Fun and Frugal

Do you go CVS-ing?  You know, where you can get $30-$40 worth of stuff for pennies at CVS by learning how to buy what’s on sale with coupons and extra care bucks?  I’ve been learning how to do that since last spring and it’s a lot of fun.  If you’re new to CVS-ing, I’d encourage you to check Money Saving Mom’s weekly CVS posts.  Click here for her CVS post for the week of Jan. 18-24.

Click here and here to read some great articles for beginners from Money Saving Mom.  I also like to check Centsible Sawyer’s weekly CVS deals, too.  Another good resource is i heart cvs.  They provide weekly ads on their site early, before they’re available in stores or newspapers.

Below is  what I got tonight from CVS.  My original total was over $45 before I redeemed my extra care bucks.  Then my total was only $.29 after extra care bucks and tax!  I didn’t even have to pay that out of pocket because I put it on of my free $25 CVS gift cards I’ve gotten recently for transferring a prescription to CVS and getting them to match a competitor’s coupon for a free $25 gift card.

I was disappointed in that several of the deals I was looking for were out of stock, but the employees told me they will get another truck in tomorrow, so they may be replenished.  I couldn’t wait because I had a ton of ECB’s to use up that expired today.  I decided to buy some things we needed that I would’ve bought anyway at Wal-Mart, that weren’t necessarily good deals, but they were free to me with my ECB’s.  Here’s what I got:

2 CVS pharmacy allergy relief – on sale for $3.79/ea, free after ECB’s (Extra Care Bucks)

CVS antibacterial foaming handwash refill $5.49 (something we needed)

Vitamin Water $1.69 (this was a filler.  I had to throw in something worth at least $.90 at the end so they would take my last $7 ECB.)

Aquify twin pack contact solution $14.99, earned $3.00 in ECB’s (something we needed)

Wet n Wild lip gloss $1.99 (I had a register coupon for $2.00 off any cosmetic item, making this FREE!)

Diet Dr. Pepper 2L – on sale $1.25 (saving it for the Super Bowl)

CVS cotton balls $1.99 (something we needed)

2 CVS Advanced Healing hand cream $1.49/ea (I had a register coupon for $3.00 off any two hand creams/lotions, making these FREE!)

2 Reese’s 8.5 oz bags on sale $2.00/ea

2 Reese’s 1.2 oz hearts on sale $.50/ea

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In the end, I spent $.39 on a CVS gift card and earned $3.79 x2 in ECB’s from the allergy reliefs and $3.00 in ECB’s from the Aquify.  I also got another $25 gift card from the pharmacy for filling a new prescription and using a competitor’s coupon (from Rite Aid) for a free $25 gift card.  The Rite Aid coupons I posted about 1-5-09 are still available to print, but expire 1-31-09.

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