This week we enjoyed some special time with one of our 4 nephews, Connor. He called on Sunday to see if he could stay the night and ended up staying until Thursday He’s a great kid, like all of our nieces and nephews, and we really had a nice time with him. Since we work from home, it’s pretty easy to get a grasp on how we live even as a guest in our house.
Connor is like the other kids, pretty excited to see our stockpile which includes a bunch of various fun bottled drinks like Fuze, PowerAid, etc (all free or near free with coupons) as well as loads of snacks and food. The couple of bowls of candy don’t hurt either! A few times during the week we had errands to run as well as make our weekly trip to Kroger. Connor had never been coupon shopping with us before, so we thought it was a great opportunity to show him just how much you can save by being thrifty and using coupons. Needless to say, he was pretty amazed as we shopped in Kroger and kept placing things in our cart that would be free or near free. Each time we showed him the coupons and explained how we were getting the great deals. We included him on the fun too, allowing him to pick the flavors and varieties of the items we were buying. After Kroger we took him to Meijers, Staples, Walgreens and Rite Aid. We even put him to work, checking out a couple times with coupons at Staples (to score more of the $1 sticky notes) and at Walgreens (he got a free toothbrush)! He loved it, and when we were able to score 2 free pairs of sunglasses at Rite Aid (see how you too can do this deal here) we told him he could have them both. You should have seen him trying on the different styles to find the perfect ones…..and then he wore them nearly all the time all week!
Fast forward a bit to Wednesday night when Jim had a class to attend in a neighboring town. Connor and I decided to go along for the ride and bum around the town for the few hours that Jim was in class. We hit Staples again (more sticky notes) and then had about an hour to kill. I asked him if he wanted to go to a park for a walk, or hit the thrift store. Immediately (and to my heart’s delight), he said he wanted to go to the thrift store. Come to find out afterwards, he did not know what a “thrift store” was. Anyway, we went in …and when we entered we noticed two signs near the door. The first one said everything with a blue tag was 50% off and the second sign said anything with a zipper was also 50% off.
I scoured the clothes and shoes while Connor hit the sporting goods. He returned with a like new golf bag, which was marked $4. I told him I’d pay for it and he offered to pay me back (I told you he was a great kid). He proudly took it up to the checkout and placed it on the counter, along with my fantastic Cole Haan leather sandals I found for $3.50 with a blue tag so they were just $1.75 (super score on these $75 retail shoes in like new condition). The woman rang up his bag at $4 and immediately Connor reminded her that it had a zipper and there was a 50% off sale going on for items with a zipper. She hesitated a bit and then told him she thought that was just for clothing. Connor, making me so proud, politely told her he wanted to check the sign so he walked back to the door to read it again. He came back and matter of factly reported that the sign did not say clothing only and that it listed other things like furniture and misc. He was kind and friendly but stood his ground. The wonderful cashier admitted that he must be right and proceeded to ring up his 50% discount. He was beaming with pride as he scored this thrifty deal, especially since he is taking part in a family golf tourenement this weekend! Perfect timing and a perfect lesson in being thrifty. I couldn’t have planned it any better if I tried. Connor not only discovered how fun and exciting using coupons is, but he realized that if you shop smartly you can save as well.
Here is Connor, with his new $2 golf bag:
Isn’t he the cutest? He is now totally excited about starting to use coupons with his Mom. He asked us all about where to print coupons and how to get coupons from the newspaper. He even scored the free offers from Ocean Spray and Herbal Essence through Facebook this week!
I love being an Auntie, and love spending time with all my nephews and nieces. I hope in some little way we made an impact on this fine young man; it’s my wish in life to make their lives the best they can be.
[…] Call ahead of time and ask the store if they have any sales running or sales coming up. Stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army will often run a special “color sale” during the week where one color of price tag is discounted. Our local stores usually offer a 50% discount on that color for the entire week. Some stores run once a month sales or once a week sales where they reduce the items even further. Today’s deal was achieved with the thrift store’s 5/$5 clothing sale. One store we know of ran a sale where anything with a zipper was 50% off. (That is how our nephew scored this awesome $2 golf bag). […]