Savings

Oh my gosh.  I’m still hardly believing the deals I pulled out today.  Unbelievable.  Look at this…

That’s my Walgreens and CVS Deals.  Sort of ignore the two boxes of cereal and Splenda and add in a gallon of milk…do you know how much I paid for all of that from CVS…..

ELEVEN CENTS

Yes, that’s $0.11.  I opened my little change purse and pulled out a dime and penny and went home with that cart full.  And you can’t even see the 3rd roll of wrapping paper there in the back.  As for Walgreens, I paid $7 for the cereal and Splenda.  Not the best deal but it was on sale and I had coupons and was getting low on both and Heather wanted to go there for milk, yadda, yadda, so I went for it.

As for CVS…my receipt says I saved $150 something.  Insane, I tell you!

First off, the Christmas stuff is 90% off so that held a great deal on the amount I saved.  But I got some good deals otherwise.  Let me see if I can list out the really good stuff I got…

• 2 Aquapod waters
• Visine
• 4 Bottles of Chewable baby aspirin
• Similson (sp?) Pink Eye Drops
• Aleve
• 2 Aquafresh
• 2 Colgate
• Garnier Fructis Shampoo
• 2 Lysol Neutra Air
• Lighter
• Zantac
• Gallon of Milk (not pictured)
• 2 2-pack Rubbermaid containers
• Monster Energy drink (as a peace-offering for hubby for such a long planning session and trip)

I used a coupon for everything except the milk and Monster drink. 

Then I used $10/$50, $5/$30, $3/$15, $2/10 CVS store coupons.

Then I paid $18 ECBs.

My balance was $.11

I also earned $9 ECBs plus it spit out $3/$15.

Find these deals and more at moneysavingmom.com.  Thank you, Crystal!!!

As I mentioned in the last post, I had about $14 worth of ECBs I had to use this week.  I wasn’t overly excited about the deals this week and would have probably only gotten the Quattro razor had I not had to use my ECBs.  So this is what I got:

1 Aquafresh toothpaste .99
1 Quattro Midnight Razor 7.99
2 CVS Cough Drops .99
2 L’oreal Vive Shampoo 4.99 (B1G1)
1 Playtex Tampons 4.99
1 Wrapping Paper 2.99
1 Tape .99

Used $4 Razor coupon from 12/16
Used $1 L’Oreal Coupon

Used $2/10 coupon
Used  3.99, 3.79 and 6.99 ECBs

Total oop $3.72 for $37.33 worth of product

I overestimated the total a bit trying to make sure I used all the ECBs. I probably would have left off either the paper or cough drops.

I also had several coupons print out including the survey that came out a few weeks ago.  I think in total I earned $8 ECBs plus $3/15 coupon and $4/20 plus other coupons.

Anyway, it turned out good in that I came home with as many ECBs as I had and I’m happy with that.

Today was a pretty good day.  I even visited the local CVS that usually gives me trouble and they guy actually helped me.  Scott needed Alka Seltzer.  We were in Target earlier in the day debating on whether to spend $4.99 on it and I told him to wait and let me get it at CVS.  So instead of spending $4.99 oop there, this is what I got worth about $27:

1. Gillette Fusion Power Razor
2. 3 packs of CVS brand cough drops
3. CVS Brand Alka Seltzer
4. CVS Brand Sudafed
5. 2 Pack of Energy Shots

Used:

1. $4 coupon on the razor
2. $2/10 CVS brand cough/cold
3. 2 $3/15 coupons – this is the one the cashier suggested I double-up on..thanks!
4. $2/10 total purchase
5. Used $11.98 in ECBs

Spent .44 oop

Earned $13.96 ECBs

How about that? 

So can you believe I have not been to CVS or Walgreens this week?  There just wasn’t anything I really was interested in.  I guess they outdid themselves for Black Friday.  I also had fallen off the menu planning/grocery store thing the past week or two but made it back today.  Without too much planning, I saved 40% in one trip and 32% at another.  Not the greatest but I got a ton of stuff and probably won’t have to do major shopping for a couple weeks.

My first order of business this morning was a trip to CVS.  Yeah, I’m getting sort of pathetic/addicted to it like that.  Anyway, I had $21 in ECBs/gift card to spend.  I basically bought everything that was Free After ECBs on moneysavingmom.com  (except Tylenol Vial was out) and then also bought B1G1 nuts, B1G1 Maybelline Great Lash mascara, M&Ms and 2 Pledge cans. 

Total before sales or coupons is $94.29. 

I used a manufacturer’s coupon on almost everything I bought–more details can be found at Crystal’s site. 

Also used $5/$30 (should have used 3 of these instead of the $2/10) and 2 $2/$10, $2.50 off pain reliever, 2 $2.50/$10 CVS brand coupons and $3 off $15 coupon. 

Total oop was $18.01.  And get this…$48 ECBs earned and extra $3/$15 coupon.  I’m set for a few weeks.

I am SO in the Christmas mood this year and that includes Black Friday shopping.  Scott is actually off Thurs – Sun this year and that means built-in babysitter if I want to go shopping.  I mentioned making several CVS deals this week and I found the Black Friday sales for CVS.  There are several GREAT deals that I plan to line up for.  In case you’re interested in taking a peek, here you go!

Things I’m looking at getting:

Digital Frame
Digital Picture keychain
Soft Soap Body Wash
Advil PM
Jergens Lotion
Tylenol
Colgate

With coupons, all but the first two should earn me more ECBs than I spend.  Yay!

I know I will be going to CVS several times this week.  I already have another trip planned and then there’s the whole Black Friday thing with lots of goodies.  But here’s today’s

2 St. Ive’s Lotion @$5.29
1 Tylenol vial @$2.49

Minus 2 $1/1 lotion
Minus $1/1 Tylenol coupon
Minus $2/$10 CVS Coupon

Used 1 $5 ECB
Used $3.63 on a gift card

$0 oop!

Got $7.49 ECBs plus $3/$15 extra printout

OK, I was really kicking myself from Sunday after I learned the coupons I had for Garnier for $2 EACH would have worked and I would have had only pennies oop instead of $5.  With those coupons (found at coupons.com) and the $2/10 CVS coupon, you end up making over $4.  Seems like a no-brainer.  So I was insistent to go back and do it again when I realized the limit was 2 and not 1.  But the smallest ECB I had was $10 so I had to work up a bigger deal to use all of it.  Well, people, that’s not as easy as it sounds when you are using so many coupons and trying to earn as many ECBs as possible but after sitting down and running some numbers, this is what I came up with…

2 Garnier $5.99 products (I ended up getting the cleansers this time instead of the towelettes)
5 2pack CVS soap @ 1.99 a piece
2 B1G1 L’oreal lip color products that cost $5

The plan was to use

$5/$25 beauty purchase
$3/15 CVS coupon
$2/10 CVS coupon
2 $2 Garnier coupon
$2.50/$10 CVS brand coupon
$10 ECB

That should have brought my total to .43 or so while earning $15 in ECBs.

My mistakes were the soap was not on sale as moneysavingmom.com reported.  Not sure if it was on old sale she had on her monthly deals or her store sells it for less.  Mine were $2.29.  That was $1.50 more than planned. 

Then, I bought L’oreal nail polish which was Buy 1 Get 50% off instead of B1G1.  They had tags posted all over the place and I just didn’t pay attention to the difference.  That was another $2.50 wasted.

So I ended up with $5.01 oop.

Well, I stewed over that over dinner and I couldn’t handle I paid so much for nail polish.  So when I went with Heather, I returned the nail polish and they gave me $8.02 on a gift card.  Made me happy as a lark although I feel bad because the $5/$25 beauty coupon wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t originally bought it but I will respend that money at CVS, so no worries.  So all in all, I got $31 worth of product with no oop and got back $23 to spend next week when originally all I had in my pocked was $10 ECB.  Sweet.

As for Walgreens:

I had a $6 Register Reward that was expiring in the next couple of days and we needed milk so I decided to buy milk and fill it in with something else.  I used their weekly in-store ads to buy green beans and sweet potatoes and shredded cheese with the milk and paid $3.24 oop. Not too bad even just for a gallon of milk.  I still have my October rebates I’m waiting for before I can make any more deals there with no money oop.