Crazy Coupon Lady CVS Shopping Spree

Sunday morning, I got up at 4:15 am.  I was on the schedule to tutor from 5-6 am, so I thought I would get up extra early and go ahead and shower before my shift.  I then tutored until 6, then I got ready and headed out the door at 6:30 am to do my shopping for the week.  Crazy, I know.  My thought process behind that was that I could get my shopping out of the way for the week so I wouldn't have to worry about it later.  

So I drove my sleepy self down to Walgreen's, picked up my newspaper (and got a free pair of small, child-safe scissors--to keep with my coupons--with my $2 Register Rewards from last week!), and started clipping coupons in my car.  It's pathetic, I know, but I was eager to do my shopping super early.  I clipped a bunch of coupons from the P&G coupon booklet, then headed over to CVS for what I call my "Crazy Coupon Lady CVS Shopping Spree."  I previewed the CVS weekly ad on their website on Saturday night, plus used another of my favorite blogs, Southern Savers, to plan my shopping trip.  There are a lot of good ECB deals this week that can be easily paired with coupons to get good savings, so I did my first ever major shopping trip at CVS (with multiple transactions!).  Everything pictured below cost me 95 cents each, out of pocket, plus I got $10 in ECBs to use on my next purchase!

 (My wonderful husband is very gifted with displays, so I let him create my shopping spree pictures for the blog!)  =)

 This is a complicated explanation (it makes my head hurt just trying to think it through), but it yielded some great savings for me!

1st Transaction:

• 2 Crest Pro-Health toothpastes at $3.29 each
• used $1.75 in coupons = $4.83 total
• got $6.51 back in ECBs ($3.29 for each toothpaste)
• 4 bottles of Excedrin (two at $5.79 each, one at $4.69, and one at $4.99)
• used 2 Free Excedrin coupons on the $5.79 bottles = 2 for FREE
• used another $3.50 in coupons = 1 bottle at $2.49, another at $3.69 
• got $10 back in ECBs because I had $20 worth of Excedrin

**I used the $2 in ECBs from last week and spent $9.34 out of pocket.  I got $16.58 back in ECBs!

2nd Transaction:

• 5 boxes of Puffs tissues at $1 each
• used a 50 cents off 2 coupon = 80 cents each or $4 total
• 2 bottles of Tide (50 oz.) at $5.94 each
• used two 35 cents off coupons = $5.59 each or $11.18 total
• 3 bottles of Dawn dish liquid at 94 cents each
• used $1.50 in coupons = 44 cents each or $1.32 total
• 12 rolls of Charmin toilet paper at $4.99
• used $1 off coupon = $3.99
• Covergirl mascara at $5.99
• used $2.50 in coupons = $3.49 

**I used my $16.58 in ECBs from the first transaction, making this only 9.43 out of pocket, plus I got another $10 in ECBs for buying $30 worth of P&G products!  


I was at CVS way longer than I should have been due to some mistakes made by the cashier, but I was patient as she redid my transaction three times so that I could get all of the savings.  I think she accidentally gave me an extra $1.75 back on my card, but I'm just now realizing this.


After my fun time at CVS, I went over to Kroger.  There wasn't much on sale as far as food is concerned.  Thankfully, we've got a ton of food stocked up for a while, so I actually only needed bread and mayo from the grocery department.  I used the rest of the money in my budget to stock up on household items.


I got 3 bottles of Downy fabric softener for $3.99 each, 4 bottles of Gillette body wash for 75 cents each, and 16 rolls of Charmin toilet paper for $2.99.  I ended up spending $23.70 total.  This is everything I bought yesterday from Kroger and CVS, which cost $40.72..

I also ordered 1,224 Pampers wipes from Amazon for $1.51 shipped (normally this would cost at least $30 without shipping).  I bought one box of 504 wipes and another of 720.  There is a Pampers Amazon deal going on right now for 10% off when you use the code MOMWIPES.  Also, I'm an Amazon Mom member (which is free and gives 15% off baby items).  I also used the Subscribe and Save option, which gave me another 15% off my order.  I used 2 $10 off codes to the Amazon baby store...so I only spent $1.51 total!

My total for the week is $42.23.  


It might seem silly, but I'm thanking God every day for the savings we have found using coupons...it's a fun hobby for me, and I feel like I'm contributing to our household by saving a lot of money on things we need.


-Kristen