Coupon Nightmares

I am a sucker for coupons. Lately my coupon experiences have been less than ideal. The stores usually put out coupons to bring in the customers. Sometimes the customer will buy more than they would have without the coupon. I always go to stores when I have a good coupon. I am not talking 10 cents off at the grocery store, but bigger coupons. Last week I had a coupon for The Limited. I rarely shop at this store but made the extra effort due to the coupon. The coupon was for $15 off any purchase over $15. I was excited about this. After I got to the store I realized a few things first of all the clothes were way to expensive (even with $15 off) and almost everything was on sale. The coupon could not be used on sale items. Therefore I searched the store for something to use my precious coupon on. Eventually I found a $30 purse that I settled on. I really didn’t need it, but I would be getting half off and I love purses. I went up to the register only to be told that my coupon doesn’t work on accessories! What… There is nothing I can buy in this store with my coupon. Jewelry, pants, skirts, tops, all on sale. My only option was dresses a few hundred dollars over my price range. I then left the purse at the register and walked out. The Limited might have gotten me in their store with their coupon, but I won this time!! I spent nothing….well I would have liked the purse but really this coupon was worthless in the end.
Another coupon incident I had occurred a few weeks ago on my day after Thanksgiving shopping trip. Herbergers can out with a coupon for $10 off a $10 purchase. Of course there were exclusions on the early bird sales and a few other things, but sale items were ok. It took awhile but I found a nice gizmo for backrubs that would have been a great gift for A Bit More Humid. Of course it wasn’t that easy. My item was $9.99 and with tax $10.37. But the coupon was no good unless the item was $10 before tax!! So I had to search out the store for another item that wasn’t that great, but I settled. This time I felt the store had beaten me down; fortunately I did go home with an item with my coupon and did not have to spend anything extra!