Today I went out and decided I was only going to one place to use one specific coupon. I did not feel like toting around my binder since this was just a retail trip and I figured I'd take only the coupon I needed. This was the $15/$15 Lane Bryant coupon my mom sent me. I convinced myself it would be fine, and headed out. I had an appointment first, and while there I realized, "I really do need a FEW things for our trip to L.A. this weekend. I think I have another coupon for LB in my BINDER! Crap! What if I go to the store and need the other one too?!" Now you may think, "What's the problem? Just go home and get it." Easier said than done... my appointment is 1/2 hr N from home, the store is 10mins W from there, and home is 20mins S of the store! So going home for a coupon I might have then going back to the store is just a little inconvenient.
When I got to the store I asked if there was a $25/$75 coup out right now (that would have been the one at home). The cashier said there was and I explained my situation. She said they had an extra one at the store I could use if I got to $75... score! Also, if you sign up for the store charge card you get a bonus 20% more off this week instead of just 15% (plus you earn points for gift checks)! I wasn't sure if I had one already, but I kept this in mind for checkout.
So now I had the opportunity to use both and get up to $40 in FREE bonus clothes! I browsed the clearance rack to try and score a freebie w/the $15/$15, but I really needed jeans. Lucky for me they were on sale this week and I found a pair I liked. They were $29.99 on sale from $59.99. I took one more look around and found a top on clearance for $29.99 marked down from $49.95. This was WAY more than i would normally pay for clearance, but it was perfect for this trip. Darn-it! Now, if I am gonna spend $60 I might as well "spend" $15 more and bring my total down to $50. So all I could find that was suitable was a top for $54.95 and not on sale :( Naturally, when I tried it on, it looked fabulous. So I'm thinking great, here's what I'll do: two shirts w/$25 coup; jeans w/$15 coup. Then one of the girls tells me the jeans look too BIG! While this is welcome news, they are the ONLY pair in petite near my size and are a great price... but I'm going to L.A., gotta look good. I try on the next size down and they fit perfectly, just way too long and $10 more, sigh. While I could hem them, I would rather get what I'm paying for right from the store. We call a store I will be near tomorrow and they have them in petite! Horray! They put them aside for me and I go on to buy the 2 shirts and save my $15 coup for later.
At the register the girl checks to see if I have a store charge, I couldn't remember. I did, but not anymore, so I re-signed up. They were super nice and helped me with everything. She rang up the $25 coup then my extra 20% and brought the total down to $46.86 from $114.45 (59%)*! Since I was getting the extra 20% off I decided to go pick up my jeans today. I drove 15 more mins N to the mall. They had my jeans and on sale for $39.99, but the manager was giving me a hard time about the 20%. She said it is only on your FIRST purchase, not any purchases made same day. She offered to give me $15 off instead of $8 (the 20%) and I was fine with that if I could still use my coup, but she was trying to use the same coupon to do that and you can't use 2. I asked if there was a corporate #, and argued that I took the time to come all the way over here b/c I was told I would get the 20%, and that that plus my coupon would be $23 NOT $15, big difference... She managed to find a way to make it work ;) My total was brought down to $21.81 from $65.45 (66%)*! Then I was able to pay my charge off right there at the store, so no card balance looming but I still got the benefit!
*(my math includes tax)
Good deal, good bargaining skills! Must run in the family ;)
ReplyDelete