The staff at LD are wonderful!!! They were very helpful answering all of my questions, and gave me more insight on how to stack coupons even more. They were not bitter that I was coming, quite the opposite. They were seemingly just as excited to be on this journey with me. I was relieved. The most stressful part about all of this was to make sure that I didn't upset any staff or have any disagreements about policy's. Making sure that I was up to speed on each stores policy's and processes was most important, and made everything that much easier.
It was finally the day I had been anxiously awaiting for so long. Friday afternoon, after I picked the kids up from school my friend and I left for Calgary. I was excited, nervous, anxious and worried all at the same time. I had never left my kids for so long. I almost felt lonely...never had so much peace and quiet before, lol. I was nervous too. All this time I had been telling people what I was intending on doing, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. I was worried that my numbers were false, and I would end up putting everything back and leaving the store...praying the whole drive to Calgary that I would not fail and look like a fool.
We arrived in Calgary just after 6pm. First we checked into the hotel, then we hit up every store that we could for more coupons and their newest flyer's. Each one of us took an isle, going relatively quickly scanning for more coupons up and down each one. We had to move fast. It was getting late and wanted to go to as many stores as possible. We found the most coupons in Shoppers Drug Mart & at Safeway. There were next to none in Superstore & Wallmart. It took us roughly 3 hours in all.
When we got back to the hotel, we scanned every flyer trying to find the cheapest price on anything we were buying. The medications & laundry supplies were the most costly, so any price cheaper was great. When a cheaper price was found, I logged it into the spreadsheet. Upon check-out, I would refer to the spreadsheet to let the cashier know the cheapest price I had found and which flyer it was found in.
After "some" sleep, we got up the next morning grabbed some breakfast, and started hitting the stores right away. With all the communicating with the staff at London Drugs, we figured that the best time of day for me to start a check out would be after 6pm when the store wasn't so busy. I figured we would arrive at the store around 4pm to start the shopping. There were a few items at other stores that we wanted to shop for, so this is what we did first. Zellers, I found a few items for free with my coupons, we browsed the malls, ate lunch, and hit up Wallmart for a few more deals on BBQ sauce and to purchase a few household items.
It's now 3:30pm...my stomach is in knots. Thinking of what I now need to accomplish at London Drugs is almost making me sick. I had never before purchased this sheer volume of cleaners, hair products, personal products and medications. I was soooooo nervous. We grabbed some coffee at Starbucks, and just tried to relax a bit before arriving at the store.
We pull up to London Drugs. It was time to prove myself. I picked up my 30 lb red coupon bag that holds two very full binders of coupons, policys, and spreadsheets, and headed into the store. I was ready. Game on! I can do this.....
Each of us grabbed a cart, and started at the top of the list picking large quantities of each item off the shelf as listed in the spreadsheets.
It was going very smooth and faster than I anticipated. Gradually we moved through each isle and completed shopping for everything in about 2 hours.
To be continued...still to come 'Part 3 - The Check Out!"
