Check - Fear - Ask

I wanted to discuss a couple of topics today. First being ALWAYS review your receipts when you get back to your car or back home if you don't have the time in the car. I have two wonderful examples that happened to me in the past 18 hrs. Last night I went to CVS and I got a couple of their deals, one was a Bayer A1C meter for my husband, I was to receive $15 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB). When I got into the car, I looked over my receipt to be sure that all the sales were as they said in the ad, and that all my coupons were used and taken off the receipt, and finally to be sure I received the ECBs I was entitled to. Well, everything looked good until I came to the ECBs for the Bayer product. Instead of $15, it only printed as $5. Prior to getting into this whole couponing and savings lifestyle I would have never gone back, I think there is a stigma attached to being the fussy one, and so we all worry about being "that person". Well, I am happy to say I am "that person" now. I went back into the store, took a copy of the current ad & my receipt, she reviewed everything and manually printed out the extra $10 ECB.

Then this morning I went for my Monday morning errand/deal run. I went to Walgreens (where you can get have FREE Soft Scrub ), plus they had Soft Scrub's new product, Soft Scrub Total (which I really like) as a BOGO, and when I saw that I ran back to the car and grabbed a couple coupons I had, in the end I paid $1/ea for the Soft Scrub Total (I bought two). Then I stopped back at CVS where I saved $29 and only spent just under $4 for some items I didn't get the night before. Then I ran to Winn Dixie for a couple of items. Then I stopped at Publix. Where they are having FABULOUS deals on dog treats and food right now.

When I checked out at Publix and the lady total me my Out Of Pocket (OOP) I kinda thought it was a bit higher than I expected, but I paid, and went to the car. I pulled out my receipt & calculator, tallied it all up, and realized that the treats I bought (I bought 4 of them) they rang up as $4.99/bag, instead of the sale price of $3.50/bag. Publix's policy is that if the items don't ring up correctly they will give you one of those items for free. I overcame my fear, went back, showed them my receipt and the ad. And I was given $10.08 back. I actually ended up making money on this trip to Publix, I made just over $7. Yeah I was pretty happy about that.

So, the moral to these two stories is that you need to be sure to CHECK all your receipts and check for any errors. If there are errors, ASK, don't worry or FEAR that you'll be "that person", because it's alright. If I hadn't gone back I would have lost $20! That's a big deal.