Week 3 Update: The Pepper Pickle

So I guess we all knew that the time would come when I would be over budget. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t be Week 3.

There was a FIASCO this week from which I have still not recovered . Here’s the story.  Skip to the bottom if you just want the numbers.

Saturday I went to Harris Teeter planning to do one big trip before heading to the beach next week.  We missed the Farmers’ Market since I was out in the garden battling the forces of evil (more on this later), so I knew I would have a big bill.  Little did I know . . .

Addie and my niece Karissa came along to help.  As we walked, Karissa, who is nearly 10, used the calculator to add the groceries that I was putting in the cart.  It was a HUGE help because I am normally very scattered when I coupon and the addition of children and produce seemed to confuse me all the more.  We got to checkout and the cashier accidentally slipped and entered 36 peppers instead of the three that I’d gotten. They were on special for $1 each. Well, she said she voided them out, but the bill still seemed atrociously high–WAY higher than Karissa’s calculation and my cash.  I got rattled. (No, the ninja did not come out.)  My face got all hot and I thought I was going to cry because I was thought it would be around $90 and she was saying it was $162–after coupons!!! That’s my entire budget for this week.

Of course, there was a line, but I just started asking her to take items off my order.  Embarrassing.  I kept trying to be nice, but gently hint that I thought there was no way I had bought that much stuff.  I had already questioned her twice about the peppers and she insisted that she took them off.  So she got the bill down to $150 and Addie and Karissa are dancing around wildly with balloons they’ve gotten and I just started to panic.  So I decided I would just pay her and then carry all my groceries to customer service, return them, and start over. UGGHHH. Huge pain in the rumpus.

Well, once the receipt prints, wouldn’t you know? She DID NOT void the peppers. In fact, she rang them up again.  Instead of buying 3 peppers for $3, I bought 3 peppers for $72.

So after much ado at customer service of getting a refund and then rebuying the groceries I’d put back, I spent $89. And they only said “Sorry” once.  Not to be rude, Harris Teeter, but I dumped another store for you.  And they had good deals this week too.  When you overcharge someone by $72, you should be a lot more than one hurried and annoyed “sorry.”

ANYWAY . . . enough tirade.

So, the budget for this week was $160.

-$8 used last week

-$89 Harris Teeter–groceries and produce. No picture due to violent wrathful unloading of bags while repeatedly mentioning injustice of $72 overcharge–even tho they fixed it, I was still mad. (Laura, I am sorry about the “tho.” I think you are going to have to get over that tho.)

-$ 23 Walmart– I should never go there because I ALWAYS buy some unnecessary thing, but I had to get baseball card pages for my coupon binder and that is the only place. Of course, I also got thank-you cards, Coke Zero for J, Juice Popsicle mold, diapers for Dylan, etc

-$18 Target- Teacher presents and cuticle sticks for at home mani-pedis.  A pre-beach must.

-$23 CVS- Hooray for a good trip. Not my best, but it was a victory after the pepper pickle.  Plus, as an added bonus, I saw a full rainbow during my trip.  What a blessing.  I needed one after this week. 3 bags diapers. 3 boxes Honey Nut Cheerios. 2 pack batteries. Eye makeup remover. Shaving Cream. 2 bottles body wash. Newspaper. 2 chocolate bars.

-$18 Gas

So the week came to about $180.  Alas.  This coming week was supposed to be a $200 week, but I am going to make it another $180 week.  That will be gas for getting to the beach, school’s out celebratory breakfast, birthday gift for nephew, . . . I hope we can make it.

This is getting hard.