Once upon a shopping trip, in an attempt to drag my father kicking and screaming into the 21st century, I bought him his very first DVD player for Christmas. I wanted to make the transition for him both easy on him and on me, so I found the cheapest DVD-VCR combo by a known brand that I could find, which turned out to be a Phillips player for $79.99 at Target that I bought on Monday a week ago. Of course I was dismayed when I discovered in Sunday’s Target circular, a Phillips player that looked disturbingly similar for $59.88.

Fortunately for the Modern Gal, she reads a column by Ms. Cheap, who once taught her about price adjustments, a rarely publicized policy at many chain stores. If you find an item you’ve recently bought goes on sale rather quickly, you can take your receipt back to the store within 14 days of the sale and get the difference refunded.

So, I marched back to Target today over my lunch break, trying not to get my hopes up in case my purchased DVD player wasn’t the same as the advertised one or in case the price adjustment policy turned out to be an urban myth. The cashier confirmed that indeed, the price adjustment policy exists and it was worth testing out. I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes until she said “yup, it’s the same one, here you go, $20.10 back on your Target card.”

I celebrated with a “yes!!!” and a prompt purchase of Hairspray for my mother. Easy come, easy go. But I still lived happily ever after.