Dawn Doll
My good deals began last summer when I found a post on Chit Chat good for teachers. We homeschool our 4 children, so I thought Id see if I qualify as a teacher in the eyes of the company. Colgate was giving out class-sized boxes of activities to help kindergarten children learn to brush properly and to encourage them to brush often. I forgot about the promotion until one day this January the UPS truck showed up with a box of educational supplies about good hygiene and samples and COUPONS! I suppose the Colgate company had only one size box of supplies to send out to schools, so there was enough for 30 kids in the box. Each kit for a student included a game, a progress chart, a small booklet, a sample sized childs toothpaste, a $1.00 OFF coupon for Kids Colgate and a $1.00 OFF coupon for adult Colgate Total. Needless to say, I began immediately looking for sales on Colgate. Finally, my chance came! Shopko was having a sale on Colgate Total 4 for $5.00 ($1.25 per tube). I was very excited and counted how many coupons I had. We were headed to town for a major shopping trip at WalMart because we had received a WalMart shopping card as a gift. I took the Shopko ad along and asked if they would match the price and they said no problem. I took 20 coupons along. After checking expiration dates on the toothpaste (February and March 2007) I decided I should have brought more coupons! But, I took the 20 tubes of toothpaste and we finished our shopping. When we got to the checkout I was a little nervous, but I explained the situation to the cashier and she again said no problem. She was very nice about the whole thing, having to ring each tube of toothpaste and adjust each price individually. I think she was as happy as I was to be getting full-sized toothpaste for $0.25 each! This may not seem like a great deal to everyone, but double and triple coupons and deals like this are hard to come by in my area, so I was thrilled. I was even happier when I saw the final bill for kids shoes, window blinds, cleaning supplies, all the toothpaste and a few odds and ends: $80.00 after coupons. That means I still have $20 on my WalMart card and I saved over $40 in coupons that day at WalMart. I am still waiting for Kids Colgate to go on sale for around a dollar!
The same day, we stopped at the mall and had to walk through Staples to get to a store where we wanted to exchange our cordless phone that wasnt working right. My husband cringes whenever I have to walk into that store because he knows I love to look at their school and office supplies. I found the Digital Gift Guide and $5.00 OFF any Staples photo paper that was posted earlier that month and decided to check out their supply of photo paper. The store was out of the 8 ½ x 11 paper for $3.94, but had 4x6 inch photo paper for the same price. So I thought we could give it a try. We had our kids along, so I tore out 3 coupons and proceeded to the register with kids in tow. The cashier had to call the manager because the register said we had not me our minimum $5.00 purchase. Off we went to find something for $1.06. Finally we settled on TravelPaks of Antibacterial Wet Wipes for $1.45. These always come in handy in the van, especially after visits to the doctors office or after a quick snack in the van for my 2 year old! So, although I wished we could have gotten more, we settled for 3 boxes of 50 - 4x6 inch photo paper and 3 Travel Packs or Wet Wipes for $1.95! If the kids hadnt been so tired of shopping, I might have suggested we do the deal a few more times. But, it was time to move on.
When we got home from our shopping excursion, my older kids went out to play, but my 2 year old decided to help put away all our good deals. She actually does very well, and loves to put all the yogurt in the refrigerator, but she was putting everything away so fast, all I could get a picture of was her and the toothpaste. She is also holding her scissors and my coupons. When I sit down to cut coupons, she has to help so I thought it only fitting for her to be getting ready to help me some more, posing for this picture. She is a big helper!
