...and we're back!

Today, I got this bottle of shower sprayer for $0.47. Had I not messed up, I would've only paid $0.17!

Edit: Because of popular demand (you're welcome, Laurin!), here's more info on how I "messed up." Here was the basic deal:

-Kroger had this bottle of cleaner on sale for $7.99 (regularly $8.99)

-I had a coupon for $5 off in my coupon organizer, making it $2.99

-Supposedly when you buy this particular bottle of cleaner at Kroger, a catalina prints for $3 off your next purchase at Kroger, essentially making it free except for $0.17 in tax. (I read about this deal here - Southern Savers is a coupon website I have in my Google Reader along with MSM)

-Yes, you do pay $3.17 OOP (out of pocket -- did you know the coupon world has its own language?!), but you just got three free dollars to use at Kroger. I used to have a problem with this idea -- people saying items were free when you actually do have to spend money up front, but when you're getting that money back -- and you will shop at that store anyway in the future -- let's just say I get it now. Here's an interesting article on spending money in the short term to save money in the long term if you're interested. I don't agree with everything he says, but he has a good premise.

-I messed up because I paid more sales tax than I needed to. I wasn't sure if the catalina would print (I didn't know that the deal was going on in my area), so I didn't want to waste my $5-off coupon if I wasn't essentially going to get the item for free. Namely, I didn't want to pay $2.99 for it, even though I guess that isn't that bad of a price - if I wasn't going to get a $3 catalina, I didn't want it. So I didn't want to waste my coupon (maybe I could've gotten it back by going through Customer Service - I don't know, but I didn't feel like dealing with it). So basically I bought the item at full price, the catalina did print, and then I took my coupon to Customer Service and got my $5 back. So I paid an extra $0.30 in tax on that $5 that I wouldn't have had I used the coupon in the first place. Make sense?

-Yeah, $0.30 isn't that much, but every little bit you save (or spend!) adds up; don't you agree?

I also achieved a small victory by finding out that the Walgreens manager who argued with me about my coupons was wrong (says her manager). Whee!

{Pathetic, I know, but I'm glad to know I do actually know & understand the policies. Plus, what can I say? I like being right!}