Shoppings - keeping up on "free money"

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a shopping update. However, I was pretty pleased with the results of this week’s shopping expeditions, so I just couldn’t resist sharing!

CVS:
While CVS had several really good deals this week, none of it were things I was really interested in. However, I had a dilemma, I had $14 worth of ECBs that I didn’t want to just expire nor did I want to have to start over with zero ECBs. While it builds up quickly, it does require spending a little more to get the ECBs built back up. It’s the sneaky trick of CVS to keep you coming back! A trick I’m okay with though.

My solution: They were doing a deal on L’Oreal moisturizer. Buy a moisturizer for $15.99 get $15.99 ECBs back. I figured I could spend my $14 ECBs and pay $2 oop and earn $15.99 back and come out basically even (while then establishing more ECBs for future shopping). However, CVS has this great little machine that you can scan your card at and it’ll pop out extra coupons, etc (and your quarterly ECB rewards). So, I scanned my card and what should come out? A $2 coupon off of the any L’Oreal product! Perfect! I was getting $15.99 back in ECBs after spending only $13.99!

And then, just because I could, I did a quick browse down some of their sale aisles, and found the last of the fall stuff on sale. All for 75% off! Long story short, I wound up buying 5 really pretty fall decorations (including a really nice wreath) for $6.95. Spent $7.42 oop (including tax) and got $15.99 back in ECBs.

I’m very cautious about my fall and winter decoration spending and try to only buy a few things each year (at most – generally I limit it to 1 sometimes 2 items). However, to get five lovely fall pieces for $6.95, I call a fair deal.

Walgreens:
Check Mix was on sale here for $.99 plus I had a $.60 coupon, so I grabbed a bag of that for $.39 (even though Chris is also trying to get away from a lot of the processed foods, we go to a lot of things that ask us to bring a snack or something…so super cheap chips, etc are always a must buy!).

Puffs was also on sale for $.99 per box

And then the best price was Almay mascara. This was one of the FAR items for the month. But what made it even better was that I had a coupon for $1.00. So, I paid $5.99 for the item but will get back $6.99!

Total: $9.96 - $1.60 coupons = $8.91 (with tax). I paid for most of that with the last of my gift card and then paid the last $3.29 oop.

Again, like CVS, to really keep the balance going on paying minimal out of pocket, you have to sometimes spend a little more than you might have otherwise to reap the future benefits.