Yesterday, I asked you all to take a guess at how much I spent at CVS on Sunday. The retail value on all the items above was just over $111.
Of course, you know I didn’t pay that!
No way!
My total out of pocket, before taxes, was $2.87!
Congrats to Shelley, who I think came the closest with her guess of $3.50. Although Tziporah guessed $2.23, which was off by just one cent more. So, I’m going to give both of you a coupon for a free Healthy Balance product. 🙂
Now here’s the deal. This little “game” was fun with y’all, but I didn’t do it to brag (I promise!). I did it to show you that YOU CAN DO THIS.
If you’re not getting free toiletries at CVS (or Walgreens, or RiteAid or Target) yet, start now. Start small. Just get the freebies. It’s not hard. I promise. I did this yesterday with three bouncing-off-the-walls kids in tow. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Here are some of the highlights from the trip:
- Saving almost 98% off the retail value on these items
- Grabbing a number of free-after-ECB-and-coupon items that I can donate to a women’s shelter
- Scoring those fuzzy Crocs-knock-offs for just $1.49 a pair for DH and one of my boys. They were on 90% clearance (check your CVS’s – they were at an end cap right near the front of my store). DH lurves them!
- Earning $9.99 in ECBs to roll at my next trip
And the lowlights:
- Missing out on the free Irish Spring deodorant – my store didn’t stock it and I was too distracted with the kids to figure out a good substitute
- Miscalculating my third transaction (due to deodorant mishap) and having to grab THREE candy bars at the register just so I would not have a negative balance. At least they were on sale Buy Two Get One Free… of course, now there are B2G1Free coupons on Coupons.com, too. Oh well!
So, now it’s your turn to wow us with your low, low totals. How’d you do this week?
Yesterday, I got one Crest Clinical Gum Protection, one Herbal Essence shampoo, and one Herbal Essence conditioner. I walked in with $4 in ECBs. Paid 47 cents (before tax). Walked out with $4.50 in ECBs.
Well done!
I need a tutorial! I have not cracked CVS/Walgreen’s yet.
I’d be happy to do a one-on-one with you 😉
Can I please join the tutorial?
That’s amazing.
Just to be fair – the 9.99 for next trip shouldn’t count toward this one, unless you don’t count it next time. Otherwise you’d be double counting. I’m assuming you didn’t since you said total cash out of pocket, just noting it for anyone who may count it as a savings twice by mistake.
Good point. I’m not counting the ECBs I earned toward my out of pocket. Straight up, I paid less than $3 + tax on everything in the picture.
Although I did have ECBs coming in — which is a major strategy I try to teach everyone. When you have ECBs to roll, your OOP is as low as possible!
NO WAY! I AM SOOOOOOO JEALOUS!
YET HAPPY FOR YOU! GOOD 4 U!
—
Daniela
http://isreview1.blogspot.com
I didn’t get as much: 4 toothpastes, the adult diapers, a candy bar, 3 packages of dental picks, a deodarant, a neosporin and a package of bandaids. Howver, my out of pockets was $9.90 but I got back $10.50 more in ECBs than I used. The main score was the magic coupon machine that spit out a $5 off $25 coupon which allowed me to make money on the transactions.
I should add that we’ve gone with a card for me and one for my wife so we can do the limited deals once on each card.