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

Okay CVS people.....here is a post just for you!

Last Friday, I went to CVS and got the following:

1 Garnier hair masque treatment
2 bags dark chocolate m&ms (SO addicting)
2 bottles (?) hand soap
1 shea butter body wash
2 deodorants
1 box kleenex
1 Venus Embrace razor
1 package peanut butter crackers
1 bottle Purell w/aloe sanitizer
1 Precision Xtra blood glucose monitor



I used a $9.99 coupon for the monitor, a $1 coupon for the sanitizer, a $1 for the body wash, and a $1 for the deodorants. I also had a $10/$50 purchase that had printed on the bottom of my CVS receipt. I stupidly forgot to use the $6 ECB I had remaining. Oh well.



My total OOP (out-of-pocket) was $32.81. Granted, that sounds like a lot, and it is. But before Christmas, money was a little tighter, and I purposely used up all my CVS bucks. Now I've spent a lot up front, but that transaction gave me 41 ECBs to use! For the next several months, my OOP should be less than $1 every time. (Those of you who know me, I'm not becoming diabetic - the monitor was on sale for $19.99 last week and gave $19.99 ECB back. Coupled with the coupons I had, I got it for free, got $19.99 back, and I'm going to donate it to someone at church. See how fun this is? :)

Fast forward to this past Monday, when I went to CVS again. Now here comes the fun part, where you can join in if you've kept your coupons from the Sunday paper! (P.S. ALWAYS do that ;). The paper had a $4 off coupon for the Gillette razor and a $1 coupon off of the Colgate toothpaste. Go to CVS and buy:



1 razor ($9.99)
1 toothpaste ($1.88)


This equals $11.87 + tax.
Then hand them your $4 coupon and your $1 coupon.
Your new total will be $6.87 + tax.
You pay that, and you'll receive a $6 ECB from the razor and a $1 ECB from the toothpaste. Basically, you broke even....and now you have $7 to start playing the game.....


My husband loves these razors (they're battery-powered), and because CVS has promotions on them all the time, we currently have 4 in our home - and I've basically gotten all of them for free.









So, I got my razor and toothpaste for 83 cents. (The downside to the ECB is that you have to use the exact amount listed on the ECB. So if you have an ECB for $2, and buy $1.15 worth of gum, CVS won't accept the $2 ECB. You'd THINK they would, since they just gained 85 cents, but I guess they figure you'll overspend. To keep my sanity (and because I'm horrible at quick math in a register line), I usually just let myself spend some change if its under $1.) All together, I now have $48 in ECB to use.



So, what are you waiting for? GO PLAY THE GAME!!!

*For more info, check out Crystal at moneysavingmom.com. CVS info is listed on her sidebar.