the coupon and the excuse

I've been having a series of really late nights again and haven't been getting enough sleep. Granted, it's the holidays and I really want to spend as much time with the family as I can, especially since my daughter is home from college. It's a great excuse for a lot of things, I've found. Why are we eating out? My daughter is home from college. Why are we eating out again? My daughter is home from college. Why are you returning this sweater? My daughter is home from college. Oh wait... actually... that was the reason I told the associate at Target. But there's more to it, of course. The explanation is that I had ordered several sizes of a particular sweater. The shipment arrived, my daughter and I picked out our sizes and I thought to save one for the student. But when I asked her, she said, "I don't know how much I'd wear it." This gave me pause, of course. I didn't want to be forcing clothes on her and ultimately, I don't want to waste money. I ran it by my husband and he said to just return it. So I did.

A few days later, the student arrives home. I show her the sweater which her sister decided to keep and as they are similar in size, I asked if she wanted to try it on. So she did, and proving my point that a lovely cotton sweater that does not feel itchy at all is a worthwhile investment in the winter, she said that she actually liked it but wanted a slimmer fit. <sigh> I should have kept the small. My younger daughter liked the looser fit of the medium. So I sought to reorder the small and discovered that it was now on sale so I reordered all of them. In the end, I did save some money on the ones I originally kept but I also spent more money because then I kept a third one. But hey, as long as everyone is happy and warm, I'll take it.

The sales and the coupons are out in full force because Christmas is just around the corner. We're all a sucker for a deal but this is tricky business for sure. Merchants will want to make money so think of the coupon as just the thing they use to lure you in. Honestly, if the $5 off select Owala water bottles coupon didn't show up in my Target app, I don't think I would be looking at Owala water bottles at all. I told the student that it was time to retire the beat up ThermoFlask she brought home and I handed her my phone to go look at the Owalas. She said that she sees a lot of people with them at school, which I recall was what she once said of the ThermoFlask that I'm telling her to get rid of. She picked a couple to choose between and we discovered that another coupon could be applied to them but the app would only let you use one coupon on each item. The question is, I told her, will they allow you to use any one coupon on multiple items? So began the test. Add this bottle, remove this coupon, add that bottle, add that coupon. Check the total. Check what coupon was applied. Bingo! So the $5 off Owala coupon was just bait. It got us to look at the water bottles. But I now know that the cheapest bottle it will apply that coupon to is $34.99 and if I remove the Owala coupon and use the other coupon, which is for 20% off of select sporting items (go figure), I could actually save $7 on the Owala water bottle. And I could buy 4 bottles and get 20% off of all of them if I wanted to, making the $5 Owala coupon just as bad as the $20 off $100 coupon from Ulta that I was talking about the other day. I mean seriously, why? Well, ok, it made me look at the Owalas and we actually did buy one. Who knows, we may even buy another one tomorrow. 

I am hoping to swing by the outlets tomorrow since I heard that it will be a little warmer. We're in a deep freeze here right now. Walking outside? Only if you can handle this.

Playlist Recommendation: When I Look To The Sky, Train