Saturday, November 10, 2007

Super Savings Saturday


I made somewhere around $130 today. Doin' what you ask? SHOPPING!!! Yes, you read it right! SHOPPING!

I excelled at my second attempt at CVS shopping. :)
Nichole went along with me and helped me out. (Thanks, girl!!!)

Let me see if I can put it all down here for you to look over. :)

I did four separate transactions.



The first--



1 Blood Glucose Monitor $30.00
1 Ameal Blood Pressure Med =$29.99
= $59.99

Used 1 CVS Coupon $2.00 and
1 Manif. Coupon $50.00

Paid =$7.99

Got back $29.99 ECB


Second --


1 Blood Glucose Monitor $30.00
1 Ameal Blood Pressure Med =$29.99
2 Vitamins BOGOF = $14.99
4 Covergirl BOGO1/2OFF =$14.61
3 CVS Cotton Swabs =$9.57
=$99.16

Used 1 CVS Coupons $2.00
Used $53.00 in Manif. Coupons
Used $29.99 ECB from First transaction

Paid $14.17

Got Back $35.99 in ECB



Third--

Returned Covergirl from Second Transaction because they were the wrong items.
Got back $15.77



Fourth--

1 Blood Glucose Monitor $9.99
1 Ameal Blood Pressure Med =$29.99
2 Covergirl BOGO1/2OFF =$12.98
2 Cvs Cotton Swabs = $6.38
=$59.34

Used Manif. Coupons =57.99

Paid 1.35

Got back $33.99 ECB



I still have a total of $69.98 in ECB to use in the coming weeks!

And I spent a total between all four transactions (including the return) $7.74

PLUS, all the of the Glucose Monitors I bought for FREE have a rebate so I will be
getting $70.00 back from those!

So for a total of $7.74 I ended up making $132.24!!!
And I have all the items above!


Now, since I personally don't have diabetes and have no need for the glucose monitors, I took the opportunity to give all three to my sister-in-law who is a dialysis nurse. She will take them to her clinic to give to some needy patients. I think this is an awesome way to save money and bless someone else in the process!!!

I don't know if I'll ever have such good success at CVS shopping again, but as I had been getting pretty discouraged at all this shopping to save, today was just what I needed to get motivated once more to keep trying. Of course, I plan to utilize Nichole's help as much as possible until I can get the hang of doing it on my own and really searching out the good deals. Hope you're prepared! hehe

4 comments:

Granny Kate said...

Okay, I do not understand what CVS is. And where did you get the $50 coupon for the blood monitor in the first place? And what is ECB? And does the store know that people do this? How do they make their money?

sarahdodson said...

Good for you, Rebekah! I don't have the patience for that, but obviously you do and it's paid off for you! :) Whoo hooo!

Rebekah said...

Hi Cathy,

Sorry it's taken a few days to get this answer to you! We've been busy and I haven't had a chance to do much on the computer.

CVS is a drugstore similar to Walgreens or RiteAid.

They have recently put out a booklet for diabetes awareness that includes coupons on diabetes related items. That is where I found the $50 coupon.

An ECB is money that CVS pays you to shop at their store. You don't get actual cash. There is a print-out on the end of your receipt that prints out each time you make a transaction that genereates ECB's. You can then turn around and use them to purchase anything in the CVS store. Ideally, you want to use them to buy items that will generate more ECB's. Thus, you keep being able to get items for "free." Each weekly ad includes items that produce ECB's for you, and there are also monthly deals that you can utilize as well.

Yes, CVS knows that people are doing this, but I have the same question you do! How do they make money! I'm not sure, but I'm glad they are doing it! :)

If you'd like more information on how to start saving at CVS, go over to Money Making Mom. (See my left sidebar for a link.) Crystal has put together an easy-to-use tutorial.

Hope this helps!

Rebekah said...

Oops, sorry, Cathy! The link for the CVS tutorial is at Money Saving Mom. Forgive my typo!!