I could not get over how many deals I wanted to do this weekend! Since I hate doing more than two transactions per store, I hit a couple of them today. Cashiers get frazzled trying to figure out the rolling of RRs and ECBs and the lines back up which I never want to be the culprit for! (The great thing about Chicago...many, many Walgreens & CVS stores within a 1 mile radius!)
Since my Mom is going to be around this weekend and doesn't have a CVS, I did one transaction on her card for her to earn her some ECBs. I buy up some deals for her and she pays me when I see her. It's kind of fun. (I always say...here's your bag full of treasures...and that will be $3!) Here's what I ended up with:
Walgreens #1-2
4 bags of Nabisco Ritz crackers
2 St Ives Scrubs
1 Fusion Power Razor
1 Loreal Advanced Lift Lotion
1 Loreal Night/Eye Cream
1 Pert Plus
2 Lindt Chocolate Bars
Used Coupons: BOGO for St Ives, 1- $2 off St Ives, 4-$1/1 Ritz, 1 $4 off Fusion Razor, 2- $2 off Loreal, 1- $2 Pert Plus, 1- $2.50 ES Pert Plus, 1 BOGO Lindt, 1- $.75 off Lindt, 1 ES $2 off Lindt. (I love how Wags lets you stack their coupons!)
Earned $9RRs (which I used) and put $21.43 on a Gift Card I earned last week. I can turn in the L'Oreal for a $16.49 ES rebate. (hidden deal this month)
Walgreens #3-4
2 St Ives Scrubs
2 Lindt Chocolate Bars
1 Fusion Power Razor
1 Tigger Marshmellow Sucker (a filler item for Nathan)
Used Coupons: BOGO for St Ives, 1-$2 St Ives, 1 BOGO Lindt, 1 $.75 off Lindt, 1 ES $2 off Lindt and 1 $4 off Fusion Razor.
Earned $6RRs. Used $2RRs for the transaction. Put $5.14 on GC.
Walgreens #5-6
2 St Ives Scrubs
2 Lindt Chocolate Bars
1 Fusion Power Razor
Used Coupons: 2- $2 St Ives tear-pads, 1 BOGO Lindt, 1 ES $2 off Lindt, 1 $4 off Fusion Razor.
Earned $6RRs. Used $2RRs for the transaction (and $4 from prior transaction). Put $3.38 on GC and $3.73 cash. Still have $4 in RRs left.
Overall for Wags = $3.73OOP. Earned $16.49 in rebates and have $4RRs left to spend.
CVS #1-2
2 Butler/Gum Toothbrush 2pks.
3 Excedrin
1 Powerade
2 Brach's Candy
1 Just for Men Haircolor
2 Pumpkin Pails
2 Funlights
Used Coupons: 2-$.75 off Butler/Gum toothbrushes, 3-$2 off Excedrin, $1 off Powerade and $2 off Just for Men and $3/$15 CVS coupon.
Earned: $24.20 in ECBs. Used $9.67ECBs on this order. Also earned 2 - $1.99 Excedrin rebates (one goes to my Mom) and 1 - $8 Just for Men rebates.
Total OOP = $5.79
CVS #3-4
1 Excedrin
5 Playskool Baby Wipes
1 Colgate Max Beads Toothpaste
2 Listerine Agent Blue Mouthwashes
1 J&J Baby Shampoo
2 J&J Baby Washes
3 Gerber Baby Foods
Used Coupons: 1- $2 Excedrin, 2- $1 Playskool wipes, 2-$1 Colgate Max Beads (one was CVS CRT), 2- $1 Agent Blues and 1 $3/3 J&J products.
Earned: $18 in ECBs. Used ECBs from prior order and $8 from this order. Earned another Excedrin rebate for my sister.
Total OOP= $7.20
CVS #5 - Mom's Card
1 Powerade
2 Candy Corns
Total = $3.44 OOP. Earned her $4.27 in ECBs. Used a $1/1 Powerade coupon.
Overall for CVS: $16.43 OOP. Earned $13.96 in rebates and still have $10ECBs left to spend on my card and my Mom has $4.27.
Grand Totals for the Day: $20.16 OOP, have $4 in RRs and $14.27 in ECBs left and earned $30.45 in rebates.
I am regularly sending rebates and doing deals for my family. Not everyone loves running deals like we do so I help them out. Maybe someday they'll catch the "fever," too! We all have our "trades." Currently, my sister is making me a homemade coupon bag. A nice exchange for the items I picked up for her!! :)
How did you do? Leave your blog link or a comment to share your great trip! We all love to marvel at how much we can get for very little $$!
I just started to shop at CVS. I think I saw that you used ECB's that you earned in that order towards the order. Is this true?
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen/Shawn,
ReplyDeleteWhat I do normally, is split my order in two and then say to the cashier, "I'd like to split my order so I can use my ECBs on the other order." They are always pretty cool with this, as long as there isn't a long line.
The first order, I usually keep most of my ECB earning items in. I also throw in "free" items, like the Excedrin ($1.99 w/ $2 cpn), to get my total up to the CVS coupon amount, if I have one.
After I pay for the order, the ECBs will spit out. I quickly rip them off the receipt and then use them on my next order. This will keep your OOP (out of pocket) costs down considerably. Especially if you have coupons for the ECB earning items. If you have a CVS coupon and coupons on the "freebies," as I call them, you can get them for next to nothing. (Freebies would be the ones like spend $3.99, get $3.99ECBs)
If you ever have any CVS questions, please let me know. I'm starting to pick up some of the tricks of the trade.
As annoying as it is to do multiple transactions, it's the very best way to keep your OOP low.
~Jaycie
I'm really confused.... Lots of abbreviations and coupon lingo.... Maybe aglossary for new readers would help?
ReplyDeleteA glossary is actually on my list of to-dos. Here are what the abbreviations stand for:
ReplyDeleteES = Easy Saver. It's the monthly savings catalog that Walgreens has. You can find it in their store by their weekly ads.
ESR= Easy Saver Rebate. Each month, Walgreens has a few rebate items you can turn in.
RRs= Register Rewards. These are like cash you can use at Walgreens only. They usually have a 2-4wk. expiration date.
ECBs= Extra Care Bucks. These are like cash you can use at CVS only. They usually have a one month expiration date.
Any Coupon that has S after it, is from the Smart Source insert in Sunday's paper.
Any Coupon that has a V or RP after it, is from the Valassis/Red Plum insert in Sunday's paper.
I think this is all the abbreviations I used. Hope this helps.