons.  The Hy-Vee I stopped at yesterday had an endcap of Ortega products marked down; taco shells were just 99-cents and the taco sauce was 3/$2, which for those of you who are mathematically challenged means two jars came up for 67-cents each and the third rang up at 66-cents. Factor in my $1.00 off two Ortega product coupons, and figure in the fact that during the summer we go through several bottles a week with our favorite hot summer day tortilla chip dip, and this particular stockpile will likely get us through August, and for only 16 and 17-cents a bottle!

Mary's easy breezy taco layer dip

For a low-fat dip on a hot summer day, use Lays Baked tortilla chips and dip them in this treat. I eat this for a meal

line a cake pan with tin foil or wax paper, or this will be a mess to clean up.

Use two blocks of fat-free cream cheese as the bottom layer. Top with two smaller jars of taco sauce, or one larger jar. Top with chopped lettuce, cut up tomatoes and a bag of fat-free Kraft cheese.  Those with more refined taste buds will want to add chopped onions and olives.  Push down to compress the ingredients together, and dip the chips into it.  Enjoy!