I Should Do The Coupon Thing, But..." Part 4: Ask a store employee

I will confess. Even though I'm a woman, I fall more into the male stereotype when it comes to asking for directions, or in this case, asking for help in a store. My husband on the other hand, is fantastic about asking for clear directions, or finding an employee to ask a question to save time & energy. Many "adventures" (or catastrophes would probably better describe it) have been averted because of his wisdom. I have been known to wander around the aisles looking for an item, determined I will find it, before having to ask a store employee.

Now, though, having a toddler & baby with me on most shopping trips, I don't have limitless amount of time to go solo while trying to find things. If I can't find an item that was advertised on sale or matches my coupon, I have two choices: skip that deal entirely, or ask for help. I'm getting braver (and swallowing my pride) and asking for help. Silly to some of you, I know, but that's a little glimpse of me.

This week though, it paid off. Last night some friends watched our kids, and my husband and I tackled our "energy drainer" errands... things that have been on our minds for weeks or months, but we haven't gotten to accomplish. Even though it wasn't a romantic date in that sense, we were both encouraged getting to take some things off our mental shoulders, and felt refreshed once it was done.

I had tried for THREE DAYS to take advantage of the online 2 for $20 Toys 'R' Us diaper deal, but every time I put the two boxes of diapers in my online shopping cart and tried to check out, it gave me an error (invalid quantity). So I decided to swing by my Toys 'R' Us to see if the deal was possibly in store, or ask them to troubleshoot it for me (we had an errand just a few stores down, so it took very little extra time). Like I had suspected, the boxes were on sale for $15 each, but the 2 for $20 promotion was online only. When a store employee came up and asked if he could help, *gulp*, I explained my dilemma to him. So he grabbed a box of diapers and told us he would be back.

After waiting for probably 10 minutes (we got to browse lots of toys in the diaper area), he came back and verified it wasn't in store, it was only online, BUT he had tried to also do the purchase online and it was giving him the same issue. Since it was advertised free in-store pick up, he honored the online deal for us. Better than that, since the limit was two per customer, they let me purchase two, and my husband purchase two!

That 10 minutes and being brave enough to ask a store employee for help saved us a lot of money. So I will keep on being brave and asking for help! And if you're like me, I encourage you to ask for help at a store sooner rather than later!