CVS kind-of fun 1/6/08

Well, not one of my shining moments at CVS, but I still saved a shocking amount of money.  See, the key to playing this "game" is to always have Extra Care Bucks in hand, so that you pay nothing out of pocket.  Of course, the first time you go to CVS (as I explained to my faithful reader & friend, Bobbi), you do have to spend $ in order to buy the products that will earn you the Extra Care Bucks.

And this rings true if you run out of Extra Care Bucks, as I did this week.  The kids have been sick, and my little stockpile of ECB's was eaten up with trips for Motrin and cough syrup.  So today I was basically starting from scratch.  When Crystal at www.moneysavingmom.com computes her savings, she does so with the mindset of "Product X was on sale for $4, and I had a $2 manufacturer's coupon, and earned $2 in Extra Care Bucks, so it was free!".  But if you don't have the $2 worth of Extra Care Bucks in hand to pay CVS (before you get the Extra Care Bucks you've earned from the product--which you have to use next time you shop), it comes out of your own pocket.

That all being said, here's how I did this week, and how much I spent & saved (by the way, this is a fabulous week to start playing this CVS game--not only were there an insane amount of coupons in the paper {I actually bought an extra paper just for the coupons!}, but CVS is having their "Extra Bucks Days" or something like that, so there are a tons of ECB for the taking):

I usually try to do my order in 2 or 3 transactions, but as I explained to Steve today, and I hope you can understand, I got flustered at the checkout counter because there were people behind me, and I had a huge carriage full of stuff, and a few of the things I had wanted to get, they were out of, so I did everything in one big order.  All things evened out, I saved the same amount of money, but I can usually use the ECB's from order #1 to pay for order #2, and there's less $ out of my pocket.  Today I spent quite a bit, but I have all of the ECB's to use in the coming weeks.

What I bought:

2 Giant Mr. Goodbars 2/$3 $1 ECB

3 Hershey Bars/1 York Peppermint Patty 4/$2 (I had wanted to get the new Reese's Whips bars, which I had coupons for, but they were out) $1 ECB

2 Reese's Snacksters 2/$5  $2 man. coupons

I earned a $5 CVS gift card that will be mailed to me for purchasing $10 worth of Hershey products

2 L'Oreal Vive Pro conditioner 2/$8 $1 man. coupon $4 ECB

6 Softsoap hand soaps 2/$3 $2 man. coupons $3 ECB

4 13 oz. Palmolive dish detergent $1.49  $2 man. coupons $4 ECB

1 Similasan Ear Wax Drops (have you met Steve & Maddie? LOL) $6.99 $3 man. coupon $3 ECB

1 Garnier Fructis conditioner (we go through a lot of conditioner!) $2.99 $1 man. coupon $2 ECB

1 Nutrisse highlights kit $5.99 $2 man. coupon $2 ECB

1 Children's Motrin $5.99

1 Children's Tylenol $5.99 $2.50 man. coupon

1 Tylenol Cold Daytime $4.99 $1 man. coupon

1 Tylenol Cold Nighttime $4.99 $1 man. coupon $10 ECB for buying $20 worth of JJ McNeil products

20 Soy Joy bars $1 each $4 man. coupons $20 ECB

2-Fiber Choice 90 ct. $11.03 each $4 man. coupons

4-Robitussin 4 oz Buy 1 Get 1 Free, paid $5.99 for 2 of them, had $9 man. coupons

3-Excedrin Sinus Headache 24 ct. $1.99 each $6 man. coupons $1 ECB

4 Colgate toothbrushes $2.99 each $4 man. coupons $8 ECB

1 Colgate toothpaste $2.99 $1 man. coupon $2 ECB

2-CVS toothbrushes $2.99 each $5.98 ECB

1-Arizona iced tea for Steve $0.99

1 Diet Coke for me $1.59

1 gallon of milk $3.79

I used two $10 off $50 coupons, one $5 off $30 coupon, one $4 off $20 coupon and two $4 off $20 worth of diet/nutritional products (the fiber and the Soy Joy bars) = $37 in CVS coupons

I forgot to use (in my flustered state) to use the measly $3 in ECB's I actually had.

Now the bad news--although I saved over $80 in coupons (my initial total was over $165), I spent $79.34.

And bad, bad news, I had to use my credit card, since we won't get paid until Tuesday.  Could I have waited?  Yes, but it took me well over an hour to clip and organize the coupons, and figure out what I was buying, and quite frankly, it's easier for me to just do the shopping while all of that info is fresh in my mind.  Also, I really didn't want to take another hour out of my schedule this week, seeing how we have several dentist appointments, homeschool activities, Awana...you get the idea.

How many ECB's did I get?  Well, I already have the $3 that I forgot to spend, and now my grand total is:

$66.98!!  I earned $63.98 today!  It doesn't offset the horribleness of putting $80 on my credit card, but it does help soften the blow.

So that was how I did!  How about you?