Triples...

Harris Teeter is currently doing its triple coupons promotion, so I've been a couple of times to try to get some good deals. Unfortunately most of my coupons expired at the end of December, so I had almost no good coupons. I did pretty well, considering. Spent about $12 for more than $40 worth of stuff. I got a lot of stuff for me and Boyfriend to cook, including a Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit (two pack), some instant mashed potatoes, Pasta Roni, Au Gratin potatoes, and garlic bread. I also decided to try some hot sauce that I was able to get free. I bought a pound of lean ground beef so that we can make some Hamburger Helper that's been sitting in his pantry for a while-- I didn't have a coupon for that so it skews my savings a little bit (it was on sale though). I also got lunch food for six days (two cans of soup and a four-pack of Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles), and bought toothpaste and three boxes of tissues. And I bought some pre-cooked rice bowls that looked interesting.

When I checked out, the cashier scanned one of my coupons (an instant coupon on the Hamburger Helper) before she scanned my VIC card. At the end of the transaction I asked if that coupon had tripled and she told me that it hadn't because it wasn't supposed to. I asked politely if she was sure, and she said that because it was on the box it wouldn't triple. I knew full well that this was a lie, so I asked her politely if she would check with the manager. She got so angry at me it was funny. In the end she did get the manager and she did correct the transaction (saved me another $1.10). You have to have a VIC card to get triple coupons, and since she hadn't scanned my card when she scanned the coupon, it hadn't rung up correctly. You have to watch people sometimes!

It was a pretty decent haul, but I could have done better with a better selection of coupons. We haven't gotten new coupons in weeks, so it's hard to work with nothing. I'm afraid that Lowe's Foods will run its triples promotion next week, especially since I just used up the few good coupons I had. Oh well. I guess that's life. At least I'll get new coupons this Sunday, and I've jumped on the Internet coupon bandwagon. Still, it's hard to be excited about my coupons when the deals just aren't there. And grocery prices are skyrocketing! I can't imagine how people who don't use coupons afford to eat.