Couponing for ME? Who would have thought!

When you find yourself in The Season of BROKE, you are forced to cut corners.  Lucky for me, TLC launched its all new TV Show Extreme Couponing!  IF I could just save enough on my grocery bill, I might have enough money to get a mani/pedi, cut and color or finally get that moisturizer & mascara I so desperately need!  (Thank goodness I found a Clinique Days this weekend!!)  Back to couponing…I was thinking long-term and if I really perfected this awesome technique, I may even be able to get the cleaning lady back!  Now if you are a *NUITA type, please STOP reading because you are just NOT going to get this!!

I vowed early on that I would never become that person who bought 100 boxes of cereal or 75 bottles of salad dressing, but like I said I am an over-achiever and I can be a little competitive.  I don’t have that much in my stockpile yet but it is growing that’s for sure!

So the local Shop Rite was offering the deal of a lifetime!  Buy $75 worth of “said” products and receive a $25 gift card for gas to one of four gas stations – Shell, Gulf, Hess or BP.  Yes they are the most expensive gas stations around here, but free is free after all and I set my plan in motion!!  I would typically buy some of the products on the list anyway, just not all at one time, and as an extra added bonus, I had coupons for many of them.

So I turned the $75 order into only $50 and I also received a “coupon” for the gas card!  I was smiling from ear to ear.  I even made my husband stop cutting the grass when I got home to give me a high five!  Having him stop cutting the grass is BIG NEWS around here – nothing gets him to stop doing that!

Needless to say I was very excited and read and reread the rules so I did just the right thing.  I went to Shop Rite yesterday, picked out a gas card (of course they ONLY had the two MOST expensive ones left by that point) and went to the checkout, as instructed.  You might have thought I was asking for a FREE trip to Tahiti for goodness sakes.  The young cashier was clueless and HAD to call for a supervisor.  She did not look happy that she had to be taken away from what she was doing but she looked at me, looked at the card and my receipt and said “you’re too late.  That offer ended yesterday.”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  I believe is the phrase that just blurted out of my mouth.  Upon closer look, she pushed a couple buttons, never saying a word and “put it through.”  I guess I am good to go I asked and the cashier said “I guess so” and the supervisor walked away.

Did I mention that I can’t make this stuff up??!!  Wait until you hear what happened when I went to the “said” BP Gas Station.

* Nose Up In The Air