Category Archives: Our Couponing Shopping Trips

CVS Thanksgiving / Black Friday Sale! Spent- $20.12 and Saved- $114.43

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My haul from the CVS Thanksgiving sale last night! Probably my favorite shopping trip of the year! This is my Black Friday shopping. Here is the breakdown-

Spent- $20.12

Saved- $114.43

Number of CVS cards- 2

Number of Transactions- 12

ECBs (CVS store dollars) Left Over- $5

This sounds like a lot until you know that we were the only ones in the store and they allowed my sister and I to use our boyfriend’s cards to do more deals. They had tons of stuff so we weren’t clearing any shelves. I had $8 ECBs  left on one card so I used it to pick up some mostly free groceries or I would have had $13 ECBs left. There are close ups of my haul below below.

AND this required very, very few coupons. We only used about 2 newspaper coupons and 2 CVS printer coupons per transaction so most of these deals don’t require coupons!

If you want to see these deal match ups you can view the CVS Ad at CVS.com here or the coupon match ups at SouthernSavers.com here.

Here is one additional deal I didn’t see elsewhere-

CVS Multi-pack Toothbrushes $2.99
– Use $1 off CVS Toothbrushes coupon from the CVS coupon printer
– Receive $2 ECBs
Price after coupon and ECBs- FREE!

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11-12-13 CVS Shopping Trip

imageThis week at CVS I spent $8.34 and saved $38.71 and I bought a lot of things we were out of. I save the most by rolling my ECBs (CVS store dollars) by buying something, getting the ECBs, and using them to pay for the next transaction. The Mountain Dew is extra caffeine to get us through finals week. I did 3 transactions on my card and used the bf’s card to get another pain reliever for free (they had tons of them at my store).

If you would like to see the deals for this week I visited SouthernSavers.com.

Pür Minerals B1G1 Free This Week Only at ULTA

imageI was almost entirely out of face makeup and not going to be near my closest Ulta store this week. I really didn’t want to go out of my way but B was nice enough to volunteer to drive me. When I got there I was excited to find that Pür Minerals was B1G1 Free this week only at ULTA. That was very lucky! Last year I bought 4 but this year I bought six which hopefully will be enough for the whole year. Keep in mind there are no coupons for this makeup and it only goes on this one sale the entire year. When not on sale the makeup is $27 for one compact. If you have read anything on this blog you know that I am very careful with my money but I LOVE, LOVE this makeup. It’s 4 in 1: foundation, powder, SPF 15 and concealer. It also saves me a lot of time because I only have to apply one product instead of 4. So today I bought enough for the rest of the year saving myself $84 and several trips to the store.

7-22-13 CVS Shopping Trip

imageIt has been a while since I have done any couponing at CVS but I was near by and I wanted to use my $3 free ECBs because I needed more of my Natural Tom’s of Maine toothpaste which is usually $5 a tube so I did a couple of other little deals while I was there.

Just the Basics 1 Paper Towel Roll 79¢
Store Coupon 79¢ off Just the Basics Towel printing at CVS coupon center
Cost After Coupons- Free

Hershey, Nestle or Unreal Pouches, 6.3-12 oz, $3
-$2.50 off Kit Kat Mini’s, 8 oz+, share (CVS coupon) printable
Cost After Coupons-.50 each

Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste $4.99 Regular Price
-$1 off Tom’s of Maine toothpaste or mouthwash, SS 6/23
$3 CVS ECBs FREE in a CVS e-mail
Cost After Coupons- $.99

Total w/ Tax- $2.51
Saved- $12.67

I’ll take it! I needed toothpaste anyway so I love getting it and other items with it for half the price of the toothpaste.

The Best Way to Use ‘Free Item’ Coupons

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I love getting coupons for free items because I love getting stuff for FREE! However these coupons present a unique opportunity to get even more stuff for free.

The Best way to use free item coupons is to combine them with other sales or deals!

I especially love if there is a Buy One Get One Free deal with an item I have a free coupon for. Then you can get two items for free. Even when that isn’t the case, you can still often find other great deals to use because Free Item coupons are a companies way of getting you to try a product that they are usually also promoting in other ways.

In the picture below are two examples-

-I had a coupon for free Playtex Sport Tampons and I was able to combine it with a Publix coupon that said if you buy Playtex Sport Tampons you will get a Skintimate Shave Gel for Free so I got both items for FREE!

– I also had a coupon for a free Pepsi Next 2 Liter that I combined with a Buy 2 Pepsi Products Get One Free Sale and I only had to buy one 2 Liter and got two FREE!

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5-2-13 Publix Shopping Trip

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Before this shopping trip B and I sat down and planned out what meals we wanted to make for the month. Sometimes we do this on a weekly basis but this is the first time we have attempted a whole month. We aren’t picky eaters and do tend to eat a lot of the same meals each month but we do try to eat healthy. I ended up spending $99 which was most of my Free $100 Publix gift card but we saved $73 and hopefully we won’t need to buy many more groceries this month. This is a new strategy for us because we usually make several smaller grocery shopping trips rather than one big one and probably still buying a few smaller things here and there. We already have stocked up on A LOT of canned veggies and things like sauces from previous shopping trips this year when they hit rock bottom prices which means Rather than bore you with all of the things I bought (it was A LOT) here are some of the best deals from this shopping trip-

B1G1 Free Chi Chi’s Seasoned Ground Beef, 15 oz, at $5.99 ($2.99)

B1G1 Free Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, at $4.59 lb ($2.29 lb)

B1G1 Free Publix Shredded Cheese, 6-8 oz, $2.50

DiGiorno Pizza, 31.2-33.6 oz, $5
-$1.50 off DiGiorno pizzeria! pizza Printable
-$1.50 off DiGiorno pizzeria! pizza, Publix eCoupon
-$1/2 DiGiorno’s rising crust frozen pizzas, Target coupon Printable
-$1.50 off DiGiorno Pizzeria! pizza, SS 4/21
-$2 off Digiorno Pizzeria Pizza Facebook Printable
-$5/$20 Nestle product purchase, Target coupon Printable
Cost After Coupons-$3

Stouffer’s Family Size Entree, 25-49 oz, $3.99
-$1.50 off Stouffer’s family, large family or party size entree, 25-96 oz, SS 3/10
-$1.50 off Stouffer’s entree, family size Facebook Printable
-$5/$20 Nestle product purchase, Target coupon Printable
Cost After Coupons-$2.49

– Plus the two above deals allowed me to use -$5/$20 Nestle product purchase, Target coupon Printable

2 Publix Salads 2 for $4 and 2 Small Wishbone Dressings $1.79 each
$2 WYB buy a Publix Salad and Wishbone Dressing Publix Coupon On Stand In Front of Store
Cost After Coupons- 2 Free + Wishbone Dressings because I was already buying the salads

Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix
– $1 off When You Buy Publix Eggs and Betty Crocker Muffin Mix Publix Coupon On Stand In Front of Store
Cost After Coupons- Made the Muffin Mix .29 cents because I was already buying the eggs

Snap Tea $2.50
– Free Mail In Rebate TearPad in Front of Display
Cost After Rebate- Free

Hass Avacados $1 each

B1G1 Free Breakstone’s Sour Cream, 16 oz, at $2.09 ($1.04)

B1G1 Free Mama Francesa Imported Parmesan Cheese, 8 oz, at $3.49 ($1.74)

Technically this shopping trip was entirely FREE thanks to my Free $100 Publix gift card so we-
Spent- $0.00
Saved- $173.21
This will really help our Grocery Budget for this month!

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4-16-13 Publix Shopping Trip

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At Publix I spent $19.94 and saved $51.90.

I wasn’t planning on going to Publix but I decided to go last minute because there were some great deals on things we will definitely use. Half of what I got this trip was without coupons but I’m very happy with everything I ended up buying.

4 Sunlight Dish Soap .59¢
– $1 off Sunlight Product PRINTABLE
Cost After Coupons- Free + Overage

2 Friskies Cat Food, 3.15 lb, at $4.69 ($2.34)
– B1G1 Free Target Coupon PRINTABLE
Cost After Coupons- Both Free After Coupon
Note- Your store must accept Target Coupons as a competitor

Smart Balance Buttery Spread, 2 pk. 7.5 oz or 8-15 oz, at $3.59 ($1.79)
-.75/1 Smart Balance spreadable butter or blended butter sticks printable
-$1 off Smart Balance spreadable butter or blended butter sticks, SS 3/24
-$1/2 Smart Balance buttery spread, SS 3/24
-$1 off Smart Balance buttery spread Publix Basket of Savings booklet
-$1 off Smart Balance buttery spread Publix coupon printable
-$1/2 Smart Balance buttery spreads, SS 4/14
Cost After Coupons- As low as 4¢

Garland Jack’s or Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce, 17.5-18 oz, $1
-.75/1 Bulls Eye or Garland Jack’s Secret Six barbecue sauce, 17.5-18 oz (Publix coupon), Savings are Stocking Up home mailer
Cost After Coupons- 25¢ each

B1G1 Marzetti Refrigerated Salad Dressing $3.99
$1/1 Marzetti Refrigerated Salad Dressing Blinkie Coupon from in front of the dressing
Cost After Coupons- $1 each

Kraft Fresh Take is on sale B1G1 for $2.99
– $1 off Kraft Fresh Take PRINTABLE
Cost After Coupons- $.50 each
Note- I bought these for the packs of cheese that come with them

Without coupons I also bought- A sweet onion, ground meat, sour cream, cream cheese, B1G1 free bagels, a bag of spinich, B1G1 free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream

 Snausages Chewy Dog Snacks, 10-12 oz, at $2.99 ($1.49)
-.75/1 Snausages or Snaw Somes! dog snacks (regional), RP 3/17
-$1 off Snausages or Snaw Somes! dog snacks (regional), RP 3/17
Cost After Coupons- 49¢
(Not Pictured I Gave the Coupons to My Mom so they weren’t part of this transaction but still a great deal)

Totals-

Spent- $19.94

Saved- $51.90

Stuff I Got at The CVS Thanksgiving / Black Friday Sale

imageI ended up getting some more great free stuff at the extended CVS Thanksgiving / Black Friday sale. I didn’t make it until around 11pm on Saturday only an hour before it ended and they still had some of the items I wanted and I got rainchecks for some they didn’t. I bought the chocolate stick treats from the $1 food section as filler and I paid with my extracare bucks from my earlier shopping that week.

11-18-12 CVS Early Black Friday Shopping


I got a big surprise on Saturday night when I found out that CVS was starting most of their Black Friday Sale on Sunday instead of Thanksgiving night like last year(Click HERE to see my deals from last year). I was very excited with what I got! So excited, in fact, that I went to two stores.

HOW TO QUICKLY AND EASILY SET UP YOUR TRANSACTIONS TO SAVE THE MOST MONEY-

I’m not going to list out how I did my individual transactions, because it would take forever and it wouldn’t help you anyway. Each store will have slightly different items in stock so planning transactions ahead of time would just be a waste of time. There is however a quick and painless method for setting up your transactions in the store so that you save the most money.

1. Go through the store and collect all of the items you wish to purchase (most stores have many items gathered in the front so check there first so you don’t run through the store if you don’t have to)

2. Gather the items that you are getting free/almost free after coupons but will receive back a profit of ECBs (store dollars). For example, the command hooks are $1 and there is a $1 off coupon so the item will be free but you will still receive $1 ECBs. Starbucks Refreshers, Glade Plugins Scented Oil Warmer, and Children’s Advil all have deals where you will receive a nice profit in ECBs. This will be your first transaction. For this first transaction you will pay very little out of pocket and you will receive your profit in ECBs.

Note- If you don’t have coupons for any of the items just start by buying around $6 or $9 worth of items depending on how many transactions you want to do.

3.  See how many ECBs you now have. For Example you may now have $9 in ECBs so put your items into groups of $9 and then pay for each transaction with the ECBs from the previous transaction. This is called rolling ECBs. It will keep your out of pocket costs as low as possible. Some of my transactions today were free, most were paid with coin change.

4. Buy the higher priced items first until you are left with all of the dollar items. These are the easiest to break into transactions.

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Store One-
Spent- $7.47
Saved- $49.17
ECBs (CVS store dollars) left over- $9.50
That’s Like getting paid $2 to buy all of this stuff!
# of Transactions- 5

imageStore Two-
Spent- $2.45
Saved- $49.68
ECBs (CVS store dollars) left over- $7
That’s Like getting paid $4.50 to buy all of this stuff!
# of Transactions- 6

imageThe Carmex, Somnapure and Command items all came with additional coupons so take a look because you might be able to use these.

image If you didn’t make it in time to score a deal you really wanted don’t worry. Unlike last year, CVS is issuing rain checks for items they are out of. Remember these never expire so if there is something you think you might use it can’t hurt to ask. They know people are going to ask for these so in some cases they have them pre-written.

 

If you would like to see the coupon match ups for these deals and other Southernsavers.com and Couponaholic.net both did a great job of putting lists together.

11-24-11 Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday at CVS

These are my “Black Friday” deals at CVS. The deals actually started Nov. 24th at midnight so I went at about 1:30am because I didn’t want to be there right at midnight to fight the craziness but I am night owl. The employees at the store told me I just missed the huge line that had extended to the back of the store.This actually worked in my favor because there was almost no one in the store and the staff was great about helping me do multiple transactions, which I usually don’t do.

I was excited because they still had almost everything in stock. I didn’t have a preplanned list of transactions because I know that often they will be out of one item that forces you to redo your plan in the store anyways.

My strategy was this, collect all of the items I was going to buy and then, because almost all of the items were free after ECBs (CVS dollars), I split them into transactions of as close to $15 as I could get so that I could keep reusing the $15 ECBs so I had a much lower out of pocket cost.

I started with $5 ECBs from earlier this week. The only transactions I used coupons on, besides for store dollars, were the first two. The items in the first transaction were the ones that I would make a profit off of or get back more store dollars than cash spent. I did this intentionally because that way I got my initial $15 ECBs for only about $4 out of pocket and the rest of the money I spent on the other transactions was mostly tax or the slight difference in balances and ECBs from the previous transaction.

Transaction #1

Spent- $4.68 Saved- $13.74

Transaction #2

Spent- $1.36 Saved- $20.22

Transaction #3

Spent- $.59 Saved- $18.67

Transaction #4

Spent- $1.75 Saved- $22.21

Transaction #5

Spent- $.65 Saved- $17.86

Transaction #6

Spent- $.63 Saved- $10.35

Totals for all 6 transactions-

Spent- $9.66

Saved- $103.05

Still Have- $14.37 ECBs That’s like getting paid to take all of this out of the store!

If you would like to see a list of all of the CVS deals and coupon match ups SouthernSavers.com has a great list HERE.

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