What sort of Mistakes have you made since couponing?

[nena21]

my biggest mistake (not much now since Ive learn a little bit) was overtrading. By the end of the week, I would have 55 of a coupon that I only really needed maybe 15! (and with that spending like crazy the stamps)

and the second one and one Im working on, is holding on my spending. I gotta understand that if its .25 (even if it was really $5) it will add up if I buy 50 of them, since we have a budget a month, lately Ive been going over by $25-$50 on it. Take it I get a bunch of stuff but them Im giving to my mom, and my MIL and the neighbor ... and well ... lets say I have to learn.

[thickbluebug]

I have made all the mistakes you guys have mentioned, like not sticking to my budget for stockpiles and getting too crazy over all the meat rebates.
Today at wag I didn't pay attention during check out and the cashier did not ring up my $6 rr for the 2nd order, or the boost coupons on 2 other orders.
Oh well now I can go back and get more boost, get the free rimmel, and an innovations water bottle cooler for a rebate. I guess it all works out.

[tupoi]

I have lost my entire coupon booklet (now I have a HUGE one, I can't lose) and I just lost my little pencil case with my ECB's in it. *sigh*

[pennywatcher]

One mistake I made at first was using my free coupons willy-nilly as soon as I got them. Now I realize if I save them, a deal might come around where the free item can a) increase my order total so I can use a $X off $Y coupon, b) count as one item in a buy X, get $Y offer (at the register or in rebate form), c) count as $X in a buy $Z, get $Y offer (at the register or in rebate form), d) earn me a second free item if the store is having a B1G1 sale, or e) give me a no-cost way of getting CVS to print my new CRTs.

One mistake I didn't make was trying to work/learn all the stores at once from the start. I started with one drug store and one grocery store and later added in more stores once I'd figured out most of the ins and outs. I stayed away from CVS until I had a good handle on several other stores since CVS is, IMHO, a bit more complicated.

When I first found HCW, I wanted to go right out Sunday/Monday and get the deals. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call that a mistake. The advantage is that the stores are more likely to have the stock. I found, however, that it was better for me to wait until later in the week as people posted about surprise finds or glitches in the system. Waiting resulted in fewer trips for the week.

[Samantha86]

I have forgotten to hand the cashier my coupons a few times. Also, I've let a few good ones expire because I tend to forget what the date is.

[stevieswife]

Me too ..with so many coupons it is hard to keep up with the expiration dates on them all..

[Jusk]

My biggest mistake has been not staying consistent with couponing. As life gets crazy....I decide that I don't have time to read the boards, clip the coupons, watch the sales....I just run to the store willy nilly buying things we need that day....paying full price....no coupons............yikes then I snap back into reality and start to stockpile again. I have to drive across town to buy an out of town newspaper to get good coupons because the local paper puts out the icky edition. So I have to pay full price for each copy of the paper that I buy. Sometimes I don't make it to the newsstand before they run out.....then I am out of luck!!! I am finding that couponing is now becoming more necessary and not just a hobby. The best thing is how hanging out on these boards has affected my other shopping habits. I can't imagine paying retail full price for anything!!!!

[sheila]

The worst thing I did was two weeks ago whe I started doing this..CVS had a great deal on a razor $9.99 with $4.00 ECB at checkout, and I had a $4.00 coupon also. I do not read the add at the store, and I go get three of them, and then I am trying to figure out why I ony got the 1 $4.00 ECB at checkout (a friend told me later it was a limit of 1 on that deal). So I did ge 1 for $1.99 (really good IMHO), but I pd $5.99 for the others after my coupons. (I thought about taking them back, but had decided to teach myself a lesson about looking at ads, and I had planned to send these to friends of my DH who are stationed in Iraq, so I kept them.)
Sheila

[Jen31282]

I think my biggest mistakes have been:

1)Getting too much of a free item and letting it expire without realizing it and letting it go to waste. A big thing I have done this with is toothpaste. Toothpaste stays good so long I rarely to never took at the expiration dates on the boxes. I dunno, I just feel bad letting things go to waste.


2) Not standing my ground with cashiers at stores. Sometimes they will tell me things about coupons that I know not to be true and i will either cancel my order or go ahead and get it and save less. Ive had cashiers tell me all kinds of interesting things like

A. You can only use one coupon per order (period)
B. Their store doesnt take free coupons
C. when you used to be able to print extra care bucks offline, I printed some off once only to have my CVS tell me they only accepted store printed ones.
etc. I know Ive heard more interesting things from clerks but its late and I cant think of them right now

[SummerAnne]

I'm scared to try to stockpile because I'm afraid stuff will go horribly out of date!