$135 worth of items for $7

So recently, I posted on social media my latest cvs trip where I spent $7 for $135 worth of product and received $25 extracare bucks (ecb).  Everyone asked me to share the details of how I was able to accomplish such a shopping trip.

 

The main key in making this trip work was being PATIENT and saving all of my high value coupons.  In total, I used $79 worth of coupons (including ecb) and combined that with the weekly sales ad in order to get maximum savings.  As mentioned before, I utilize coupon websites such as thekrazycouponlady.com and iheartcvs.com in order to plan my shopping trips.  I am also enrolled in the CVS Beauty Club, in which you earn $5 ecb for every $50 you spend on beauty products.  The $50 is calculated before coupons, which means it’s actually REALLY EASY to earn the $5 ecb.  So even if you only pay $10 for $50 worth of product you still earn the $5 ecb.

 

This is a breakdown of the types of coupons I used in this transaction:

Manufacturing Coupons are coupons that the manufacturer distributes to the public.  These can be found in the newspaper or online (coupons.com, facebook, and other social media outlets).

Extracare bucks are like CVS “money”.  They can only be used at CVS and can be used on almost anything in CVS.  You can earn these by enrolling in the beauty club, pharmacy club and purchasing certain deals at CVS.  I earn most of my extrabucks from purchasing certain deals in the CVS weekly ad.  

CVS Coupons are coupons that are distributed by CVS and can only be used in CVS.  These coupons are usually targeted at certain products or categories in the store.  An example of the ones I used in this transaction was $4 off $14 worth of body wash, liquid soap, or hand sanitizer and $4 off$15 hand or body lotion.  CVS also emails coupons to email subscribers, which I get just about every week.  For this trip I used a $10 off $40 purchase.

For this trip, I had $10 in manufacturing coupons, $51 in extracare bucks, and $18 in CVS coupons.  I had been saving all of my coupons for this trip for two weeks.  

How much have you saved in one couponing trip?

Couponing pt 2- Save your money GIRL (or BOY)!

This part of the series will cover how I find my deals and how I decide when to use my coupons.  In order to fully utilize all of my coupons to their full potential, I use all of my online resources.  The MOST important thing that I find in couponing is dedication and loyalty.  You have to be dedicated to couponing and show loyalty to few stores.

I focus most of my couponing efforts at Harris Teeter, Giant, and CVS.  Both of those grocery stores double coupons up to $0.99, and cvs gives cash back in the form of extrabucks.  So I pretty much ONLY do my couponing at these stores unless there is a major sale going on at another store.  Walmart and Target are also good sources but with couponing I can usually get better deals at CVS.

Resources:

My number one online resource for coupons is thekrazycouponlady.com.  I was first introduced to this site about 5 years ago when the extreme couponing show came out.  Now keep in mind I am NOT an extreme couponer, and nor do I ever intend to be one.  The Krazy Coupon Lady website pretty much breaks down the sales paper for most stores that are worth couponing.  She even tells you where to get the coupons and what coupon insert to find the coupons.

I also use a iheartcvs.com which shows previews of cvs sales paper for a few weeks out, which I find to be the HOLY GRAIL.  This allows me to see if I should save some of my big ticket coupons for a later week.  Also, it allows me to plan out my trips for the upcoming weeks.






what resources do you use for your couponing?

Couponing pt 1- The Real Deal

So lately I have gotten back into the habit of couponing and trying to find the best deals on things that I use normally.  I want to share with you guys what I have learned about couponing.  I am in no where near as good as the Extreme Couponers on TV for many reasons.  The main reason is because I'm a brand snob.  I like what I like and I don't tend to deviate from the brands that I know are good for and to me.  When I say I'm a brand snob I mean for example, I will ONLY use Prego spaghetti sauce if I am going to use jar sauce.  Now will you ever get Prego for $.10 probably not but pairing a good sale and a decent coupon I can get it at a cheaper price than if I just went in the store and bought it on a whim.  So I refuse to bend on certain things.  However, I will buy brands that I normally wouldn't buy if they are free or less than $.50 as a closet filler.  Which is probably the first step to being a hoarder, but I like having extras when people come to my house.  If you ever forget any toiletries, I like to have those on deck for people even if it's not the brand I use or even them for that matter it's still better than having nothing.  Additionally, a brand that I might find as not great for me someone else might love so it works out both ways.

Here are some examples of the things that I have bought in the last few weeks:

For this transaction (receipt on the left), I actually forgot to use a $5 coupon that I had with me so the cashier ended up giving me $5 cash which i applied to my next order (receipt on the right).

 This one may not be that easy to read.  This is from harris teeter during their memorial day sale.  I saved $66 and only spent $21.

I often make better use of my coupons by pairing them with buy one get one free or buy one get one 50% off sales.

 Grocery stores like Harris Teeter, frequently have times where they have super double coupons.  This is when they will double a coupon up to $2 where normally they only double up to $1.

This series will be documented with the steps that I use as an outline:
1.Get the coupons
2. Finding the Best Deals
3. Organize your coupons
4. Plan out your trip
5. Know when to hold'em and when you use'em

In this blog series I will also divulge my resources that I used to coupon and how you can use them as well.