Monday, March 10, 2008

Money Monday - My Best CVS Shop Yet!

Hi. My name is Heidi and I am a CVS-aholic.

This is becoming an obsession for me. Lol. Last week was an EXCELLENT week for CVS shopping and I got some GREAT deals. I sometimes shop on Saturday nights (when the sales overlap), which is what I did this weekend. So in case any of you CVS-aholics are curious, that's why I have overlapping specials. These items were purchased over a 2-day period at 3 different times in 6 transactions. It may not seem worth it to some of you, but it was totally worth it to me!

Oh, and by the way, I am SO excited! There is a new sign up the road from me. Wanna guess what it says? "Future Home of CVS" (or something to that effect)! I am psyched! Ok, but here's the part that makes me a HUGE dork. The nearest CVS right now is about 2 miles down the road. This one will be a half mile. Lol. What? I'll be saving on gas! :)

Ok, so back to what I bought this weekend. After all of my transactions, here is what I got:





1 pk of Huggies diapers
1 Fusion Razor
1 3-pk of Mach3 razors
3 bottles of Pantene shampoo/conditioner
2 bottles of Garnier Fructis shampoo/conditioner
6 bags of Hershey Kisses (various kinds)
2 bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs
1 King-sized Reese's Cup
1 bag tootsie rolls
1 bag sour gummy worms
5 Chapsticks
5 pain patches
5 Colgate Total toothpastes
1 Snickers bar



Total before coupons and sales: $133
Total after coupons, sales, and ECB: $9 !!!! (The price of the diapers alone!)
AND...the make things even better....I got $9 in ECB back! So I basically got all of that FREE!!


I think I may have mentioned this before, but I'd just like to say it again...I love CVS! :)


Now, I want to add my reason for buying all of these things. The CVS topic came up this week during playgroup and one of my friends said "Yeah, but you don't NEED all that stuff." I agree. I don't need it. BUT, I explained to her, there are people who do. I have a pile of stuff that I'm about to drop off for our church's charity organization.


This "game" is so much fun to me. And I will not need to purchase any toiletries for quite some time! Thank you, CVS!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


***UPDATE***

One of my readers suggested that I post exactly HOW I did all of my purchases in order to lower my total price by $124. Since that seems like a legitimate request, I will do that here:


Trans #1
1 Fusion razor $9.99 (used $4/1 coupon)
1 3-pk of Mach3 razors $7.99 (used $3/1 coupon)
1 pkg CVS Tootsie Rolls $.99 (used $.99/1 candy coupon)

Used $6 in ECB. Paid $5.70 OOP. Got $11 ECB back ($6 from Fusion, $5 from Mach3).

Trans #2
5 pain patches $1.99 each
1 King-size Reese's $.99

Used $10.94 ECB. Paid $0 OOP. Got $10 ECB back ($2 per pain patch).

Trans #3
5 Colgate Total Advance Toothpastes $2.99 each ($2.50 in various coupons)
2 Nivea shave gels $2.99 each (2 coupons for $2/1)

Used $4/$20 CVS coupon and $10 ECB. Paid $.85 OOP. Got $14.95 in ECB back ($2.99 per toothpaste).

Trans #4
5 Lypsyl chapsticks $2.99 each

Used $14.95 ECB. Paid $0 OOP. Got $14.95 back in ECB ($2.99 per Lypsyl).

Now here's where it got tricky. The system was actually unusually strange and I still haven't quite figured out if I got a better deal or a worse deal because of it. This is not how I planned to do things, but this is how it worked out:

Trans #5
3 Pantene shampoo/conditioner $2.88 each (used 3 coupons for $2/1)
2 Garnier Fructis shampoo/conditioner $2.99 each (used 2 coupons for $1/1)
4 bags Hershey kisses $.99 each (limit of 4) (used $1.50/3 coupon)
1 bag mini Cadbury eggs $2.99
1 Snickers bar $.79
1 CVS sour gummies $.99 (used $.99/1 CVS candy coupon - printed in store)
1 pk Huggies diapers (used $1.50/1 coupon)

I also used a $5/$15 CVS coupon. Then I used $14.95 ECB. Paid $1.08 OOP. Got $4 ECB back ($2 per Garnier Fructis product).

For some reason, both the cashier and I thought I had reached my Hershey's limit (there was a Buy $10, Get $5 ECB back promotion running), but apparently not. This is where I decided to buy one more bag of kisses to make things work. When she rang it up, it rang at $.99. Typically when there is a limit of 4, it is per card. But for some reason, it seemed to be working per transaction. So I bought 3 bags of candy instead of 1 and got to use a coupon!

Trans #6
1 bag Cadbury mini eggs $.99
2 bags Hershey kisses $.99 each

Since I bought three, I could use another $1.50/3 coupon. So I did that, which brought my total to $1.65 OOP.

After I paid and my receipt printed, there was STILL no ECB printed, so the cashier just gave me a $5 gift card instead (which is better than ECB because I don't have to get my purchases exact!) And I still have the $4 from Trans #5, so I have equivalent to $9 ECB, including the gift card.

9 comments:

April@Crafty*Nesty*Thrifty said...

What a wonderful informative blog you have! I look forward to continue learning from you. Take Care, April.

Jennifer Crispin said...

How? How do you do it? Please teach me your ways! I have a CVS almost in my backyard... I only go there for meds. How do you do it??? :)

Heidi Stone said...

Jennifer:

You can look at my post The CVS Game for more information on how it works.

I learned everything I know from MoneySavingMom.com. She has a CVS 101 article that is very informative. She also regularly posts the CVS deals for the week and month. (They run seperate weekly deals and monthly deals).

Please let me know if you have more questions. :)

thesecondmrssmith said...

Heidi,
Can you post HOW your total came down from 133 to 9? That would be helpful so others can duplicate your success. Something like I did here.
http://www.cvsgame.blogspot.com/
I am a total newbie at this.
Victoria

Heidi Stone said...

Victoria:
You're right. That would help other people out more. Thanks for the suggestion. I will update the original post. :)

Anonymous said...

As me & my friends say "I get things I don't need, to get the things I DO need for cheaper (or free)" - LOL

Heidi Stone said...

Jennifer M:

Exactly! We actually donated a few bags of candy to our church's Easter Egg Hunt and I sent a few bags to work with my husband to share with his co-workers. We plan on giving away all of the toothpaste as well, since we have QUITE a stash now!

Sarah @ Fiddledeedee said...

What wonderful deals! Great job!

I too am loving shopping at CVS for some things that I don't 'need' to give to others who do.

Your post was fun to read :)

Anonymous said...

Way to go!