Archive for the ‘cvs’ Category
Super Savings: CVS
April 16th, 2008 | 
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I love CVS! While the above picture doesn’t look like much, I paid only $2.05 for what you see plus one more Cadbury bar that didn’t make it home to be in the photo! =) Even more impressive than paying $2.05 is the savings of $24.90 and the $11.97 ECBs I have to use next time! So how did I do it?
First, I did everything in one transaction because the ECBs I had to use were $9.98 and $3.
The CVS Tylenol was $3.99 (orig. $4.49 each) x 3 = $11.97
Cadbury bars were 88 cents (orig. $1.59 each) x 2 = $1.76
The Airwick Mini Starter was $4.99 (orig. $9.99) = $4.99
Total before coupons = $18.74 (orig. $26.26)
Coupons = $4 off Airwick starter, $9.98 ECB, and $3 ECB
Total paid oop = $2.05
ECBs earned = $3.99 per Tylenol for $11.97 total
The Cadbury bars weren’t entirely necessary but I’ve been promising my husband for two weeks that the next time we went to CVS, I’d buy him some chocolate (simply because I refuse to pay for it anywhere else). Plus I wanted to make sure my total was enough to use both ECBs. Without the Cadbury bars, my total before the $3 ECBs would’ve been $2.98. The CVS I was at isn’t my favorite, and I’m sure that I could’ve found chocolate of some sort with ECBs but this CVS marks hardly anything with the little tags. It took me forever to find the CVS Tylenol because the shelf wasn’t marked.
I really wanted to buy 5 CVS Tylenol, but they only had 3 on the shelf (once I found it). My DH takes 4000 mg a day of Tylenol so free Tylenol was a really awesome deal for us! I also wanted to do an Essence of Beauty deal, but I ran out of time and really didn’t need toe separators. =)
And to add sweetness to life, in Wednesday’s mail I received CVS coupons for Hershey products! This is apparently another benefit of doing that Hershey’s deal I had no idea that I did until I received my $5 gift card in the mail! =) Now I’m just waiting for my May issue of Good Housekeeping to show up with the CVS coupons in it.
Read about my 2nd trip to CVS this week here.
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Super Savings: Krogers, Foodland and CVS
Once again, I’m lacking pictures for this post. I never remember to take photos before I put the groceries away. Sigh.
Anyway, I was really excited about the grocery deals this week. Krogers had a great sale – good sale prices plus bonus money off if you purchased so many items. (Buy 10 items, get $5 off total receipt.) I spent $56.13 oop for $127.98 of groceries! I was thrilled! That’s a savings of 56%!!! I tend to average about 48% savings on a regular week, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. So, 56% made me happy, plus I got some items we don’t usually buy. In the end it worked out that I averaged $1.10 per item. I know some individual items worked out as free when combined with coupons, but I can’t tell what the items were based on my receipt. 
Our local Foodland also had a great 10 for $10 sale this week. I usually don’t buy 10 of one item, but I do buy quite a few things for $1 and use my coupons. Part of my groceries included salad for 50 cents, peanut butter for $1, General Mills cereal for $1.50, Daisy sour cream for free after coupons, and two bottles of Marzetti salad dressing for free after coupons. I love free! 
CVS didn’t have too many interesting deals this week, but I did do the Softsoap Spa body wash deal. I purchased 2 bottles in the same transaction ($4.99 each, total $9.98), used $1.75 in coupons, $5 ECB, and part of a $5 gift card from the Hershey’s deal, spent 28 cents oop (not sure why this happened – coupons maybe?), and received $9.98 in ECBs plus $3 in winter spending ECBs.
Overall, it was a satisfying week of shopping. I don’t think I’ll be grocery shopping for the rest of the month except for a few staples we might need! What a relief!
Super Savings: CVS, Kroger, Wal-Mart
Also at CVS this week, I took advantage of the great price and the ECBs on the Clear Care contact solution. I love this stuff and it is hardly ever on sale anywhere. I did, however, mess up on my transaction. The Clear Care was $7.99 and earned $3 ECB. I paid with $5 ECB and $3 cash. I should have used a $2 ECB and earned a dollar rather than lose $2 by using the $5 ECB. Oh well. I’m wiser for next time. Later in the week I went back and used my mother-in-law’s card to buy another Clear Care since it was limit 1 per card. For the 2nd transaction I told my husband he could get whatever (e.g. candy) since nothing great was on sale and I wanted to use the $3 ECB right away since the ECBs wouldn’t work later with my card. Wouldn’t you know that he picked up a Dove candy bar that gave a $1 ECB? Three transactions later, we were done. The store we were in is notorious for never marking the deals on the shelves. (I have a strong suspicion that this was the store that I did the Hershey deal at and didn’t know it.)
My mother, who lives in Pennsylvania, also uses Clear Care and happened to need some this week, so I sent her a detailed e-mail on how to use her ECBs to buy another bottle. She has a CVS card but didn’t understand the ECB concept. She proudly emailed me back to tell me that she spent $12.99 for 2 bottles and successfully used her $3 ECB to help pay for the 2nd bottle. Go Mom!!!
If you read my Frugal Friday post here, I mention finally finding a particular kind of dog food. For months, I’ve had a $3 coupon for Purina’s Naturally Complete dog food (in fact, the coupon expires next month). At one point, this dog food was on sale at Krogers for $3.99/bag, but none of our Krogers carried it. I also checked PetSmart thinking surely they would have it. Nope. Our local Wal-Mart didn’t carry it either. Neither did a local farm supply store that carries every type of dog food imaginable. I had pretty much given up hope of ever using the $3 coupon (much to my distress) and a different $2 coupon (gasp – $5 of coupons I couldn’t use!). By what I am sure was almost a miracle, I spotted the bag in a strange Wal-Mart this week (by strange, I mean one we have never been to before). The bags were partially tucked behind a display, but they were the right ones! Each bag was $4.19, so my $5 in coupons gave us a free bag plus 75 cents off the other bag! Woo-hoo! Gotta love free dog food. Now, if I could only find free cat food, preferably in large quantities…
Our Kroger trip wasn’t horribly interesting this week. We saved 38 percent, and I bought some items I don’t typically buy, because I couldn’t bear not using some $1 coupons that were getting ready to expire. Thankfully most of the items I had $1 coupons for were on sale. I had been holding onto a couple of coupons for Quaker Simple Harvest oatmeal and granola bars hoping they would go on sale, but after 2-3 months of waiting and with the coupons expiring in 2 weeks, I gave in and used the coupons. Now, for all of you who have also been holding your coupons, the oatmeal should be on sale next week…Murphy’s Law.
I’m hoping the sales will be better next week…
Super Savings: Bargaining, CVS, Krogers and Bulk Food
CVS: I did one transaction and paid cash since I only had $8 ECBs and really wanted to save those for items that would give me ECBs in return. The transaction consisted of (4) 12 packs Diet Coke for $11, (2) Chex Mix for $4, (2) Dove Chocolate Eggs for $6 with $2 ECB. I used 50 cent coupons for each of the Chex Mix bags and a $1.50 off coupon for the Dove Eggs. Not the greatest deal, but it wasn’t the greatest week for the deals either. (For a simple explanation of how CVS works, click here. Posts from previous weeks are here.)
Kroger: I didn’t score any free items but did purchase a couple of bags of Dole Salad for 99 cents and bread for 95 cents. Last week, I received a catalina coupon for Dole mandarin oranges – 75 cents off 4 cans. The cans are on sale for $1/piece, so I used the catalina and paid 81 cents each. Then when checking out today, I scored another catalina for the same deal. Thankfully, the coupon is good until the end of June! All total, with coupons and sales, we saved 38 percent on our groceries.
Amish Bulk Food Store: Since we were in the area, we stopped at the bulk food store today. For lack of storage space, I really don’t buy much in bulk. However, today I did purchase a few items – mainly ones that I can’t find in the regular store. Plus I saw a few items I want to price compare to the regular grocery store. My total cost was $15.xx and I purchased 1.9 lbs organic quick oats ($2.26), 1.08 lb of Hormel pepperoni ($5.71), .63 oz dry Ranch dressing mix ($3.58), .8 oz of taco seasoning mix ($2.17), and .4 oz dry sour cream and onion mix ($1.68). Having not purchased a lot in bulk or from this store, I don’t know if I really did all that great as far as cost, but I think I did. I know the pepperoni was a great deal and so was the ranch dressing mix. What about the rest? Those of you who buy in bulk or from Amish stores, were these good deals?
Even though we shopped at CVS and Krogers this week, our best deal came from bargaining with the ATV dealer. For about 4 months my DH has been anticipating the day he could purchase his new 4-wheeler. While some would consider an ATV a luxury, our life on a farm in the mountains makes one an absolute must. The “old” ATV still runs; however every couple of weeks something falls off and paying for the upkeep was getting frustrating. But what can you expect from a 2001 ATV with well over 100,000 miles on it? We waited patiently to purchase the new bike until we were able to pay cash and avoid all finance / interest charges.
Four months ago, when we first started looking at ATVs, the 2008 models were out of our price range, and we decided we would purchase a 2007 model. Because of poor sales (who wants to buy something that’s going to use gas at $3.40/gallon?), dealers have started lowering prices to make the sale. So, by waiting 4 months, we were able to purchase a 2008 model for the same price as the 2007 model. Then we learned that we could purchase a 4-year extended warranty for $550 (an incentive price since normal cost is $750). Is the warranty worth $550? YES! It covers just about everything that could break (minus things like spark plugs and oil filters) and after replacing a couple of axles or bearings on an ATV, the value of the warranty is obvious. However, the total cost with delivery and extended warranty was over the top amount we wanted to spend. Here’s where a little bit of bargaining paid off…
My DH told the financial lady that we really wanted to stay under a certain figure – we had passed that amount by at least $100. Did that tactic work? Yep! Without questioning, she took off the delivery charge (yay!) and gave us the warranty for $500!!! (The warranty works out to $125/yr and I know we’ve spent more than that on parts for the old ATV!) DH admitted later that he was a little nervous after saying that because he didn’t really think and just blurted it out, but his ‘bargaining’ paid off. (I’m wondering if he should’ve said a lower amount especially if they were truly desperate for the sale!) Now, I have a happy husband with a new toy!
Super Savings at CVS
Here’s my pile of loot from this week’s CVS trip. A few weeks ago, I used up all of my ECBs (not very many) and was waiting for a week where I could purchase things we would use as well as earn a few ECBs. This week was the week! One thing I learned from this trip is that if you are flexible with your purchases, you may get a good deal! I had planned on purchasing things like the Downy fabric softener @ 2/$7 until I saw the tiny size of the bottle, or the Febreeze Noticeable Starter Kit. I was disappointed that my ECB total wouldn’t be as high until I spotted the Glade monthly deal and knew I had a B1G1 coupon. The combination of the B1G1 and ECBs back made the scented oil candles about $1.50 each, without counting the ECBs they were $3.50 each!!!
If you aren’t familiar with how to maximize your shopping experience at CVS, check out A Really Simple Explanation of CVS-ing.
Here’s a run-down of my transactions…
Transaction #1:
(2) Glade candles, vanilla scent (yum!) – $2 coupon
(2) Glade scented oil candles, dewberry dreams scent – B1G1 coupon
Olay Bodywash – $1 coupon
Crest Pro-Health – $2 coupon
(2) Colgate Total toothpaste – $1.25 total coupons
Total: $35.xx
Coupons: $13.25
ECBs used: none
Total OOP: $22.72
ECBs earned: $5.98 from toothpaste, $2 from Glade candles, $4 from Glade scented oil
Transaction #2:
(2) Sure deodorant – $2 off 2 coupon
Venus Embrace Razor – $4 off coupon
Gillette Mach 3 disposable razors – $3 off coupon
Total: $24.xx
Coupons: $9
ECBs used: $11.98 from previous transaction
Total OOP: $2.64
ECBs earned: $6 from Venus, $5 from Gillette
Side note: While paying my $2.64, my DH commented that I was robbing the store. The cashier told him that he should be proud that his wife was saving him so much money since most women think nothing of spending it frivolously. Of course, DH is proud and appreciative – he drives about 40 miles one way with me to get these deals and because of his RSD sitting in a vehicle for a long time isn’t the most pleasant experience with his pain.
Transaction #3:
(While we were next door at Kroger’s grocery shopping, my DH was begging for chocolate. I told him I’d go back to CVS after we were done grocery shopping. I think he was a little surprised at my version of buying chocolate – definitely not 2 or 3 candy bars!!!)
Hershey’s Kisses
Hershey’s Nuggets
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
(2) Russell Stover Private Reserve – B1G1 (I randomly added these because I wanted to make sure my total was over $11. I was pleasantly surprised later when they earned me ECBs – the shelf wasn’t marked.)
Total: $18.50
Coupons: $3.29
ECBs used: $11 from previous transaction
Total OOP: $4.56
ECBs earned: $5 from Hershey’s/Reese’s, $3 from Russell Stover
Overall, I think it was a successful trip especially considering the flexibility I needed in my transactions. We also scored some great deals at Krogers. We purchased 60 items and spent a little less than an average of $1.25 per item. Our two best deals were the Renuzuit Triple Scent (originally $5.99) for 99 cents, and Betty Crocker Pouch Potatoes 20 cents after coupon.
So far for this year, we have saved $176.95 at CVS and $167 at Krogers. However, I’m not sure if the Kroger total includes the $58 of savings for this week. If not, our total would be $225.
Jump on over to Money Saving Mom for more of this week’s deals!