Thursday, October 2, 2008

My Loot from This Week at CVS

Just a little fyi for you all that might not know me on a more personal level. I'll be sharing a little bit of a background as to who I am. I currently am a SAHM mother of 2 beautiful little girls. Well, they're not so little actually, 7 & 10 but they sure are beautiful. Anyways, we just recently purchased our very 1st home about 3 months ago (WooooHoooooo!) and not a month after that, the department in which I worked for was closed down and outsourced to another country. Yup! That sucked! So we are now having to manage to get by on only 1 income (poor hubby)... New house payment & ALL the bills, plus food, gas, etc. etc. etc. And the way the economy is right now, not helping! Let's face it, times are tough! (Although I'm not complaining because although times ARE tough for us right now, there are people that are far worse off, so I thank God everyday for what we do have)



Lately it's been really hard on hubby. He's such a great worker, puts in lots and lots of overtime to make ends meet, but we are nonetheless pretty much living paycheck to paycheck right now. We're making ends meet, but very, very tightly. So much that I seriously considered NOT going to Target anymore for the necessary/ yet un-necessary items like Shampoo, Conditioner, deodorant, toilet paper, dishwashing detergent, toothpaste, razors, etc. They're necessary, yes I agree . . . I don't think hubby will appreciate if I completely stopped buying that and then I'd be stuck with stinky pits or stinky breath. The problem was that every single one of those type of trips meant at least $100.00 out the door. Easily! Why??? Well because Hubby has his own shampoo/conditioner & bodywash brand. I had my own shampoo/conditioner & bodywash brand. The girls have their own shampoo/conditioner & bodywash brand. Just in that alone it could easily be over $40.00, so anyways, I was considering it not a necessity at this moment to purchase name brand, but that we could survive off of the Dollar Store items. ( geeez, I know. I know. But I just had to find a way to make our money stretch) They have all those items for only $1.00 so that $40.00 bill could turn into $9.00 easy.



Yet, right before I actually went ahead and did that, I stumbled upon a little unknown secret that I've blogged about before. You can read it here. It's the miracle of coupon clipping combined with CVS specials and extrabucks back. I am soooooooooo loving CVS right now, because thanks to them I don't have to do the $1.00 items. I can continue to use name brand, and in many cases pay the same prices that the dollar store has... Yup, $1.00. Other cases, things are FREE!!! And other times, they're a bit more (but still at a great deal) so then it's up to me to decide wethere or not I want to get the item.



So I am sharing with you my 2nd shopping trip to CVS... I did a lot better than last week when I got a free deodorant. See, I told you! Even cheaper than the dollar store! Anyways, this is what I got...






The original total was $45.43. That is what you pay WITHOUT coupons. But me being the lady you hate to be behind in the cash register, I handed the cashier all my lovely coupons. After she scanned those, the total came down to $24.28. WOW ! ! ! That's a pretty good deal! I saved over $21.00 just by clipping coupons!!!! But wait, that's not all... CVS also gives you money back for buying certain things. I got a total of $14.79 extracare bucks back ! ! ! Those extracare bucks are just as good as money for all future purchases, and believe me I'll be using them next week when the new sales come out. So, all in all, taking into consideration the coupons and the money back, the total I paid for the above items was $9.49.

I am sooooooo not kidding you! Only $9.49 for 11 items. That's even cheaper than the dollar store!!!

So let me break it down for ya! ( and for most of you this might be boring, and think nah! this is too much trouble. And that's ok. Not all of us NEED to look for bargains. But I do, and I know I'm not the only one. So if I can help at least 1 person who might be going through what I'm going through, then it will be worth it!)

Fusion Razor w/batteries $1.00 (This alone costs more at regular price than what I spent for ALL these things combined!!!)

Sunsilk Shampoo $1.00

Sunsilk Mousse $1.00

Dawn Dishwashing Detergent .75 cents

Vaseline Men Cream $1.50

Vaseline Cream $1.50

Colgate Total $1.15

Colgate Total $1.15

Tide $3.99

Covergirl Foundation = FREE

Covergirl Eye Smoother = FREE

plus taxes of course... came out to about $13 bucks or so, then had $4.00 coupon for CVS so it came down to the $9.49..... Believe me, I will be at CVS every week ! I am loving the thrill of getting things at such great prices!!! I do need to find a way to get more coupons though!!! I'm thinking of buying an extra Sunday paper just to get some more.

Well, I hope I can help somebody with this information. It really is not that hard. This is only my 2nd trip to CVS and look at how great I did!!!

Happy Shopping!

*****For those of you without CVS, I'm sorry! There are great deals to be found there ... Walgreens does have something similar, I'm thinking about trying them also. I'm thinking about going today for some shampoo thing they have going on, I'll be sure to let you guys know if I do. I'm just a bit hesitant to doing Walgreens because they have a combo of MoneyBack offers (which are good!) but they also have MailIn Rebates (which are bad!) at least for me. I am #1 procrastinator. Most likely, that rebate will expire before I put it in the mail!!! So we'll see how that works.

And from my research (ha!ha! that sounds funny) I've found that different states have their own different type of stores, and many, many offer these type of promotions or something similar. I've read of some great deals and get all worked up and excited only to find out we don't have that store anywhere close to me, sooooooooooooo no good for me. But once I get the names of those stores, I will post them. Who knows, maybe those of you that don't have CVS might have one of those other great stores around.

And as for how to get started... Subscribe to your Sunday Newspaper, or just go out and buy it! EVERY Sunday!!! There should be at least 2, sometimes 3 packets of coupon inserts. Cut them out, ALL of them... Even if it's something you don't use or think you don't need. Why? Let me explain a real life situation.... haha, mine.

That sunsilk shampoo that I bought for $1.00. I don't use that brand, so I shouldn't clip the coupon. Right???? WRONG!!! I clipped it anyways. It was save $1.50 off any shampoo/conditioner. Then there was another $1.50 off any Sunsilk hair product. So wouldn't you know that CVS had them on sale for 2 sunsilk products/$7.00, PLUS you get $2.00 back for buying. So $7.00 was sale price, then apply the 2 coupons (1.50 + 1.50 = 3.00) it comes down to $4.00 for both, but then you get $2.00 back, so you pay $2.00 for 2 products, hence $1.00 each ! ! ! Let me tell you, my Monkey used that mousse on her beautiful hair this morning and mmmmmmmmmm, it smells good!!! And it was only $1.00!!!

Ok, so you have your coupons. Good. Now inside that same newspaper there should also be a CVS flyer with the weekly sales. Look it over and compare the sales to your coupons... It might take some time, but it is well worth it. A bit of advice, look very closely at all the ones that give money back. Those are usually the best deals, and if you have a coupon for that same product, even better. Once you know what you're getting, go on over to CVS and sign up for your ExtraCare Card. They'll give it to you on the spot. Then just do what you went for!!!!! You can start off small, like I did last week with 1 deodorant just to test the waters... fyi, they usually have 1 free item every week!!!

Please, if you go. let me know your deals! k?

10 comments:

Joy said...

I will start this as soon as I get a card I did it online and it said it would come to me soon.

As far as the coupons go, have you looked online. I print from coupon.com, couponbug.com, afullcup.com

try these out and see if you like them. You can print as many as you want also.

Weeksie50 said...

Wow! What great deals. We don't have a CVS here. We do have a Walgreens but I am not sure how to get all the bargains..

Claremont First Ward said...

Incredible deal. I wish I had known about this when I lived near a CVS!

Claremont First Ward said...

P.S. I forgot to add that I hope you share more ways that you find to save money!

Scary Mommy said...

That is SO impressive. I'm a bargain hunter, but you put me to shame!! Good job!

Mamarazzi said...

that is AMAZING!! i am not sure if we have a CVS close by...i am going to have to check it out! you are right the economy right now is insane! i need to go tot he market today and i am seriously dreading it!

Honey Mommy said...

That sounds great! I don't think we have a CVS nearby.

I definitely need to start clipping coupons though! I think everyone is having to be a bit more careful these days!

Rachel said...

ok girly; what the hootin holler do I have to do??? where do I get the coupons???

tiarastantrums said...

great deals . . . I keep hearing about all these great deals with coupons - but where the heck do you get the coupons????????

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

I've GOT to start doing this. Another bloggy friend of mine does it too and blogs about her deals. We have a CVS within walking distance of our new house! And that new house is the reason I NEED to find good deals!