Couponing Trip FAIL! :(

Like I said in my "Welcome!" post, I typically don't do huge couponing trips. One reason for this is the size of my family (2), another reason is because even my mini-trips can confuse me, as you will see here...


**Walgreens Trip 01/17/2012**

Here's how I planned it out...

Transaction #1: South Beach Diet Meal Bars (5 count) & ThermaCare Trial Size
--Current Sale Prices (01/15-01/21/2012)
--South Beach Bars: $5.99, earn $5.99 in Register Rewards (RR) = FREE!
--ThermaCare Trial Size (Neck, Wrist & Shoulder or Menstrual): $2.49, earn $2.49 RR = FREE!
----> Estimated Register Total (including tax): $9.18, $8.48 in earned RR

Transaction #2: 2 packs Schick Quattro for Women Disposable Razors (Sensitive Skin, 3 pk)
--Current Sale Price: $8.99, earn $3 in RR = $5.99 each (about $2 per razor; pretty decent I think)
--My coupons: 2 of $2/1 Schick Disposable Razors (excludes 2 pk)
----> Estimated Register Total (including tax): $15.14, $3 in earned RR

Transaction #3: Walgreen's Gummies, Extra Gum, Nabisco Crackers
*Side Note: I was specifically after gummies because I'm planning on making Drunk Gummies this weekend ;) All of the bagged store brand candy is on sale though**

--Current Sale Prices (01/15-01/21/2012)
--Walgreen's Candy (3-9.5 oz bag, any variety): $0.49 each with in-ad coupon, limit 3 per coupon
--Extra Gum (15 stick packs): 2/$1 with in-ad coupon, limit 6 per coupon
--Nabisco Crackers (6-16 oz. boxes): 2/$4 with in-store coupon ($2.99 each), no limits

--My Coupons:
1 Walgreen's Candy in-ad, 1 Extra Gum in-ad, 1 Nabisco $3/3
 ---->Estimated Register Total (3 bags of candy, 6 packs of gum, 6 crackers): $14.59
----> Out of pocket: $14.59 - $14.48RR = $0.11

Sounds REALLY amazing, right?
I thought so!!!




Alas, here's how it went down, in reality...

(Insert a mommy who got maybe 2 hours of sleep the previous night and had to be at work at 8:30 a.m. Also, I took my son with me on this trip, which I rarely ever do when I go on my couponing trips...even when he's being the best kid ever, he's distracting to me at the store.)

So, I grabbed all of my items off the shelf and just threw them in the cart, no order. This is very much unlike me; I usually try to put them together in terms of transaction order. It just helps to combat the scatter-brainedness.

I got to the check-out, and totally went blank on which items belonged to which transaction. This was especially awesome, considering that I was reading off my list that was written the previous night, in my non-sleep mode. I'll spare you the long and painful story, but just know that it resulted in a lot of voided transactions, a lot more out of pocket than I had expected, embarrassment because I was totally looking like a J.A., and no crackers. Guess what the first thing my son asked for when we got home...



At any rate, this is what I ended up with (plus 6 packs of Extra gum that apparently missed their photo shoot) for $18.18 out of pocket, plus I used $6 in Register Rewards earned from the razor purchases. On the upside, I do still have my $2.49 RR :)
I'm still sad that I didn't get my South Beach Diet bars or the crackers, but I know the first place I'm going when the roads out here clear up!

Questions and comments welcome :)