Loretta Goodridge, WI
Shopping Escape “Here’s a picture of my great shopping day. First of all, it started out by the fact that I got to go shopping ‘kid-free.’ Being a mom of five kids, ages ranging from one year to eight years, this is no small accomplishment as I usually have to just suddenly slip out the door once my husband is home and hope that no one notices I am out in the driveway starting up the van! “On this particular day, I had to do the weekly grocery shopping at Super Wal-Mart so that was my excuse to my husband. However, once my escape plan was in action (okay, safely driving down the street without any kids chasing me down), I decided to add an extra stop or two. The first stop was at an antique mall I had stopped in the previous week. They had this roll of Waverly toile that I had noticed, but didn’t snatch up immediately. Of course I had non-buyer’s remorse for leaving it there and decided to go back for it. Luckily it was still there, and I paid $20 for the entire roll. I will now be able to make curtains for our living room!! (We are the folks living in a ‘fish bowl’ so all the neighbors can see us….I guess I will have to hang up my crown and can no longer do the ‘beauty queen’ wave to passers by). This roll of fabric was my ‘splurge’ for me, and now on to my grocery shopping. “The Super Wal-Mart I go to is fairly new, and I haven’t gotten in the routine of turning at the right moment to get into their parking lot, so I turned one street too early. This led me to Hartig Drugstore which I never shop at. As I was getting ready to turn around in their parking lot, I noticed the marquee advertising Charmin 4 rolls for 99¢. I have some $1 coupons which I know other RCers have used on this size, so I decided to stop in. I picked up the four packs pictured here plus a roll of aluminum foil (for the overage, just in case). They had no problem taking off my coupons, so free toilet paper!!! “On to the next stop, which I decided would be Family Dollar before my true destination of Super Wal-Mart. I had gotten the Downy 16.9 oz. there before when we had the great $1 coupons so decided to stop in and see if they had more. Bingo, they did have some on an end cap! I had ten $1 coupons and one 50¢ coupon so I picked up eleven of those for 50¢. Their Easter candy was also marked down to 75% off, making the Peeps 3-tray packs 25¢ each. With my $1 off of 5 packs of Peeps coupon, I paid 25¢ for five packs. My kids and I have discovered S’mores made with Peeps rather than regular marshmallows are so much tastier, so I know these won’t last long. The cashier was so impressed with the Peeps coupon (never mind all the free Downy) that I gave her some of my extras. “Family Dollar also had the Softsoap hand soap refills with 33% extra for $2. My two $1 coupons brought those bottles down to $1 each. Done with Family Dollar, I figured I had better go and get some groceries now. At Super Wal-Mart the Suave hair styling gel was 96¢ each so free with the $1 coupons. I price matched the shampoo to bring it down to 88¢ and used three $1 coupons I had. The original price was 96¢ so they would have been free already, but I guess this just made me get more of an overage, even though that was not my intent. (I am just so used to trying to price match to get the biggest savings possible!) The Dove deodorants were 78¢ each so I used two of the $1.50 off two any size deodorants, paying 3¢ each, but having overage applied. The Softsoap hand soaps were clearanced to 50¢ each and I had 50¢ and 35¢ coupons there. “Also as I was walking around doing my shopping, one of the employees was unpacking boxes of lawn ornaments. I noticed the boxes and styrofoam, so I asked her if I could have these. (You can see one in the top left corner). She gave me a whole shopping cart full of these boxes which I will use for my eBay business. “My total for my health & beauty after coupons was 1¢ and I got all those free boxes which I really needed! Even the cashier was impressed if you can believe that! She kept saying, ‘I love it’ when she saw I only owed her a penny for this purchase. “So my moments spent ‘kid-free’ are not out sipping lattes with the girls, or getting pedicures, but getting free stuff and having fun doing it. If only I could get my escape plan down to a science I could do this more often!!!” Loretta Goodridge, Cuba City, WI