Fun day at Target!

I had a pretty good haul at Target today. I would have done better, but neither the cashier nor her manager would allow me to use some of the $1.00 coupons I had for $.99 trial sized items. The coupons did not say "excludes trial size" so they should have taken them but the manager said that I couldn't because I was going to be getting them from free - DUH!

She said that the only way you could get something for free using a coupon, was if the coupon said "free" on it. I tried explaining to her that they get reimbursed from the manufacturer for the coupon so it shouldn't matter what product I was getting as long that there weren't any exclusions on the coupon. She wouldn't budge. What was worse, another manager got there before her and started telling the cashier to adjust the coupon to the value of the product, but the other one told her that wasn't the store's policy.

Needless to say, I e-mailed Target to get clarification on their policy so I can have it in my hand the next time I go there (which will be soon, so I can get my other "free" stuff).

Anyway, here's my haul...

The total before I returned the items they wouldn't let me use coupons for was $33.xx. My total after crediting back the 4 $.99 items and all my coupons (I didn't buy anything a I didn't have a coupon for) was $4.52 including tax. My goal was to stay under $5.00 and I did it!

I have to give credit to Money Saving Mom for her post on this week's deals (you can see her post here) in helping me.

Here's the breakdown of what I got:

Carnation Instant Breakfast - $3.94 x 4 - $14 = $1.76

Sunsilk - $2.99 - $2 = $.99

Kotex - $.99 - $1.50 = $.48

Johnson's Buddies - $.99 x 6 - $6 = -.06

Clean and Clear - $.99 - $1 = -.01

It helps to do your homework before going to the store AND having your coupons with you at the store because you never know what deals you're going to find.