Total should have been: 305-ish But I paid 88.24

I bet your dieing to know how I saved so much! Well I will tell ya...um mostly because I am just dieing to tell everyone!

NOTE: because of taxes my amounts might seem a touch off, but it should not be too much, if it is let me know...it was a lot of math for this girl to do! lol

Okay I went to CVS and EVERYTHING I purchased there was TOTALLY FREE, plus I have a 10 dollar rebate coming and 27.78 in ECB's left (13.08 of which are on gift cards so they don't expire)

I have to admit, at first this CVS/Walgreens shopping was so overwhelming! However I stuck with it and it is getting so much easier to do. These are the 3 things that kept me going:

1. The desire to save money-no matter my income
2. The time it takes to learn this which at first will take some time but once you do it, it gets much easier-it helps that so many mom's are willing to share
3. The effort to stay organized. I am not organized with a lot of stuff, but you have to be with this. It's just not an option or you will end up losing money.


First I must totally thank these ladies for helping me, if it were not for them I could not have done this. All of them plus many more helped me. note: you can check them out on my left side bar!

http://www.couponing101.com/
http://www.thethriftymama.com/
http://www.cvs-saver.blogspot.com/
http://www.ingoodcents.blogspot.com/
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/
http://www.drugstoredivas.blogspot.com/
http://www.kingdomfirstmom.com/
http://www.thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://www.centsablemomma.com/

Most of these ladies have great tutorial on how to be the best deal getter there is! Here are some of the tutorials I used:

http://www.centsablemomma.com/2008/09/coupons-101.html
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/cvs-for-beginners.html

Okay now to explain a little about what I did:

First I went to these girls websites (above) and looked over the way they purchased their items and in what order they did there transactions. In order to get the best deals at CVS you must make multiple orders and then pay for it with your ECB's (extra care bucks that print at the bottom of your receipt-it's like cash that you can only use at CVS and it expires in roughly a month) I think I made 5 transactions (the girls above suggest no more than 4 at a time but the cashier was ever so helpful so I did not get back in line for each of them, she let me do them all in one visit)

Before I went to CVS, I wrote down the best scenario for our family. Then I printed all the coupons that the girls had listed that went with my transactions. I made sure to write this all down next to each transaction. Then I went to my coupon book:

and got out all the coupons that went with each transaction, put them with my printed coupons and separated them out by transaction. Before I left I made sure I knew and listed how much each item should cost, how much ecb's I would spend and how much ecb's I should be getting back. I also made sure to put my CVS ad in my binder with my coupons and list.

Just a note I put my coupons in the binder above in quart sized Ziploc bags (that I hole punched) and labeled according to the item's, mine are:

use this week
body products
face products (shaving cream, razors)
hair products
teeth products
make-up
food
deserts
drinks
cereals
cleaners/smell goods
laundry
bathroom needs (q-tips, toilet paper, etc)
kitchen needs (paper towels, foil, etc)


Then I headed to CVS. I took my time tring to make sure I got the right items (you have to be careful they put the signs in the wrong spot and if you don't get the right size/kind you'll be stuck in line and totally stressed out)This is what my transactions looked like, but keep in mind that I started with a $25.00 gift card for CVS that I got for filling my new prescription last week( I only had $16.46 when I started) , I also had about $25 .00 in ECB's, and a $10.00 gift card from a refund but I did not use that on this visit.

Transaction #1:

1 Colgate tooth paste 2.99
1 Colgate tooth paste 2.99
minus:
mfg coupon 1.00
mfg coupon 1.00
total: 3.98+tax 4.25
paid for with gift card made it:
FREE
plus got $5.98 back in ECB's

Transaction # 2:

Suave men's body wash 2.00
Suave ocean breeze body wash 2.00
Suave Sweet pea body wash 2.00
minus:
mfg coupon 1.50
-ECB 4.00
total: .50+ tax= .53
paid for with gift card made it:
FREE
Plus got back $2.00 in ECB's

Transaction #3

Wheat Thins 2.50
Wheat Thins 2.50
Cotton Swabs 2.50
Stay fresh pantie liners 3.99
Stay fresh pantie liners 3.99
Candy bar I had to get .67
minus:
15.98 ECB
Total .17+tax=.18
Paid for with gift card made it:
FREE
Plus got back $4.00 in ECB's

Transaction #4
Scope mouth wash liter 3.99
Herbal Essence Shampoo 2.99
Herbal Essence Shampoo 2.99
Herbal Essence Shampoo 2.99
Herbal Essence Shampoo 2.99
minus:
coupon .75
coupon 3.00
coupon 3.00
ECB 1.99
ECB 2.00
ECB 4.99
Total 22+ tax=.24
Paid for with gift card making it:
FREE
Plus got back $5.00 in ECB's

Transaction #5 the money maker:
Natural Dentist Mouth wash 9.99
Natural Dentist Mouth wash 9.99
Minus:
mfg coupon 2.00
mfg coupon 2.00
ECB 4.00
ECB 4.00
Total 7.46 with tax
Paid for with gift card making it:
FREE Plus got back 8.00 in ECB's Plus I have a $10.00 rebate mailed off!

To recap; all of this on sale would have cost me: 61.07(pre tax) but because I used coupons I saved $14.25 and because I used my ECB's I saved: 37.96 and the rest I put on the $25.00 gift card I got for my prescription last week. But I still have 13.98 in ECB's $3.08 left on my gift card, and 10.00 on another gift card from a refund. Making my total left to spend: 27.78

So I started with:
38.38 spent NOTHING and now have 27.78 in ECB's and gift cards left to spend, plus a $10.00 rebate!

Tell me who is the WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for my Walgreen's purchases:

Finesse Shampoo 3.99 B1B1 free
Finesse Shampoo 0.00
Charmin 6 double roll 4.79
Tooth paste (can't have more coupons than items so I had to get this) .99
minus:
mfg coupon .75
mfg coupon .75
mfg coupon .25
walgreens cash register reciept from last week 6.00
total 1.82+tax= 1.94
Paid out of pocket (oop) 1.94

Okay on to my next savings. My husband and I went to sears to get us some shoes that were on sale. While there we saw that jackets were on clearance. We always try and buy our boys jackets the season before so we can get them really cheap. This is what we purchased and our savings: Please note on the jackets we use to get these same jackets in years past for like 10-12 dollars but because of the high starting prices the clearance prices are just not that low any more (we received 50% off plus an additional 30% off of that)



Boys size 14-16 jacket 95.00 we paid 24.00 (Zero Xtreme w/hood and i-pod pocket)
Boys size 5/6 jacket 60.00 we paid 16.79 (Cars The Movie theme w/hood)
Mens Reebok shoe 39.99 we paid 19.99 (Trail wave ultra light -black, grey and red)
Women's Reebok shoe 39.99 we paid 19.99 (Trail wave 3-D ultra light- grey and purple)
Total: 234.98 we paid 86.30 after tax!

So to Recap today I spend around 88 dollars on items that would have cost around 305 dollars!~


Total saving 71%

So tell me, what fugal freak things have you done? If you have posted on it, sign my link down blow and put your blog in it. Make sure you just link to your most recent or favorite frugal freaky savings post. It's helpful but not necessary to link back here in your post.

Latte