Coupons and Deals

Before the economic downturn, I did not pay much attention to coupons. I did notice sales but now I'm like a hawk about both forms of money saving possibilities. On mother's day I went shopping (alone while Bill watched the kids, thank you sweet hubby). I found some items in Coldwater Creek that I really liked. I bought them at full price. Every second after that I regretted that decision. Fast forward to a few days ago, I received an email stating that beginning May 28th (running for 10 days) everything would be 50% off. I was so disgruntled, just my luck. So I begin thinking, should I return them and hope I can find my sizes again and buy it at the new "awesome" price. I decided that was too risky, instead I would just call the store and present my problem. They said just bring in your items and receipt and we will give you the sale price. WOW! How Nice! I got all my items together got to the counter and realized I forgot my receipt. No problem, they looked it up on the computer and I was credited $89. Oh Happy Day! I found two more shirts I liked, purchased those at 50% off and I had a $10 off coupon. Then I found a 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon that expired that very day, so we decided to go use that. It saved me a little over $5. I shop at Kohl's a lot and there always seems to be a coupon from them and now I make sure I use them. A good lesson for me to learn, hang on to those coupons and pay attention to sales more carefully.