It might be easiest to show you an example from this week's CVS trip. A while back, I mentioned that I began my CVS shopping in July, by purchasing contact solution that gave back the full purchase price in Extra Bucks. If I remember correctly, I walked away with 8 EB's on my first trip. I've been rolling those EB's since, spending very little out of pocket on hundreds of dollars worth of products.
This week, I started with a $5 EB and a $0.99. I had earned these in previous weeks by purchasing Gatorade and a candy bar.
I walked in with a very specific, three transaction plan, that, if everything went as planned, and all items were in stock, would send me away spending under $5, with $12 EB's in hand!
Transaction 1:
Soft Soap Body Wash - on sale for $2.99 ($2 EB back)
($0.75 printable coupon available here would make a better deal, but I couldn't get it to work with our printer.)
CVS Brand 5 count allergy medicine - on sale for $3.69 ($3.69 EB back)
Total = $6.68 (with coupon would be $5.93)
Use $5.99 in EB, Total OOP = $0.68 + tax, $5.69 back in EB's ($2.00 EB + $3.69 EB)
Transaction 2:
Rephresh Tampons - on sale for $6.79 ($6.79 EB back)
- $1 Printable Coupon
Total = $5.79
Use $5.69 EB from transaction 1, Total OOP = $0.10 + tax, $6.79 back in EB's
Transaction 3:
3 Airwick i-motion air fresheners (smallest version) - on sale for $4.99 x 3 = $14.97
($10 EB back when you spend $20 on specific products - includes Airwick and Finish)
2 boxes of Finish Gel Packs - on sale for $2.99 x 2 = $5.98
(See EB deal above - total for all products involved in deal = $20.95)
Aussie Shampoo - on sale for $2.99 ($1 EB back)
Herbal Essences Shampoo - on sale for $2.99 ($1 EB back)
Newton Fruit Thins - on sale for $2.50
Total before coupons = $29.43
Coupons used:
- $5/$25 CVS coupon from Magic Machine! = $24.43
- 4 x $4/1 Airwick starter kit (in the Sunday paper - 9/11) = $12.43
- 2 x $0.75/1 Finish Gel Pack (previous Sunday insert) = $10.93
- $1/1 Aussie Product (previous Sunday insert) = $9.93
- Free Newton Fruit Thins from Magic Machine ($2.50 value) = $7.43
- $6.79 EB from transaction 2 = $0.64
Total OOP $0.64 + tax, $12 back in EB ($10 EB + $2 EB)
After tax, I spent about $4 on almost $100 worth of product (considering prices before sales), and I came home with $12 EB, so a profit of $8! See why I'm hooked? You might not have coupons from weeks past, but if you're looking into starting at CVS, you could certainly begin by trying the first two transactions above. You'll spend about $6.00 and walk away with $6.79 to use another day! Get those EB's rollin'!
Here's a look at everything I scored on this trip. :)
I remember when I first started out with CVS a few years ago, there was a sweet ECB deal with blood glucose monitors. There happened to be a coupon that made it free (in a CVS booklet that I stocked up on) and you got a $20 ECB with a limit of 5 per card. I had 4 cards so I was able to stock up on formula for baby #2 at the time from the $400 in ECBs I made. Gotta say in the last year or so the deals are not as good as they use to be :(
ReplyDeleteWow, that's crazy! Here I was, thinking $12 EB from a trip was pretty good! :) Do you have to do anything special to get more than one card??
ReplyDeleteI just had one signed up under my name-twice, john's and then my mom as well. That was before they changed the wording to be limit 1 per household where before it was limit 1 per card. Aahh, those were the days! It sounds like you're doing great with the deals and it is a whole other world with special lingo and multiple transactions! It's a fun hobby so you still get your shopping itch scratched yet you can save yourself a lot of money.
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