CVS – My shopping trip, and some pointers!
Most of our second trip at CVS, minus the Skijny Cow in the freezer :)
I’m not a CVS pro just yet, but I have been learning a lot on the way! If you’re a CVS-er too, make sure you sign up for an Extra Care rewards card. This lets you scan your card for coupons, and earn Extra Bucks along the way! Make sure you also sign up for the CVS Beauty Club - which you can do at the register and it's added to your card. For every $50 you spend (pre-coupon!) on beauty items such as makeup, deodorant, shampoo, etc., you’ll get $5 in ECB to spend however you like – which is an awesome deal! After spending about $50 last week on makeup (far less out of pocket), I received a $5 reward this week to use on my purchases. I found this by going to www.cvs.com, logging into the portal with my Extra Care card, and clicking ‘Savings and Rewards.’
Upon logging into ‘My Savings & Rewards,’ I was able to print my $5 ECB coupon. You can also print coupons such as $2 off $8 deodorant purchase, and others that may become available to you. Not everyone will get the same coupons, and you can only use each of them once. It’s nice because it tells you when they will expire and if you’ve already printed them! Most of these coupons are also the ones that will print at the red coupon machine in the store.
How I count my ECB’s so I know when something is “FREE”.. FYI, this can get confusing!
Different people use different ways of looking at this. I choose to look at it this way: If I purchase toothpaste for $2 and a $2 ECB comes with it, even though I am paying $2 out of pocket, I consider that item to be free. Why? Because the $2 ECB is attached to this item. Others may acquire ECB and then use them all at once. This way, they’re spending $2 on the toothpaste, but the snacks they buy with their ECB are what they consider to be FREE. It’s up to you on how you look at it!
For my $5 Beauty ECB, I will count this as $5 off my purchase – Why? Because I didn’t purchase any items specifically to get this, it came as a reward later on. So now I will consider it ‘free.’
My Trip this week.. Part 1
I have my $5 beauty club ECB (mentioned above) and $8 in ECB from a previous purchase in hand, as well as some coupons! Note – I only used the $5 ECB here.
The first part of my trip I was set out to get these things:
(2) Colgate 360 toothbrushes @ $2.99 each, regularly $4.79
(4) Aquafina Flavorsplash waters @ $.88 each, regularly $1.67
I only had time for a quick run into CVS, so I planned to do the second half of my trip the next day.
I purchased:
(2) Colgate 360 toothbrushes @ $2.99, regularly $4.79
- 2 $1/1 Colgate 360 toothbrush, from 6/1 SS
OOP = $1.99 per toothbrush, $3.98 total
(4) Aquafina Flavorsplash waters @ $.88 (sale price this week)
- 4 $1/1 Aquafina Flavorsplash water CVS coupon
= FREE!
Here is where I ran into a slight issue, that I am sharing as a learning experience! My total was something around $3.99. In order to use my $5 ECB, I needed to bump that total up.
So here’s what I did: Purchased (4) M&M single serving candies, on sale 2/$2. I used (2) Buy 1 M&Ms, Get 1 Pretzel M&Ms Free (printable from www.coupons.com), adding $2 onto my total.
My next issue – Only one Aquafina coupon would register, so she knew we would have to do them separately, which was no problem since my Aquafina would be free.
So this transaction included:
(2) Colgate 360 toothbrushes
(1) Aquafina water
(4) M&Ms (2 were free w/ coupon)
My total now was $5.50! I handed over my $5 ECB and .50 and that was all I owed.
Also, I got $4 ECB back from the toothbrushes! ($2 per toothbrush, limit 2), making my total, a $3.50 moneymaker! As I mentioned above, I consider the $5 ECB to be free here because I did not purchase anything specific to earn it. I actually made $3.50 ($4 ECB - .50 OOP) to purchase these items!
I rang up my next 3 Aquafina in 3 transactions, and they were totally free.
Total for 1st CVS stop: $20.26 worth of products, paid $.50 OOP, made $4 in ECB!
My Trip.. Part 2!
Recently, CVS has begun giving out $10 gift cards when you buy $30 worth of specified products. This seemed like a good idea to me, but it's difficult - you want to get $30 worth of product for as cheap as possible. So I gathered everything that was available to get the gas card deal, threw it in a spreadsheet, put in the coupons, and figured out how to get the cheapest scenario! Here's how I did it. This transaction also includes a few other deals that did not trigger the $30 gas card, but that I was still interested in getting!
2 Lifesaver mints: 2 for $3 (no coupons, but I love these).
2 Twix Bites: 2 for $6, I had a $1/2 coupon (I actually had a $3/2 but I couldn't find it) coupon here
2 Dove for men body wash: BOGO 50%, plus 2 $2.25/1 printable coupons (no longer available)
These added up to $30.65, which was perfect since the total needs to be $30 in order to get the gas card.
I also purchased....
2 Crest Sensi-relief toothpaste, on sale for $2.99 (regularly $5.99), and generating ECB! I used 2 $1/1 coupons found here
2 Right Guard Deodorants, on sale 2 for $6 (regularly $4 each), and generating ECB! I used 2 $2/1 coupons from this week's Red Plum ad.
Used $2 off $8 deodorant purchase, printed from the CVS coupon machine inside the store! This combined w/ the 2 Dove deodorant was over $8 so the coupon worked for me.
2 Charmin Big Toilet Paper Rolls, $1.57 each.
Used $3/2 Charmin toilet paper coupon, printed from the CVS coupon machine inside the store - making these just .07 each!
Total before coupons for everything: $67.74.
Total after coupons: $24.74
I used $12 ECB that I had (from yesterday's transaction and a prior one), but I do NOT consider that to be $12 off this purchase, I consider it to be $12 off the purchase in which I acquired it - hope that makes sense. I actually paid $24.74 - $12 ECB = $12.74 out of pocket.
So out of pocket, my total was $24.74 for $67.74 worth of products. BUT.. I got back a $10 gas card, $4 ECB from the toothpaste, and $2 ECB from the deodorant, which totals $16, making my out of pocket for this transaction just $8.74!
Considering I made $3.50 off of my transaction yesterday, and I spent $8.74 today, I'd say that was a success this week -- A total of $5.24 spent for $87 worth of products!! :-)
My Extra Care Deals -- So easy, you can do them too!!
This week's CREST deal was super easy to do. All I did was print off 2 $2/1 coupons from the links above, and purchase the toothpaste at the store. The Sensi-relief is on sale for $2.99. When you purchase 2 and use your 2 $1/1 coupons, your total at the register should be $1.99 x 2 = $3.98. You'll get back $4 in ECB for the next transaction.... Making these FREE!!
So, clip 2 $2/1 Right Guard coupons from your Red Plum this week. Mine came in Wednesday's grocery ad insert. I used the $2/1 Right Guard Extreme and $2/1 Right Guard Total 5. Both were included in the deal for ECBs this week. Purchase 2 deodorants for $6, use your 2 $2/1 coupons, making your total $2. Pay $2 out of pocket, and get back $2 ECB, making these FREE! :)
Something to note... you do not have to purchase $30 worth of gas card products all at once. If you choose, you can come back later in the week and round off your deal, or do a few different transactions. It will track it at the bottom of your receipt by saying "Towards Gas Card Deal: $10" or something like that, so you know how much you have to go until you get your gas card.
Gas card deals are only good for certain items. I suggest picking up an ad at the front of the store so that you know which items are included, because they are not always clearly marked in the aisles, unfortunately!
Write down what you plan to get before you go. It's super easy to get caught up in the middle of the store crunching numbers, and it is so much easier when you actually know what you want before you get in the store!
Happy CVS-ing!
