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Just try to use coupons and price match at Walmart - dare ya...

September 19th, 2008 at 01:29 am

Monday I tried to pricematch and use coupons at walmart. The "cashier police" stopped me from doing that as that's one deal on top of another .. and once can't do that. Since I've done this many times at Walmart I let them reverse the items (all 9 boxes of cling wrap) and just bought the other items I wanted.

I didn't feel like waiting around for a manager and the supervisor (err.. other employee?) had backed up the cashier's statement.

So when I came home I sent walmart an email asking for clarification of policy.

Today ... manager at walmart called. Assured me the cashier was wrong and i was right .. and that they have been SPOKEN TO (uh huh). One can use coupons on price matched items.

So I asked if I could come by tonight and do it with no problem - he assured me I could and I have the name of the manager and the assistant working tonight.

My guess is that emails to head office get logged and the manager gets a black mark for them and a really big black mark if I have to write another email tonight. He assured me that I should phone him if I run into any other issues and he'll handle it "quicker than head office".

Still he was very nice and I did get his phone number.. just in case. I'm keeping that number.

So on the way home I go there and get my cling wrap.

Got to the cash, not a bad line up.. only two in front of me though dyno-boy on cash is straightening the baby clothes on the hangers before he takes them off of the hangers (it was interesting to watch...). Anyways the customer service manager - hey it said so on her tag- came over and took over cash. She assured me no problem about the price matching and coupons. Totally not an issue.

I smile and hand her over the 9 coupons I had - I bought nine boxes of cling wrap (price match for $1 and $1 off coupon .. the sort of deal one gets to like).

And of course you know what happened then don't you?

Yup she tried to tell me that it is one per purchase (you KNEW that was coming didn't you??). So I tell her yup, 9 coupons, I'm purchasing 9 items what's the problem. She looked dubious and she paged someone. I said, well if you want you can do it in 9 transactions. She didn't like that answer much. (and yes I'd have used my debit card for each transaction *grins*). Finally she gets an answer but not before she suspends my transaction and has dyno boy start on the next order.

Luckily for her she didn't end up up having to do 9 transactions for me as someone on the other end of the phone authorized her doing them on one bill. She took me to the cash at customer service so I'd not have to wait any longer. She was very pleasant but .. come on .. shouldn't a customer service manager know policy?

Never mind .. that last question was rhetorical

Gawd saving money is hard work.

Yvonne

coupons and pricematching halved my shopping bill

August 31st, 2008 at 05:43 am

Went to walmart today and did a whole bunch of price matching and couponing.

Hard to know what exactly I saved with price matching but here are the highlights.

Royale TP - $8.57 each or so .. pricematched with shoppers $4.88 and used 2 $1 off coupons

Ritz crackers with the free cheese - $2.67 or so at Walmart - pm'd to shoppers and got them for $1.79 X 6 plus whatever the free cheese is worth..

Lipton Sidekicks - $1 something at walmart.. pm'd to Superstore $0.99 cents each - bought ten then used 5 of the buy 2 get $2 off coupons - ALL FREE

KD -$1 something.. pm'd to Zellers 49c sale..

Coffee Mate - $3.50 X 3 - 2 $5 off TMF coupons = 50cents for all three

Bic Soliel - 7.88 minus $5 off coupon x 4

Used a free pledge coupon $3.27 - so free

In the end I used $45 in coupons, spent $106.62

I think with price matching I saved at least as much as in coupons or very close... my guess is I got very close to $200 in groceries for $100

And the cashier was sweet about it all! Personable, friendly and didn't need to scrutinize every coupon.. woo hoo

And to think some say couponing isn't worth it.
Y

My five fingered Walmart Shopping Deal

January 21st, 2008 at 12:25 am

I went to Walmart last week. Had a number of things to pick up and decided I'd brave Walmart, even though I'd normally avoid it, as it would be one stop shopping for everything I needed. Cold weather means one sometimes organizes shopping trips by number of stops and availability of underground parking (this walmart has parking underneath as well as around it)

Other than the mother teaching her child to scream "woo hoo" cause the Mom thought it was "cute" and the toddler I found in the aisle with no parent it sight (yes I stuck around til a parent showed up).. the visit wasn't too bad .. found some good deals; the best being some clearance undies (2 pairs of underwear for 25c) and some nice tops for $4 each. I love good deals like this.

Of course I didn't get the thing for my bathtub I wanted. I looked in bathroom stuff and in the organizing areas and didn't find the expandable "fit to size" pole thingy that sits in the corner of the tub and has shelves for stuff that would otherwise clutter up the rim of the bathtub. A friend told me that I should have looked the hardware and plumbing area for this. Oh well next time I go there or a similar store... but how it rates up there with a toilets, gasket seals, and fixtures is beyond me. To me it should be in the organizing stuff or bathroom stuff but no one asked me...

Got to the cash register. A nice cashier. No issues at all. Not even a price check needed. Woo hoo .. bonus.......Go home put bags down and ignore them for two days. Okay so I needed the stuff but not right that evening. And once put off.. well you know how it goes....Don't tell me I'm the only one that's done this...

Go to open one of the bags and find this treasure trove of stuff I wasn't charged for. Obviously once opening it was bought by someone very concerned with dental hygiene. 2 small bottles of Listerine, Aquafresh toothpaste, Colgate Max, and two kids toothpastes. None of this stuff is on my bill (and my bill was actually in this bag I think so I'm not sure what happened).

I'll likely use the Listerine and give away or send to the food bank (they'll take toiletries as this will save people money that they can use on food) the other items as I don't use any of those brands.

The odds are this is karma balancing out the stuff I swear I bought that never made it home...

financial advisor meeting

November 7th, 2007 at 01:26 pm

I had a meeting with my financial advisor earlier this week. It was much more positive than I expected it to be. My mutual funds are doing very very nicely.

We are tweaking one fund and moving it into a more aggressive global energy resource fund. Its currently 5% of my portfolio so I'm thinking of it as a fun opportunity. Add that to the fact I have quite a few years to go to retirement and I don't think its too risky an idea.

My hair will be clean

September 22nd, 2007 at 09:16 pm

The local store is cleaning out their 250ml Fructus shampoo and conditers for $1.49. I went up there this morning and bought 14 of them. After the buy 2 get $3.00 off coupons I had I got them all for about $3.00 (taxes).

That's what I call nice shopping.

I'm going to keep 2 or 3 "sets" - the rest will go towards an Xmas hamper the local drop in centre.

I have more coupons. I may go up in the morning or later tonight to see if they have more and buy more so I can give it. I know homeless shelters want mostly foodstuffs - but people need to be clean to and this is just a bit I can add to what I give.

Paper sorting is lucatrive

September 19th, 2007 at 03:45 am

In my paper purging today I have found a number of cheques (totalling about $12 .. a number of free product coupons (at least 3 all still good) and some uncancelled and some unused stamps..

Oh and a $10 bill

Who says purging is a bad thing? I'm finding it nicely lucerative!

Finally stopped procrastinating on these

September 1st, 2007 at 12:15 pm

I did some things today that have been on my to do list for a long time

* Changed my home phone provider to the same provider as my internet - this should save me some $$

* got the password for my email from my internet provider so i can change my mail set up

* Got new bank card so i can use interac (debit) and not be refused cause the card won't work cause its too old (humiliation is a great motivator)

* ordered cheques from the bank (I have two left)

It feels good to have these taken care of!

MOMA Meme - the 24 hour rule

August 19th, 2007 at 04:32 pm

My best advise for saving money is to use the 24 hour rule.

Never by anything that you haven't thought of for 24 hours. So if you see that bright shiny gizmo you NEED, either at the dollar store or at th electronics store don't buy it. If you really want it, go back for it tomorrow or the day after.

Most of the time by then you have forgotten what it is you couldn't live without or you have realized its not something you can either afford or need.

I love this rule because it doesn't make me feel deprived yet it saves me money and helps me distinguish between wants and needs.

Weird Rent "Increase" Notice this year

August 16th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

Got my rent notice today for Nov 1 - here landlords have to give you 60 days notice of an increase. My rent hasn't gone up in a LONG time. Good vacancy rates are a blessing for tenants!

This rent notice is unlike any I have ever had. Its actually a decrease of about $18 - and the accompanying sticky tells me I've paid too much rent the last 7 months so my next rent cheque I can reduce by approximately $200. Nice!

I can handle more rent "increases" like this one!

A close call

August 13th, 2007 at 02:00 pm

On friday night I dropped my laptop computer. Visions of replacement and using it as a door stop danced in my head. Yes it was on when it was dropped.

I brought it to a friend to look at on Saturday morning but alas that didn't work out as he didn't get a chance to look at it.

Saturday night I looked online for information on how to get a recovery disk (I couldn't find one in my computer stuff). But I found this exciting thing.

Turned my computer on, hit F10 and voila a brand new computer that worked. Yup. It completely reformatted my drive and put it back to factory specs within a 1/2 hour.

Annoying cause I lost a lot of programs but I'm not a big downloader so it wasn't a huge issue that way.

The relief in not having to buy a new computer or spend $$$ getting it fixed - huge. I had visions of really having some large expenses.

You've got a beef?

August 8th, 2007 at 02:32 am

Went to the no frills grocery store (Price Chopper). A step up from Aldi but not much up.. has a small deli.

Had some rolls a friend gave me for free so I thought I'd get some luncheon meat to make sandwiches. The roast beef was a good price so I asked her for some. They only had a few hundred grams left so I got that and got about 300 grams of corned beef too.

Got home. Realised that the difference between a good grocery store and a no frills one is that you get a package of roast beef and package of corned beef when you order those at the deli. What she said was roast beef was actually corned beef.. *sigh*. I wanted roast beef.

At least it was the same price! Thank goodness I like corned beef! Made about 7 (not 87 omg I can't type) sandwiches. A couple are in the fridge for tomorrow and the rest are in the freezer.

I guess in the know frills stores knowing the difference between the different types of beef is just asking too much...

Tuesday

July 24th, 2007 at 01:25 pm

Other than a conference call that lasted 66 minutes yesterday it was a good day. I didn't plan well for the conference call. Normally I have a paper or newspaper flyers to pass the time (all other people in the call were in different cities) but this time I had nothing to distract me while a couple of call participants aired their umm "slight" difference of opinion.

The date was nice. We went to a local pub. Tried strongbow cider for the first time. Quite a nice light drink.

I realised that I'm now no longer paying a couple of payroll taxes. So on the agenda this week is deciding what do with that money. I think it is going to go into the emergency fund but I'm not 100% decided - it might go towards retirement instead.

Surprising Tax Reassessment

June 28th, 2007 at 04:17 pm

I got a surprise in the mail. I had applied for a carry back of a capital loss from last year to the year before. I had though I might get an extra refund of around $300.

Revenue Canada sent me a cheque today for $580. Woo hoo! Given the issues at work this is going right into my emergency fund.

Not all reassements are bad!!!

Oil Change Today

June 1st, 2007 at 03:32 am

I got my oil changed today. New guy at the place. I said. "I know my oil is low" (the light was flashing on - yes I do know that is VERY BAD - why do you think I did an oil change oday. ) so pleasedon't lecture me, fill it and do it quickly please". He was polite, did what I asked even filled the washer fluid up with the fluid I had already.

I got none of the 'tude you get from oil change guys that usually involves $100 extra in charges. Oh and the service was $31 posted and he rang it in for me at at $22 plus tax. He just said "I give you a deal". Crappy Tire pit stop. I'm a happy camper. Took about 10 minutes too.

I'm a very happy customer.

Errands

May 30th, 2007 at 10:00 pm

Did errands at lunch. Ended up spending more than I wanted to. Got a couple good deals (75% off) on an over the counter drug I sometimes use. All the rest of the things were items that were on my list that I needed.

I picked a lunch sandwich up at the grocery store. A picnic roast beef wrap (roast beef, shredded cheddar, mustard and sweet pickle) for $2.00. It was excellent!

Off to meet a friend for dinner. When I get back from vacation I really have to get the eating out under control.

those

May 12th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

"I don't use those"

That is a quote from my father when I handed him a coupon. He held it like I gave him a box of extra large jumbo tampons with a trail pack of midol on the side to purchase for me along with some birth control pills and condoms.

I just said - well this way you save the tax.

So he did use the $1 off coupon for his tide. But man he did look pained. I was very proud.

Of course, this is the man who when he forgets something at the grocery store will go and buy it at the convenience store - and he expects to pay extra for the "convenience". This in a town where it is a 5 minute drive to decent priced stores.

And more shopping

May 11th, 2007 at 01:05 am

Dang, I'm single handedly supporting the economy.

Yesterday I tried on a bathing suit at the fancy store. $100 plus tax. I bought the same style at Walmart for $35 plus tax. Okay so I don't have the cute leopard print top bit and its plain black and white. I wasn't that crazy about the leopard print anyways.

Bought a replacement pair of black jeans too while I was at Walmart. As I'm a larger lucious lady I realised wearing the old pair yesterday that they had vents where they did not need any ventilation... So replaced them with the same pair

Went home with the two planned purchases and resisted looking for anymore "deals".

Walmart and Price Matching

April 18th, 2007 at 01:45 am

What is it with Walmart that they can't get enough cashiers? They used to be great but more and more you go there and most of the cash registers are closed and you get to stand there in a line up to pay.

Then when you price match you have to get into a long discussion with the girl that "no the ketchup you are price matching is not the item that was on a two day sale that is now over.." but an item that is on sale until Friday.

Add to that the store was really warm so I felt like I was having a hot flash. I wasn't - the store was just really warm and really crowded and my temper and frustration levels may have been slightly raised.

On a good note - the Ziploc big bags I bought had a $1 off coupon on each of them and I found a coupon in the store for an item that the man in front of me was buying - so I gave it to him (I had lots of time to be nosy and look at what others were buying)

Monday was a good mail day

April 17th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

Monday was a very good mail day! I got a small coupon train with at least one coupon I can use, and a cheque from Pinecone! I love pinecone - seem to get survey's pretty regularily and sometimes even products to evaluate!

Leading another down the path of frugality

April 13th, 2007 at 05:20 am

One of my coworkers came and thanked me today. I often share freebees with them, as well as coupons and other deals. And I talk about the deals and things I am able to find. But this was one of the first times one of them "got it"

Seems she got an odd charge on her phone/internet bill. She called and and eventually without much trouble she had them remove that charge. Then she called the satellite service affiliated with them. Swapped some channels she wanted for others she didn't watch. Then a casual question or to about a price increase and some service issues. Voila they were able offer her a one time credit of $20ish.

She thanked me cause without my talking about some of the stuff I've done she'd have never thought to do this.

Oh and she also has some coupons for me! I'm so proud of her!

Are you working on leading someone new into the land of frugality? Idea? Problems? What works?

Some quick shopping

April 11th, 2007 at 02:45 am

Stopped at a store I quite often shop for clothes at. Well tried to - it had changed names but was basically the same store (same owner, different brand, but mostly the same clothes). Found the top I wanted from the non existent store at this store (same brand and size as one I have but a different colour). Tried on a bunch of stuff and ended up getting another top I should end up getting a lot of wear from too.

Got to the cash and found that they had a buy 1 item get the second 40% off sale - so while i spent more than I planned it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be!

Beans, Beans, Beans (and a free lunch)

March 31st, 2007 at 04:37 am

Went and used more of my coupons for beans. Bought 18 cans. Effectively was paid $3.18 to take them home with me!

Did I ever mention how much I love coupons and sales?

Oh and a friend bought my lunch today. Free lunch and free stuff. Life is good!

Some excellent shopping and Couponing

March 30th, 2007 at 01:22 am

Bought:

9 cans of Heinz Beans
dozen eggs
2 2pks onion soup mix
Splenda (200 pkg)
Milk (2L)
Oatmeal Packages
Shampoo and Conditioner (Herbal Essence)
Gel and Hairspray (Herbal Essences)

Used about $24 in coupons, spent $8.98

Couponing can really pay off some shopping trips!

Drugs, drugstores and better service

March 17th, 2007 at 03:22 am

Went back to the evil store from hell (drugstore wise)this evening. Their customer service was better today. No I didn't complain about the lousy service the other day. I should have but while I'm not too busy to complain about it in a blog I am too busy to do anything about it that is actually constructive.

Sad eh?

Anyways, got the vitamins on sale that were out of stock the other day. The pharmacy assistant told the truth about how long the prescriptions would take to fill, the pharmacist took the time to go through the side effects of the pills with me and the copay only turned out to be (for both of them together) less than $7.

Ironically, or maybe just Interestingly I spent the morning at a pharmacy benefit managers office discussing changing a drug benefit plan for a client I'm involved with and who processes claims for my employer's drug plan. Yes, my claims went through with no trouble even I was playing bad cop at the meeting - my role was to keep asking questions about how costs will increase and asking for stats to prove it!

I splurged on supper out too - a whole $4 - picked up some feista greek salad and some yummy bean salad at the take out counter of the grocery store. I will have to bet the bean salad again if only to work on figuring out the ingredients ( I hate it too fast to pay proper attention.

Forgot about this money !?!?!?!?

February 13th, 2007 at 03:39 am

Just when you think you are on top of things you realise it was a really good illusion.

Someone on one of my list posted a link to a gov't website. Seems the banks send money there when an account has been dormant a long time.

I went to it on a lark. Cause y'all know how organized I am..... No way would I have money there right? But maybe I can help on of my relatives .. cause well they might let something like that go right?

Pfffffffft

You guessed it. I have $54 in an account that I forgot I had (the name of the bank sounds vaguely familiar).

I have the procedures for getting it. I'll do that this week - get the paperwork rolling etc...

Duh is me ...

Save me money - please keep chatting amongst yourselves

January 30th, 2007 at 03:05 am

Those sweet gals at bath and bodyworks saved me some money today. I had a coupon for $10 off something so I stopped off in there to see if I could score a good deal.

I found the product but it looked way more expensive then $10. The gals working there were standing and talking amongst themselves in the back corner of the store - ignoring all the customers wandering around - there were at least 2 other people in the store other than me...

I might have been tempted to spend money had they encouraged me. I love crappy sales help when they help me save money I shouldn't be trying to spend. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have gone in there in the first place...

I'm sure their employer is equally enamored of their lack of effort to part me from my money.

Trying to take advantage of a sale...

January 28th, 2007 at 09:04 pm

Sometimes I have to laugh at how hard it is to take advantage of a sale. Went to Eckerd on Saturday to take advantage of the last day of their sale on Schick Intuition Plus Refills (my razor of choice - the one I manage to operate without cutting my legs to shreds).

Go in. The razors aren't on the shelf. The sign says "see cashier".

Line up for the cashier. Show her the ad and ask for 2 refills for "sensitive skin". She gets them and rings them in.

Wrong item (and more expensive than the price in the ad) - she got the refills for the Schick Intuition (not the plus) and they weren't on sale. So she has to get the Manager dude over to help.

Manager dude and her realise that they need to get me the plus. They switch them with the Plus. The re-ring in the transition.

I leave the store and as we walk out my boyfriend suggests I double check I got the right items.

I didn't and then realise that they got me one plus for sensative and one for dry skin. So back in I go.....

*sigh*

Investment "rejiggling"

January 24th, 2007 at 01:34 am

Okay so my investment adviser used fancier words than "rejiggling" during our not quite quarterly review of my savings - he likes to meet quarterly - we normally manage to about 3X a year. He's "MrOnTopOfStuff" way more than I am. Which is why I deal with him Smile I need someone to keep me up with this.

So we went though my assets. One of my Income Trust Funds has not been doing what its supposed to be doing (can we say earnings flattening..) so I'm going to move those funds into a Global Fund -which will give my portfolio a bit more diversity. I looked at the other funds I'm in and I'm still happy with them.

I also am upping what I put into my accounts each month by 1/3. So I will meet with him or his assistant tomorrow to sign the paperwork I need to sign and bring a cheque so they can set up the automatic withdrawals for the additional amounts.

I'm feeling good about this.

Morbid Addition to Challenge

January 9th, 2007 at 01:17 am

Got a cheque from ING today for $4.99 - a refund of the premiums that my mother paid for her insurance that were overpaid cause she didn't need the insurance for the entire period her last payment was made for.

Felt really weird getting that cheque today. Oh well, it can go into my ING account and give me a cushion against the scary future.

Added a penny for a round $5.00 to be added.

Total in $20 Challenge for 2007: $36

More Quilt shopping (guys you are warned)

January 3rd, 2007 at 03:47 am

Dang quilt. I cut and sewed the blocks, then realised I didn't have quite enough material (you'd think I'd learn from the past...). So today I went to Joann's to get some more - It was $1.00 off when I bought it before but today it was 30% off. As the fabric was $5 a yard that was a better deal. If I bought too much It just means I haves some for pillows - always a good thing Smile

I'll likely have to buy more at the quilt store as I need a few more lengths of some of the secondary fabrics too.

Other purchases were more melatonin. I'm sleeping like crap these days. Am also making sure not to have caffeine after noon *sigh*.


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