..una.vita.benedetta.. ..a.blessed.life..

I have been learning so much from various blogs, particularly Kacie and Crystal, about how to save tons at CVS. I personally had never shopped at CVS before for my normal body/pharmacy items, because I always thought the prices were out of control. I shopped at Wal-Mart for everything, often buying generic when the product was comparable in quality. Well, they opened my eyes to the wonderful world of CVS savings! For anyone new to CVS, check out the CVS:101 links on their sidebars.

Anyway, several weeks ago, I purchased Brita filters and Degree Deoderant from CVS. Using a $4/20 coupon I got from signing up for a new CVS card, and a coupon for $2 off the deo that I had from the paper, I spent $20.12 out of pocket. In return, I was given $10 in ECB.

Fast forward to this past Monday. I started out slowly, like they recommend. I was able to purchase:

2 bottles of Palmolive dish detergent
1 bottle of Tums Smoothies (60 count)
1 package of CVS cotton swabs (500 ct. plus 50 bonus q-tips)

I had another CVS coupon ($2/10), then a $1/2 Palmolive coupon, then a $1/off Tums coupon from the CVS diabetes booklet in the back of the store. Using $5 of my ECB, I only paid $2.85 out of pocket BUT I have a rebate (check last Sunday's paper!) for the full cost of the Tums. Since I am a rookie :), I didn't understand until I got to the register that you have to use the full dollar amount of the ECB or you don't get any back. However, I didn't lose any money, since I'll be getting the refund from Tums. My cashier was very, very gracious, and was actually excited for me to earn all of the ECB that I did from my receipt!

All in all:
I earned $6 ECB from this week's purchases
I still have my $5 ECB from my original purchase
I will be making $1.84 BACK from my Tums rebate

Basically, I got FREE STUFF, I earned MORE MONEY at CVS for next week, and I actually MADE COLD, HARD CASH!

I am so excited to see tomorrow's paper!