Saturday Shopping

Newspaper day, and not much else going on, so I went on a meandering little adventure around. Started out going to buy J, my hubby, a birthday present. He is going to be soooo surprised, lol. I'm having a hard time not letting on about it. Two more weeks to go, I'm going to burst.

After there I stopped for my papers. Only got 5 this week, they didn't appear too exciting.

Then I did my first Publix stop/shop. This was my 2nd favorite store, that still accepts FLips, but told me the other night I could only buy 2 charcoal, and no more beef items.

So, I got 2 bags charcoal, 2 pork items, and 2 KC Masterpiece.
With my overage from the pork coupons I bought a bottle of Dale's Steak Seasoning and 5 packages of Ramen noodle soup my kids like.

Value before Coupons: $29.80
Total was -.58 + $1.08 tax = .50 oop

Next on my route I passed a Rite Aid and found a couple more items for last week's rebates.
I'm not sure if I did as well as Jenny's scenarios, having to buy the items in pieces and parts. I'll have to tally it up later.

After there I went to Kohl's, looking for some clearance Rachel Ray pans, but of course they didn't have any. I never get the good deals.
I did find some clearanced clothes; a pair of shorts for my youngest, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for my oldest, and a pair of panties for me.

At the checkout, the cashier had a 15% coupon paper beside the register she was scanning and giving everyone 15% off. So that was cool.

Next I went to the Dollar Tree looking for some earphones. We have bad luck with earphones around here. My youngest son and his cat both likes to chew cords apart; John got a free pair on the airplane and only one side worked; I shut mine in the car door and ripped the cord in half.
I figured as fast as we go through them, I didn't want to pay more than a dollar for more, lol.

Usually I would have also went to Target while I was down there, but had forgot my Target envelope.

Next I went to another Publix, but they don't take FLips until the new Food Lion opens up, in a month or so, I forget when she said.
I looked for the Yogos anyway, but there was none. They didn't know why they didn't have any, and planned to ask the Kellogg's vendor, and gave me a raincheck for 5 deals, or 10 boxes.
Very nice, helpful people at this Publix.

Then I went to another Publix, which I thought was another Publix.
The last time I visited the other Publix, I was coming from the other direction, and all I knew was the Publix was at the corner of Hwy. 41 and Cedarcrest Rd.
This time, coming from the other direction, I turned off Hwy. 381 onto Cedarcrest, so when I saw the Publix, I assumed it was the one at Hwy. 41. Who'da thunk there was 2 Publix on the same one not-very-long road??

At any rate, this Publix accepted FLips, and I was able to do a charcoal deal. Not being very familiar with the store - I thought this was my 2nd time shopping there - I only bought 2 bags, instead of trying for 4. Also 2 pork items and 2 KC Masterpiece.

With my overage I bought Beef&Bean Burritos (Cheap&Sweet, Paige, reminded me to get some of these for my kid), Publix flour, a bottle of Heinz Vinegar, and a bag of Kraft 2% milk shredded cheese for the Kraft/Publix rebate.

I somehow miscounted again, twice, and instead of adding it again, I gambled on the lower total being the right total...Wrong...So my total came out more than I'd planned, but not terribly bad:
Value before Coupons: $34.01
Total: $1.63 + 1.20 tax = $2.83 oop

After I left there, I realized I wasn't where I thought I was. The other Publix was just on down the street a piece. They didn't take FLips, and had no Yogos. But the Aprons counter gave me a 5-course meal - asian bbq chicken, pork'n'beans, some kind of potato salad and slaw, and some kind of fruit in a cup. Rich people, fancy food I don't know much about, but I was hungry so it was pretty good.

Across from there was a Rite Aid, and I was able to complete my rebate deals. I feel like I overspent because I spent more than my rebate checks were, and I think I had figured up they were supposed to cover the purchases. I'll tally it later.

After there, there was only one place left to go.
I tried to talk myself out of it. Charcoal isn't really worth it that much. I said, Stop while you're ahead, you did good enough for the day, just go home and rest.
But I was too close to not go. It would have been a waste of a trip later to not go, as close as I was.

So, I went to the Bad Publix.

There was only 1 bag of Matchlight charcoal, and then I was aggravated I had driven way over there and not even able to do a charcoal deal.
There was an employee at the end of the row, so I asked him was there any other charcoal anywhere else, or in the back? He was the produce guy, but he went and got a boy, and he looked and they had more in the back. He asked me how many I wanted and I said "Four".
I figured, what the heck, if they're going to give me trouble, might as well make it big trouble.

So I got 4 bags charcoal, 4 pork items, and 4 KC Masterpiece.

With 4 pork coupons, I had a good deal of overage, some of which I used to buy canning jar lids, super soft pretzels, ramen noodles, yellow rice, refried beans, flour, Sam Adams beer, and shredded cheddar and macaroni n cheese for the Kraft/Publix rebate.

The rest of the stuff was paid for by other moneymakers - crest, covergirl, and sundown vitamins - which I started buying trying to reach $100.00 so I could get free milk and chocolate milk.

I had a Target coupon for $1.00 off a pound or more of apples, so I got 2 apples. I had a Publix babyclub coupon for $1.00 off produce so I got a lemon. Also a Publix coupon for $1.00 off a bag of the apple crunch snacks.

In the end, my total value was supposed to have been somewhere around $101.xx before coupons, and a few cents in the negative balance after coupons.


So I head to the registers and there's young girls and older gals, neither my favorite choices, but I've generally had better times with the younger girls overall. Although it's not seeming that way lately.

The girl spread my coupons all out all over the counter...I think they do this so the camera can see the coupons...but I've had cashiers do that and forget which ones they'd already scanned, and I can't keep up with which ones they've scanned or not, so it agitates me when they do that.

She took off my competitor coupons first, then she picked up my Free KC coupons and asked the CS Staffer, who was there bagging my groceries, if she could use those with the FLip coupon.
He said no, he couldn't pay me to take the bbq sauce, and since they were giving me the bbq sauce for free, he wouldn't be able to accept the FLip too.

I didn't even argue with him. I got a letter from their District Manager this weekend, saying he'd been unable to reach me by phone and inviting me to call him, so I planned to do that Monday anyway.

But I hear that more in this store than I've ever heard anywhere...they can't "give" me this or they are "giving" me something for free, when really I am paying for the items with manufacturer coupons that they are going to be reimbursed for, so they aren't "giving" me anything. For some reason, they can't seem to get that fact through their stupid little brains.

My point is, if I came in and bought the KC sauce with cash, they'd cheerfully give me the $1.00 off with the Flip, no problem, no argument, right?
But when I pay for the KC sauce with coupons, for which they are not only going to be reimbursed the full price, but also .08 extra per coupon, how is it fair that I'm not able to still get the $1.00 off with the FLip?

Anyway, so then she asks him about using the charcoal and pork coupons. He made a comment about "it being a little over the top", but yeah, it was okay, go ahead. But then he apparently changed his mind and took the pork coupons and told her to go ahead with the others and he'd be right back.

She took scanned the rest of the coupons - and gave me the overage on the milk and chocolate milk, amazingly. I would have corrected her, had they not pissed me off. But she wrote $4.00 and $3.75 in the blanks, so I think they'll get reimbursed and not be out anything.

Then the Asst. Manager Brian that I had had words with that first time showed up holding my pork coupons. He didn't say a word to me, greet me, or even look at me.
Way to hold a grudge and alienate customers there dude!
I told him, "I got 4 bags of charcoal", which he didn't acknowledge I said anything, other than telling the cashier girl to scan the coupons.
Then he left. No "have a good day", "don't come back", nothing. Jerk.

Then my total came up to $10.01. Whaaa?
I told the girl I thought she hadn't gotten all my coupons, which highly offended her. She said she had gotten them all. I said the total was alot higher than I was figuring. She said that they'd given me back the bbq sauce coupons, and I said yes, but that was only $2.00. She huffed at me that she knew she'd gotten them all, because she'd spread them all out (right, that was my point, wasn't it?).
So I said okay, I'd go refigure my totals, sometimes I mis-add. She didn't smile or wish me a good day or nothing.

Out in my car, I realized the first problem was the tax amount. About half the total...$4.53. I wasn't figuring on that much tax.

The actual balance, before tax, was $5.48. $2.00 of that was the Flips they'd refused, and another $3.00 was because the beer rang up $15.99 instead of $12.99, as the sign in front of the beers I had bought said.
I went back in - smiled at the cashier girl on my way by, but she just frowned and looked away - and went back to look at the beer. The sign in front of the beer I bought was actually for the beer next to it. I got Sam Adams Light, it was for Sam Adams Seasonal. My fault for not reading the sign better, and assuming because it was in front of the beer I bought, that it was for the beer I bought.

No way I'd win that argument, so I left and went home.

Value before Coupons: $110.49
Total: $5.48 + $4.53 tax = $10.01

Total Value of all Items: $174.30
Total Spent: $13.34 (including tax)