05 May 2009

cinco de coupons

hope you had a happy cinco de mayo. i had a funny day. i spent 50% of my time clipping coupons, printing coupons, reading coupon blogs and running to three different stores to gather all the healthy and on sale goodies i could. including a boatload of strawberries for only 3.88 at fred meyer. i never go there. but i did. all in the name of strawberries. all in the name of my newly reformed clipping coupon self. i am such an amateur on clipping coupons and would readily sign up for a class on clipping coupons. can i double them? the experts say i should double up, even triple up, but the coupon says there should be no doubling. what then? and what about these experts who do two transactions so they can use more coupons? i feel like this coupon craze is for insiders only. but i felt determined, i had three paper clipped grocery lists. i paraded all over town to try to weasle my way into coupon camp. no, it really doesn't make sense to me either, but i wanted to give it a go.

so over the river and through the woods to fred meyer. i dreamt of how delicious those berries are. and for such a good price. oh lovely. got the berries, at their incredible price. it was practically thievery. i already felt like a whole new person. i couldn't wait to divvy my boatload of berries into baggies to freeze and make jam or dump into strawberry milkshakes. mmm.

later i bought the ice cream to go with my sweet strawberries at albertson's only because it was on sale. no, i didn't need it. no, it wasn't on my list. i really went there for the really amazing sale (with coupon) on cereal. i went in with cereal on my list and a handful of coupons. i came out with ice cream and a red box dvd. all the on sale cereal was gone. i felt defeated, i couldn't leave empty handed. so the cheap ice cream screamed my name. and i thought about the berries. and started dreaming of a milkshake. and heck it was cinco de mayo. oh, i bought light bulbs too.

so mainly my coupon clipping experiment was a bust. but at least, i thought to myself, i got the strawberries on sale. that was worth all the effort. i was still patting myself on the back for all that money i saved. i could eat those berries for the rest of my life.

two hours later i found myself at sam's club picking up my madly discounted photos. only to turn around and see the same boatload of berries selling for the same price as fred meyer. same boatload. same berries. same price. could it be? all that work clipping and printing and researching for this? forget it. lesson learned. uggh. clipping coupons basically added up to be a disaster. but at least i stayed under budget and had a fridge full of healthy ingredients.

that's right about when dan called me, all excited. he said, don't fix dinner. i have a cinco de mayo surprise. wahooo. so i said, okay. you don't have to tell me twice. he came home with an armload of taco bell goodness and glass bottled coke he picked up special at the Mexican mart down the street. coke from glass bottles does taste better i might add. he said, i decided we should celebrate. it was totally cute of him. we threw down the picnic blanket for a mini mexican fiesta.

happy cinco de milkshake.

11 comments:

jo said...

i got really gung-ho about the coupon-clipping thing a while ago, and after a while i felt really discouraged like you did today. there is just so much information out there, it's hard to get it all in!
my advice is: if it's something you really want to do, stick with it and it'll get easier. but don't stress about it! if i'm getting stressed about the coupons and saving a few cents here or there i just say, hey, i'd rather pay a few more bucks and maintain my sanity!
anyway, that was my unasked for two cents! and i think it's cute that your husband brought home food for you to celebrate cinco de mayo.
when my husband called me from work today, i would only speak spanish to him. my kids thought it was hilarious. my spanish is very limited.

Lindsey said...

Hey Marta! I am new to coupon clipping too, but I have some AWESOME sites that are making it WAY easier on me. FOR SURE. I just did a post on it today, so, you can check it out. Look at my previous posts on coupon-ing too, (there are only a few) because it is easy to learn, and VERY ADDICTING! There are wayyyyyyy too many sites out there that make it SUPER EASY with no thought involved.

Janssen said...

How sweet! Definitely a successful holiday.

The Girl in the Yellow Shoes said...

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Sounds delightful (except for the clipping coupons part. I'm no good at that!)

beck said...

i love strawberries too! and just bought a bunch! i am not trying to toot my own horn here but i just posted about a great strawberry freezing trick. you may already know it, but thought i would share. :)
http://beckyglauser.blogspot.com/2009/05/strawberries-freezing-trick.html

love your blog, by the way :)

Dansie Family said...

grocery smarts and the likes are out of control down here. i do it every once in a while, when i can get to the store without the kiddos. and every time i do, i run into a dozen other ladies running after the same groceries with the same printouts in hand. it is kind of funny. i know the folks at albertsons hate us. i am sad i missed a good cereal sale, though. that is when i like to do it the most because we go through a box of cereal a day at our house. i stock up on at least 40 boxes when there is one of those sales.

KJ said...

coupon clipping totally intimidates me. I should try harder? And where, pray tell, is the Mexican market? Such places sometimes sell the most lovely paper garlands...I've been thinking of them for baby's room. And yeah, until the berries show up at the farmers market, it's best to get them at Sams (or costco if you are up for the 45 mintues drive!

Katie said...

I like the idea of cupons...but the practice is too hard.


My man made us a cinco feast as well!

Anonymous said...

oooh..coke from a bottle does taste better!

also...if it's from Mexico, coke there uses real sugar (instead of high fructose corn syrup) so it tastes better - I think. My grocery store has it in the "hispanic" foods section..on the bottom shelf. one liter bottles of coke with sugar. yumm. I keep repating it because it's so good. a special treat I have sometimes.

summer said...

i can't get over this spontaneous celebration! dan is sure sweet. i would be absolutely euphoric if somebody handed me a sackful of taco bell. there's only taco johns around these parts. i do miss those 89 cent soft shells.

ps. this kind of "what happened to me today" post is so much fun to read! thanks for sharing your lesson learned. now i know better too.

kati said...

loved this post, it gave me a laugh. i feel the same way about it all as you :)

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