Monday, May 9, 2011

A tale of two coupons...

Well, more accurately, two types of coupons, but I thought that way the title sounded better....

First, there is the tale of the cheese. Readers may remember that I have had sticker shock about buying cheese for a while now anyway, but I had found a grocery store that put out coupons for cheese in the Sunday paper every couple of weeks that I was pretty happy with: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, 2/$7.00, limit 2. I would go and take advantage of this deal when it came up, and it seemed to be pretty consistent.

Then, not too long ago, there weren't any coupons for what seemed like quite awhile. I would look for the cheese coupon, but alas and alack, it didn't seem to appear. Then one day it was back, but it was different: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, 2/$7.00, limit one. Ok. Sad, but similar.

Fast forward to yesterday: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, $3.99, limit one. $.49 increase per package, and you can only get one, now. The prices are going up everywhere, and while cheese may not be on everyone's list, I hope that everyone is getting some food into storage while the prices are even as low as they are now (read: not very low, and rising....)

Ah, and then there is the other type of coupon alluded to in the title: the Walgreens coupon. I must admit to a certain type of glee when I would peruse the Walgreens ad on Sundays, and they would have a particularly good deal, limit (insert number here), followed by the words, except in ID or NM. (Idaho or New Mexico) Imagine how I felt yesterday when (yes, it started yesterday, because I still have last week's ad to rub it in...) I saw this change: great deal, (insert number here), followed by the words, except in NM. Yes, the days of gleefully going through their coupons and thinking I can get more than the stated limit if I so desire are gone, gone, gone. And that is sad to me...and perhaps a little irritating, as I don't know why it changed....

Well, before I get any negative comments (please be kind), I realize that it doesn't seem fair that Idaho got the exemption in the first place, but here's how I look at it--take advantage of the great deals you can find, whatever they are. As I read other blogs, I hear about stores that we don't have in our area where they are doing a promotion that I would love to be able to take advantage of, or prices that are much better than what I can find around here. Every place has its advantages--here, in an emergency in the dead of winter we wouldn't have to worry about power outage of the freezer because we could put things in a cooler in the garage, but say, down in Florida, I would think that they could use more firewood as a cooking fuel rather than to survive below zero temperatures, for example--so it's different everywhere. One of the things that isn't different is that everyone's gotta eat...

Yeah, sad for me, but also another indicator that prices are going up, coupon or no coupon....

6 comments:

pelenaka said...

Agree, score the deal while there's a deal to be had.
For me it's been easier to just do bulk buys rather than work a deal with coupons.

Marie said...

Pelenaka--I am actually not that good with coupons, though when I hear examples of those that are, and save tons of money, I wish I were. :) I do look for coupons for things that I would buy anyway, but there usually isn't much in the coupon section for stuff I want to buy, coupon or no... Thanks as always for your comment!

HermitJim said...

I get lucky with coupons once in a while. Since I've become familiar with using coupons, I have saved quite a bit!

Guess that I should have been more attentive all this time!

Marie said...

HermitJim--I actually need to get more attentive, since my coupon use is sparse, and there are some good deals to be had if I pay more attention... Thanks so much for your comment!

Practical Parsimony said...

Do you know exactly why the coupons are not valid in ID and NM?

Marie said...

Practical Parsimony--The coupons are valid in ID and NM, it's just that there used to be no limit on how many of the couponed product you could buy for the coupon price in ID or NM, and now only NM doesn't have the limit. I have no idea why they chose those two states (and now the one state) to not have limits, but it was nice while it lasted to get more packages of seeds for example, while there was no limit in Idaho...thanks for your comment!