Wednesday, April 29, 2015

My successful matchup shopping trip.

Today I hit Walmart with my extra large coupon binder and a 2 page 
list of store items to check out and seeing if it's the best deals 
(or sometimes not).

I had a lot of fun and each time learn quite a bit each time. 

All went very smoothly without incident as my previous adventure was.

Also, had Haylee with me, (which is a fab life lesson for our homeschool hours),
so she uses one cart to have regular priced items/and coupons matches only, 
and I have a basket with price matchups and/or coupons.

I had very close to $60 of coupons.  And LOTS of price matchups.  

Many weren't but a few cents here and there but all adds up.

Here is a list of a few of my fav's.

(please keep in mind, I live near Heber Springs, AR 
so these are prices near my town)

General Mills cereals (up to 13 oz)  
Wm - $2.82-$2.98  = Edward's Food Giant - $1.48 + -50c. coupon.

Oscar Meyer bacon (1 lb pkg) 
Wm $4.48 = Knight's Super Foods - $1.99 ea

Bush's baked beans (28oz) 
WM $1.98 = Edward's Food Giant - $1.78 + - 50c. coupon

Angel Soft bath tissue (24 roll) 
WM $ 10.97 = Cash Saver@Newport $5.45+10% = $6.05

Paper Mate Ink Joy pens (8ct)  
WM $3+? = Staples - $1.00/pk

Planters Peanuts 16 oz - 
Wm $3,50 = in store coupon from Family Dollar insert $3.00

And remember - like I stated earlier,  I had LOTS of coupons and many small matchups that add up really quickly!

Also, I NEVER buy anything with or without a matchup with coupon and sale if I wouldn't already purchase it or want to try it anyway!

A hint to help a LOT when you get to the register that will make things run SOOO much smoother, is make sure to carry the smalles size of  "post it" notes, and write where you are matching and the price, and stick it to the items.  

When I saw on a site to do that - it helps sooooo much!

Also, I try my best to group all my "like" items together as I set them on the belt, and try to seperate the price matches seperate from the regular priced items.

You will be amazed at how easy, and how much fun it could be to play this.

And you save money at the same time.  

With all the coupons and price matchups I had along with using Ibotta (a phone app)
I think I saved approximately $136.00 in all.

It's like getting free turns on the board of Monopoly and landing on Free Parking.

Remember, have fun!  
KNOW the rules!  
Play fair and enjoy!!!


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

New updated list of stores I price match to:

I have updated my list for online viewing of all the main stores 
I like to try to price match to my local Wal-mart store.

(There are a few more, but they don't always 
post sales in the local paper and/or online.)

Remember - play the game of coupon-ing and price-matching by the rules. 

Know all the rules and stick to them and when you are very certain you are right - Stand your ground.  

Corporate makes these rules to bring in our business. 

If our local store wants our business as much as Corporate does - they will 
play by the rules the same as we are suppose to.

And remember - Bring your PROFESSIONAL attitude!!


My latest shopping adventure!

For lack of a better title at the moment.  

My latest adventure, as you will soon read, 
was just that - quite an adventure.  


I have been price matching (ad match)/couponing for several years now.
From time to time, run into a question or altercation about this or that, and usually work
it out in a reasonable way.

Yesterday (Monday 4/27) was different!

I had a list of several items, an aide with my mom for a couple of hour, and had Haylee with me, which she is so good at this too in checking ounces, etc, sort of math lesson.

She usually has a basket with the regular items in it and I take care of a basket with the price matching items in it.  Makes it so much more simple when ready to check out to keep all straight for me and faster/easier for cashier when doing so.

First of all:
I have ALWAYS  prided myself on the honesty and respect I try to use when using this feature as I know it's a bit bonkers, everyone has an opinion on things, etc. 

I try to be extremely certain of the rules of the game, the item I am after, and the exact size, etc., of that match.

Even with Cash Saver adding 10% at their check out, I make sure to have it already on my list with the price of sale + 10% already added and really to make sure the cashier even knows both prices so they can see I did my homework as fairly as possible to make the transactions as smooth as possible!

I know there are several people out there all the time that are trying to do an extremely advanced job and even not making sure at presenting all the information or be a little vague on it so they can get the products through.

WE are NOT a big city with big city stores that have all the buildup of overlapping stuff.
I just want to try my best to save what I can with this feature that is allowed to us to save time and money not to have to travel further and to get to many different stores to find the sales.

Well as my story continues:

My very first item I tried to "price match" was to a store that I have price matched to for a very long time and NEVER really had a problem with. 

Yes, I have been asked for sure what store and where it is located.  I have NO problem with that.

Yes, too - I have had the cashier check to confirm what size/type of item is offered in the sale.  I get that - it's only fair and their job to try to make sure we are correct also.
If I EVER have any doubt at all, I either don't get the item, or pay regular price.
Well, with the very first item, the CSM was called over to the register. (No names mentioned - for now).

She immediately wanted to know where and what price.  No problem.
It happened to be Edwards Food Giant in Little Rock. 

She said she needed for me to show the ad or pull up on my phone.  I refused stating I don't have to prove it, have never proved it, and corporate policy states I don't have to prove it.

CORPORATE policy states:   (copied directly from: http://corporate.walmart.com/ad-match-guarantee

*The following are guidelines and limitations:

·                            We will match any local competitor's advertised price.
·                            We do not require customers to have the ad with them to honor a competitor's ad, but we reserve the right to verify an ad at any time; we also require the store to verify the ad if there is a difference in price greater than 25% from the competitor.


She continued raising her voice to me (and Haylee) determined if I was NOT going to show the ad, she was NOT about to let me have the item at the price matching price.

After standing my ground for a good couple of minutes, and her continuing to raise her voice to me, shake a paper at me stating it's a new policy for the store and item to be proven, (but not offering to show me that paper) I saw I was getting absolutely no where.

I proceeded to get my purse, bag and coupon book and direct Haylee out the door. 
WITHOUT ANY OTHER SINGLE item in my hands.

We walked out with 2 baskets of stuff which much of it was price matched or coupon to go with it still sitting at the register!!

I felt that I had better just sort of retreat as  I could feel that I was NOT going to be handling this very professionally and needed to regain some composure before proceeding.

When I arrived at my car, while still in Wal-mart parking lot, I called for the manager on my cell phone.

Finally spoke with an assistant manager, stating the head manager was out.
I went over the entire story, what I was doing, what went wrong and with WHO.
I also explained how this CSM raised her voice, waved a paper at me, that was not actually shown to me, and stomped her foot once even.

She clearly understood how frustrated, embarrassed and totally ticked I was.
I did NOT go into any excuses of life of this and that - I stuck exactly to the facts
of the problem at hand.  My life info is NOT anyone's to know in this event as many bring up to get more "sympathy." 

Keep it simple, determined and KNOW your facts!!!

The assistant manager apologized several times for the mis-understanding and told me to make sure to ask for her if I had that problem again with this particular CSM or any other one.

When she realized I was still in the parking lot, she put me on hold and checked to see if my baskets were still up front.

They were except for a few frozen food and dairy items being taken back.
She told me that if I would head back in, to meet with another assistant manager up front, he would see to it that I was checked out and no more problems would arise.

Which is exactly what happened, my baskets were brought to me, and someone was getting the items I had in it from dairy and frozen back to me.

While still with one of the assistant managers, and a couple of other CSM,s (at times) the current CMS that I had the issue with, asked me if I would mind for her to check me out.
I said I didn't have any problem with that.

She proceeded to an empty register, items were loaded onto the belt by employees as I went over each item to match to, and even made sure each price match was understood to be as correct as I had stated in the beginning the first time and every time. 

All info is always on my list.  Place/size,/item and if any restrictions, it's on there too.

She asked and I answered every single store, item price to match, sizes involved and any restrictions on such items.

The CSM, herself, found absolutely NOTHING wrong with any one single item I had.

As I finished up I thanked the asst. mgr that assisted us, and the employees for helping
too.  I left there being very nice and very professional.

Once again, I would like to make sure it is understood that this is a really super thing that Wal-mart provides for us to be able to do.  I, in NO way want to make this challenging to cashiers, or other employees of the store. 

I DO NOT want to push the rules.  I am a good game player.  I want to play fair, treat fair, but I EXPECT - NOTHING less than that from the stores.  In ANY situation!

If I am ever in any doubt as to a rule on this situation or any other, I make a call to check on the rules.  If not sure or the person I speak with seems unsure, I will call back to make sure to speak to another person to see their viewpoint on it.  I have done this with MANY
situations.

If I ever feel, as like yesterday, I cannot maintain an absolutely professional attitude with
myself, I will retreat, regroup and go back.

But I too make DARN tootin' sure I am exactly in the right!!!! 

Remember, at all cost, in ANY situation in life, whether it be shopping, marriage, - Life
in general,  make darn sure you are in the absolutely with out a doubt right - then
go for it.  STAND YOUR GROUND. 
Even if it means retreat - regroup and go again.  LOL!
I think of all days for Haylee who is 8 yrs old and a darn good shopper already,
learned a very valuable lesson yesterday. 

** Play fair - know the rules of the game (whatever game it may be) and STAND your ground no matter what.  And expect NOTHING less from everyone else. 

You are NOT better than anyone - never let anyone EVER make you feel that way, but first of all KNOW the rules and stick to them!

P.S.  New sales come out Wednesday morning.  I WILL be at Walmart bright and early with an even more lengthy list of price matches (even for a very few cents which I usually don't match under a few pennies, I will now, and WILL not give in - when and if I know I am in the right. 

Now, all this being stated.  I DO NOT believe it is my right or anyone else's to go into any store demanding anything! 

I believe it is our right as customers to use the rules of the game as stated by such store whether it be corporate ran or franchise ran. 
Find out the rules - and stick to them - with a TOTAL PROFESSIONAL attitude!
Yes they are there to provide product/service for us.  Yes, customer is suppose to always be right, but we are dealing with someone not one iota better or worse than ourselves.
If the positions were reversed, keep in mind how you would want to be spoken to.

God bless and have a wonderful day and keep those price matchings and couponing's
fun and play the game fair!








Monday, April 6, 2015

Updated List of printable coupon sites

Wanted to post a new/updated pic of my fav sites I go to for printable coupons.

Always remember to print 2 times per coupon, in most cases.
Also, most coupons are good for 30 days from print date.
Zip codes are important also.  You can sometimes find better value and/or different coupons if you type in a large city such as in California/etc.

All coupons are possible to run out of prints across the net but sometimesrenew print availability by manufacturer.  So keep checking for fav's

Approximately midnight on the last day of each month, coupons are changedand new ones added.  

Thanks for all info's you can provide to more sites to print from also.