Double Coupons- It Pays to Ask

I am very tired and did not have a good day today, so I'm going to take a break from reviewing Dollar Tree products and tell you a story. A story that happened today. A story about doubling coupons. As I mentioned in the introduction I am trying to master the art of couponing (while also trying to figure out how to get rid of my dogs fleas [I've LITERALLY tried EVERYTHING, poor guy], pack for my move in a month, get ready to take a college class, figure out which medicine I'm on is making me dehydrated, find a job, and stay sane), which I have found is like bingo crossed with a hidden object game crossed with...well, it's a really complicated game. I clipped all the coupons I have, but they're not for anything I need. I scanned the ads, and I couldn't get anything for free. Most of my coupons didn't even apply to the sales

Couponing tip #1: Stores seem to have the same brands on sale at the same time. Everyone from Dollar General to CVS to Giant Eagle had Maxwell coffee, Gilette razors and Dove deodorant on sale, for example.

So I found a resource online (which is hard to trust because coupon policies differ from one store to the other) that said Meijer doubles coupons. Their website said they only double coupons during certain special times. I saw they had Bic products for .89-2.49. I had two coupons. I went thinking they probably wouldn't double. In fact, I was so sure I didn't buy all .89 products- I thought "I'll be practical and get the more expensive pencils for back to school." I don't even really think I needed them. My coupons were for $1 dollar off any Bic product so I bought two packs of pens, the pencils and a pencil refill pack. I took my coupons to the register and as I was checking out, I asked if that Meijer doubled coupons.

Couponing tip #2: Always ask if the store doubles coupons at the register. Read on.

The girl wasn't sure. Were the coupons supposed to be doubled? She didn't know. So much to my surprise, she doubles them! If I had went with my original plan to get the cheapest products, I could have walked out of there with .40 and given the two extra bags of pens to charity helping kids go back to school. But because I was "practical" and did not, I ended up spending $1.63. The moral of this story is:

Couponing tip #3: Always go with the cheapest option for the coupon you have if you think there is a chance of doubling. If you do not need all the cheap items, put a few expensive items in your cart along with them so if you change your mind later you can be smooth at the register.

So that was my first attempt at couponing. I got about seven dollars worth of school supplies for $1.63. At the end of the day, I succeeded, but I still wish I had that forty cents. Every cent counts! :)