Making a list, and really checking it twice

So I caved and went to the mall and and a few other select stores yesterday and today to pick up some deals. A dear, dear friend of mine, whom I recently visited, has three children aged 7, 9 and 13. While I was there, I noticed the state of their bedding was horrible, and there were hardly any towels in the bathroom that were a single piece. So, this year, even though I am not buying gifts for any other friends, I decided to buy each child a bed-in-a-bag and to buy my friend some complete sets of towels. I budgeted around $150 for the family, knowing that I could buy super-cheap items for that but hoping I could find some nicer deals this weekend. After all, the problem with super-cheap stuff is that it just doesn't hold up, and clearly, THIS STUFF NEEDS TO HOLD UP.

I hit multiple stores looking for deals. I shopped Linens-n-Things late Friday night. I cruised Target at 10:45 p.m., noting the gaunt and exhausted faces of those poor Black Friday workers. I found one bedding package at Linens-N-Things for $49.99, and two towels sets (each with bath towels, hand towels and washcloths) for a mere $15 a piece. I had a 20% off coupon for the bedding, but I could hardly buy 3 without exceeding my budget. I soldiered on.

I haunted the basement of JCPenney's at 10 a.m. I dragged screaming family members into Sears. After an hour of picking through a few hundred comforters, I finally found two amazing comforters for just $18 each. Bingo! They were soft. They were warm. They were blue. They were perfect!

Then I found two sets of 300-thread-count sheets on clearance -- not only were they a decent thread count, but they matched the comforters. They were marked down to $16.97, with an additional 20% off. I took my haul to customer service to listen to them try to sign me up for a Sears card and to finally ring up my merchandise.

They forgot the 20% off. So okay, that's fine, I go back and show them the sign and they nod and then take my 20% off the sheets, saving me another $6.00. This would seem unremarkable, except...

I then found some really nice Skechers for my 5-year-old for Christmas. He really wanted a pair (purely due to t.v. advertising, I'll admit) but since I've only just gotten him out of plastic Spiderman sandals, I was actually happy he wanted nice shoes. I found a pair at Sears later that day marked down from $44.99 to $19.99. This is only a few dollars more than a regular pair at Target or Walmart. I seized the box (they had his size!) and took it to the register.

It rang up at regular price.

I took yet another saleslady to the sign, she checked the numbers, and then we proceed to wait nearly 20 minutes (I am serious) for a manager to show up to clear the transaction. My savings? $25.00 But this is getting a bit old...

Except for the fact that, earlier in the day at JCPenney's, I picked up a pair of jeans for my son (he's also grown out of everything the past month) that were marked down to $10.00. There was another, nearly identical pair next to it. When they rang it up...the second pair was $17.99. I had them take it back. My savings: $7.99 (actually $17.99, since I didn't go search for another pair).

So...the total mistakes for today totaled $39.00. That's nearly 40 bucks! It's hard to believe that these are all honest mistakes, and not retailers' deliberate sloppiness. This sloppiness means money in their pocket. How many people would weather the embarrassment of waiting 20 minutes for a manager to show up (who was, incidentally, completely unapologetic for the wait)?

It has only been recently that I've started really scrutinizing my receipts. My mother used to do this, but I never acquired the habit. Then I saw this article on Get Rich Slowly, and I decided to start checking and see what would happen. In addition to my $39.00 savings today (or $49.00, depending on how you see it), I have also noticed mistakes on my grocery receipts three times. For two of them it was an incorrect price, for a savings of $7.39 (the third was an item under the wrong sign, and I opted to pay the higher price for it).

If you add up the grocery mistakes, I made $46.93 this month, just by spending the time to check the receipts.

So for everyone joining the rat-race we call Holiday shopping, here's a tip: don't just check your gift list, check your receipts -- and recheck. The money I saved today meant that I came under budget for my shopping this weekend.

(On a side note: By using my coupon and insisting on the advertised discounts, I managed to buy the two towel sets and 3 complete bed sets for my friend for the low, low price of $143.79, tax included. I came under budget by $6.21 while still buying really nice, good quality items. I am very proud of my shopping this year, and glad that my good friend will have nice, warm blankets for all her kids!)