"5 For $5@5" and More Couponing

You can clearly see the "5 For $5@5" words on the receipt.
Too bad that isn't really what they mean!

I am a huge fan of Sonic---usually. I love the fact that they have Happy Hour when you can get 1/2 price drinks! My favorite is the Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper!!! I love the $1.00 menu where you can get a Jr. Burger (that is fully loaded) for just $1.00 ($1.19 in some places, but still!). Jacob loves the breakfast burrito on the $1.00 menu and everyone loves getting a $1.00 slush.  On Tuesday nights, they advertise "5 for $5@5".  That means (to me, and apparently ONLY me) that you get 5 burgers for $5 @ 5 (and after 5 too).  Since I believed this to be true, we recently went to Sonic on a Tuesday night after baseball to pick up some burgers.  I was only planning to order burgers because we prefer to take the burgers home and get our drinks there thus spending less money on dinner.  So, Ben ordered 5 burgers.  The total came to $6.44.  Ben swiped our bank card without thinking twice and then I asked, "What was the total?"  

The typical response, "I don't know, 6 something." 

 I asked him, "Doesn't that seem like a lot of tax for $5.00?" 

 After he thought about it he said, "Yeah, I guess.  Do you want me to ask when they bring our food out?"  "YES! I do!" I responded.  So, when our carhop brought out our burgers we questioned her about the total. She seemed confused so I simply asked, "Don't you advertise '5 for $5@5'?" 

 "Yes," she replied.

 I said, "Well, then why does my receipt say that the total for 5 burgers is $5.95 [+tax]?"  

"Hmm.....I never noticed that. I don't really know. Want me to ask my manager?" At this point I am thinking, "Seriously, no one has ever noticed this?"

 "Yes, I do," I told her. 

 So, the manager came out and I asked her the same question, "If you advertise 5 for $5@5, then why does my total for 5 burgers come up to be $5.95?"

"Well," she said, "we do advertise 5 for $5@5, but it isn't REALLY 5 burgers for $5.  They are really 1/2 price burgers. We just didn't think that 5 for $5.95 sounded catchy so we call it 5 for $5." 

"Wow! Don't you think that is pretty misleading?" I asked.  (And really how difficult would it be to just say "1/2 price burgers after 5?"  Not difficult, and also not misleading!!!)

 "Yeah, I guess it is," she nonchalantly said, "but that is how it is."

I was NOT a fan of Sonic on that particular Tuesday evening!

SOOOO, don't go to Sonic on Tuesday after 5 expecting to get 5 burgers for $5!

On another note, I recently went to CVS because they have Oak Farms milk on sale for $3.19/gallon and you get $1.00 in RR when you purchase one, so it is like getting the milk for $2.19/gallon which is a really good price around here right now.  There were some other things I wanted as well, so I did my shopping. Herbal Essences products were on sale 2/$5.97 with $2.00 in RR and I had a $.050 coupon, so I got a shampoo and conditioner. They also had a deal where if you spent $15.00 on Nivea products you would get $5.00 in RR. The cream I have been wanting for a while was $15.99 and I had a $3.00 off coupon, plus I got $5.00 in RR. So, the total for my first bill was $19.98 and I got $7.00 in RR. I then went and got my 2 gallons of milk. The total came to $6.48, so I just used my $5.00 RR and paid $1.48 for the milk. I still got $2 more in RR for getting the milk, so when I left I still had $4.00 in RR!   All in all I think it was pretty good! The only bad thing is I tried to use my $0.50 off coupon for Oak Farms milk, but the cashier wouldn't even scan it! She said it was in the manufacturer's limitations that it couldn't be used on milk that was on sale. I am not sure where these limitations are found because they are NOT on the coupon itself.  Anyway, since she wouldn't even TRY to scan it I still have 2 $0.50 coupons for milk that are good until December. I am excited about learning to coupon and I hope to get really good at it!!

Couponing!

$82.55 worth of merchandise for only $29.91!!

I am one of those people who has only ever used a coupon to get $1.50 off a package of diapers or $0.50 off of baby wipes. I have never been to the store in order to actually SAVE money on my grocery or shopping bill. I don't know why.....I have just never been interested in coupons. Mostly, I never really understood how much they can help you or how to use them properly. I have heard so many people say throughout my life that it isn't a good deal if   you weren't going to buy it in the first place, and while I still agree with this (on say cat food--I don't even own a cat--or Prilosec--never used it and don't plan to start!), I have found that even if I wasn't going to buy toothpaste TODAY, I would still need to buy it SOME DAY, so why not get it while it's on sale and I have a coupon for it?  Now that I have been faced with starving or applying for food stamps (ok, I wouldn't starve, but I can barely afford groceries AND gas these days!) I thought I would give couponing a try! I should be a couponer by nature simply because my Maw-Maw (my mom's mom) was an extreme couponer before extreme couponing was popular!  I can remember sitting on the floor of her house cutting coupons and organizing them for her. I remember her going to the store with her coupon organizer full and only buying things she had coupons for. I think in a way this is what turned me off to it. As I grew older I just felt like there was too much to do and not enough return.  Well, last night was my 1st "couponing" trip to the store and I really enjoyed it!!  After doing some research from The Krazy Coupon Lady, clipping coupons from my in-law's newspaper inserts, and buying a coupon organizer I felt like I was ready for the challenge! My trip was to Walgreens which is not a store I would normally shop in in the first place, so that was also new to me. I went up and down the aisles checking to see what was on sale and what I had a coupon for....yes I know it would have been better for me to do this step at home, but like I said it was my 1st time!!  I did 2 separate transactions (this was something I read about) so I could get my register rewards on the first transaction and then use them on my 2nd transaction! That was a really neat thing!  

This was my favorite buy of my trip!

Here's what I did......the Gillette Fusion Power Razor (normally $12.99) was on sale for $9.89. I had a $4.00 off coupon--bringing the total down to $5.89 (plus tax), and I received $5.00 in RR for the purchase!  So, it was like getting the razor (a $12.99 value) for $0.89!!!  WOO--HOO! Even if that's all I did I would be super excited!!  I then turned around and gave her the rest of my items--all but one was on sale, and I had a coupon for most everything else!!--and did my 2nd transaction using the $5.00 in RR at the end with all of my coupons. The only items I did not have coupons for were the Revlon make-up products, but they were on clearance for $3.59 and $2.79 each (regularly $10.99 each), so I felt like that was a good deal. Also, when I got the concealer I made sure to pick up one that had a BONUS lip gloss attached, so that made the deal even sweeter!  One of the great things is that it is all stuff we already use anyway. Ben and I use the Crest toothpaste, the kids use Colgate, Annalisa uses Pantene shampoo and conditioner, and Ben was very excited the Old Spice body wash was on sale (and I had a coupon) because that is what he uses! All in all I got $82.55 worth of merchandise for $29.91!! That is an over 50% savings which makes it worth it to me!!! I also got to walk away for 3 $1.00 coupons to add to other coupons on my next visit....so I walked away with $3.00 in savings to use later!  I am so excited about my trip and the money I saved! I will be doing this again, hopefully with groceries next time!