It was early in the morning and the three boys were in school, so I decided to pop Lauren Elizabeth in the car and go. Not because of the coupon thing, but because in this house, we run out of food faster than you could shake a stick at.
As I pushed our three year old in the grocery cart trying to decide what to make for dinner, I noticed that almost every other woman at this time of day - had some sort of binder with tons of pockets in it. They would pull a stack of coupons out of the slots, shuffle through them, then reach for an item on the self. (I wish I had time to do that) I thought to myself.
Heading to the front of the store, the pharmacy area was my last stop to get a bottle of children's vitamins. Standing with my hands on my hips, I looked at Lauren Elizabeth and said, "Can you believe how expensive these vitamins are?" Without realizing it, a Mom with a baby and a toddler in her cart was standing behind me. She leaned forward and said, "I have a coupon for this brand right here if you want it. I don't buy this kind." She reached into her perfectly kept Trapper Keeper looking binder and handed me a tiny coupon that said it was worth one dollar.
I thanked her and was tremendously grateful. She smiled and said, "No biggy. I'm glad you can use it." I could tell that she had to keep herself from giving me a lecture on how much money I could be saving each year by couponing...but alas...she didn't. She didn't need to. She went to check out and I ended up being a little behind her...unaware of the lesson I was about to learn.
When it came to be my turn, I lost track of the *beeps* as the person scanned my items. "That'll be 198 dollars and 25 cents Ma'am." She said as I opened my pocket book. "Oh! I have a coupon...here!" I handed it to her for one last -beep-. "Okay...196.25." I stood for a second wondering how a one dollar coupon took two dollars off and she explained that they doubled during their promo. Shocked, I asked what the most money she ever saw anyone save was - and she said, "Well I don't know about the MOST, but right before you came through, a lady took 116 dollars off her bill."
Nicely done lady with the extra vitamin coupon...nicely done. As I said before...I have seen the light. How did I never do this before?!