CVS: Luck at the coupon printing center

I haven't shopped much at the drug stores lately, but I had $6 in Extra Care Bucks to use at CVS by last Sunday.  I wasn't that excited about the deals, so I figured I'd just go and buy my favorite product to purchase with ECBs, toilet paper.

My plans changed a little when I got to the coupon printing center.  I received $2 in ECBs for my fall shopping - so I guess I'll be going at least one more time in the near future.  And I got a coupon for Campbell's soup.  So, I added that to my list.

Here's what I got:

1 Scott extra soft 18 rolls toilet paper @ $6.99
- $1/1 Scott Extra Bath Tissue, exp. 2/22/14 (SS 01/12/14)
= $5.99

1 Campbell's tomato soup @ $1.00
- 50¢/1 Campbell's soup (CVS coupon printing center)
= 50¢

- $6 ECB from previous trip

Tax: 42¢
Total spent: 91¢
Total saved compared to CVS full prices: $11.99

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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CVS: Check deals for the word "or"!

I messed up a little at CVS today.  There was a deal in this week's flyer for Breathe Right 10 count or Tums 32-50 count.  The price was $3.99, and you would get $3 ECB.  Limit 1.

Silly me, I thought that meant I could get both the Breathe Right strips and the Tums and get $3 for each one.  Nope.  Only one $3 ECB came out.  The ECB said, "Here are your ExtraBucks Rewards for having purchased select Breathe Right or Tums products."

So, if two deals are mentioned with the word "or" in the deal, know that you can only get ECBs for one of them!

Here's what I got at CVS:

2 Hershey's kisses @ $3.00 = $6.00 (receive $3 ECB)
- $2.50/2 Hershey's CVS coupon
- $1.10/2 Hershey's manufacturer's coupon
= $2.40 for two, or $1.20 each (60¢ moneymaker after ECBs)

1 Breathe Right @ $3.99 (receive $3 ECB)
- $1/1 Breathe Right Product printable
= $2.99 (1¢ moneymaker after ECBs)

1 Tums @ $3.99 (receive $3 ECB if you don't also do the Breathe Right deal)
- $1/1 Tums Product printable
= $2.99 (1¢ moneymaker after ECBs if applicable)

1 Softsoap liquid soap @ $1.88
- $1.00/1 Softsoap coupon (CVS coupon printer)
= 88¢

1 Escape body wash @ $1.88
- $1.00/1 Body wash coupon (CVS coupon printer)
= 88¢

- $6 in ECBs ($4, $2)

Tax: 78¢
Total spent: $4.92
Total saved compared to CVS full prices: $21.48

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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Shopped at CVS for free!

I haven't shopped much at the drug stores this year due to lack of time, but since I had some RRs and ECBs after shopping at CVS and Walgreens on Black Friday, I headed back today to get some more great deals!

Here's what I got:

CVS:
2 Hershey's holiday miniatures @ $3.00 = $6.00 (receive $2 ECB)
- $1.10 off TWO Holiday Bags of HERSHEY'S Chocolate
- $2.50/2 Hershey's products CVS printable
= $2.40 for two, or $1.20 each (20¢ each after ECBs)

1 Triaminic @ $4.99 (receive $4 ECBs)
- $1.00 off any one (1) Triaminic product
= $3.99 (1¢ moneymaker after ECBs)

- 75¢ ECB from last week

Total product: $5.64
Tax: 36¢

Total out of pocket: $6.00
Total saved compared to CVS full prices: $10.63 (65%)
ECBs received: $6.00

Walgreens:

1 Dawn hand renewal dish soap@ 99¢
- $0.50 off ONE Dawn Hand Renewal, Power Clean
= 49¢

1 Domino sugar @ $1.99 (with in-ad coupon)
- Save 50¢ on ONE (1) Domino® Sugar or C&H® Sugar product 2 lbs. or larger
= $1.49

1 Hallmark card 10-pack @ $4.99

- $4.50 RR from last week

Subtotal: $2.47
Tax: 36¢

Total spent: $2.83
Total saved compared to Walgreens full prices: $7.50

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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Walgreens & CVS Black Friday Shopping

You might think, given that I love getting great deals, that Black Friday would be my favorite day of the year.

But you'd be wrong.  Yes, I love getting great deals, but I hate crowds, lines, and searching for parking spots.  So I'd rather skip the Black Friday sales.  More for the rest of you!

But I did make quick stops to get a few deals at CVS and Walgreens, along with my regular trip to Publix.  I was disappointed with the deals at the drug stores - seems like in years gone by that the deals were a lot better.  Or maybe I've just become pickier.

 I haven't shopped much at CVS and Walgreens this year, so I didn't have any Register Rewards or Extra Care Bucks to use to make the deals even sweeter.  But I think I did okay.

Here's what I got:

Walgreens:

1 Crest 3D White toothpaste @ $3.00 (receive $3 RR)
- $0.50 Crest® Pro-Health, Crest® Plus Scope or Crest® 3D Whitening Toothpaste 4 oz or larger
= $2.50 (50¢ moneymaker after RRs) 

1 Herbal Essence shampoo @ $2.99 (receive $3 RR)
= $2.99 (1¢ moneymaker after RRs)

1 Tums Freshers @ $4.50 (receive $4.50 RR)
- $1/1 Tums product, 24+ ct
= $3.50 ($1 moneymaker after RRs)

Tax: 36¢
Total product: $9.35

Pay with $5 in Balance Rewards Savings (earned through prescription purchases)

Total out of pocket: $4.35
Total saved compared to Walgreens full prices: $6.50
RRs received: $10.50

CVS:

2 Milky Way bars @ 75¢ = $1.50 (receive 75¢ ECB for 1 purchase)
- BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE MILKY WAY® Brand Bars (1.72 oz. - 1.91 oz.) (Max Value: $1.29)
= 75¢ (FREE after ECBs)

2 CVS vitamins @ BOGO $8.99
- $2.00/1 CVS vitamins (Coupon Printing Center)
= $6.99, or $3.50 each

Total spent:  $7.74
Total saved compared to CVS full prices: $9.74
ECBs received: 75¢

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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CVS: First trip in a while!

I also took a trip today to CVS - gasp!

It had been a while since I was there, so I had no ECBs to spend.  That, coupled with the fact that I bought vitamins, means that my out of pocket expense was much higher than it usually is at CVS.

Here are a few deals that I didn't choose to get:

2 Thermacare heat wraps @ $5.99 (receive $5 ECB)
- 2 $3/1 Thermacare coupon
= 98¢ for two, or 49¢ each after coupons and ECBs

2 Advil @ $7.99 (receive $5 ECB)
- 2 $1.00/1 Advil Migraine product
= $8.98 for two, or $4.49 after coupons and ECBs

5 Campbell's Chicken Noodle or Tomato soup @ 88¢ = $4.40
- $1/5 Campbell's soup printable
= $3.40 for five, or 68¢ each

These are the deals I did get:

2 Nature Made Vitamin D @ BOGO $9.99
- 2 $2/1 Nature Made Vitamin D coupon
= $5.99 for two, or $3.00 each

2 Nature Made Vitamin E @ BOGO $10.49
- $1.75/2 Nature Made products coupon
= $8.74 for two, or $4.37 each

3 Band-Aid products @ $3.79, $4.49, $4.99 = $13.27 (receive $2 ECB)
- 2 $0.50/1 Band-Aid Quilt Product printable
-  $0.50/1 Band-Aid Product printable
= $9.77 for three, or $3.26 each after coupons and ECBs

1 Purex @ $2.88
- $1/1 Purex Liquid Detergent or Ultrapacks Detergent, exp. 3/31/13 (RP 03/03/13)
- $1/1 Purex CVS coupons (print in-store)
= 88¢

Tax: 18¢
Total out of pocket: $27.56
Total saved compared to CVS full prices: $33.14
ECBs received: $2

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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Cheap tissue at CVS

CVS is having a sale on Kleenex tissues this week - only 99¢ per box.

Combine that sale with this coupon for $0.55 off THREE boxes of KLEENEX Facial Tissue to save even more!

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

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CVS and Walgreens: Thank goodness for rewards!

Thank goodness for the Extra Care Bucks at CVS and for Register Rewards at Walgreens. Without them, my bill would have been well over $30 for all these items. Instead, I paid less than $6, and received $4.50 back in more rewards. Woohoo!

Here's what I got:

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CVS: I'm finished!

Grrrr.... I'm so glad I blog about my trips to the drug stores, because I find so many mistakes.

Take this trip.  I purchased two Finish gelpacs, 20 ct, and one bottle of Finish Jet-Dry rinse.  These should have been $4 each - that's what the sign on the shelf said - and I should have received $4 in Extra Care Bucks.

Instead, the gelpacs rang up as $5.99, and I did not get the ECBs.  The kind of mistake that with all the other deals I might not notice, but that I caught just now as I was blogging about it.

Oh, well, I'll be headed to CVS again to get this mistake fixed, get my $3.98 plus tax back and a $4 ECB. 

UPDATE: I went back, pointed out the mistake, and got the refund and the ECBs. Yay!

Here's what I got, even with the mistake:

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CVS: No free milk... :-(

I stopped by CVS today, hoping to get two gallons of milk for no money out of my pocket!

I had lots of Extra Care Bucks from Black Friday, so this was my plan:

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Thank you, CVS, for early Black Friday shopping!

 

This year, CVS decided to start their Black Friday sales on Sunday.  Thank you, CVS!  I really disliked shopping early Thanksgiving morning for the deals - I felt like I was spoiling the Thanksgiving of the employees that had to be there.  Now I won't feel so guilty.

(Although the employees will probably still have to work on Thursday.  I think it's necessary for at least one drug store in a given area to be open, so that people needing medicine can get it.  But it's not necessary for all of a store's branches to be open, and it's certainly not necessary to be out shopping on Thanksgiving Day for big screen TVs.)

I had fun getting lots of the free things - though I didn't get every possible free item.  Some things I just didn't need, and other things I felt had too big an out-of-pocket cost.  But here's what I did get:

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CVS: Where's the yellow box?

I had planned to get some Cheerios at CVS this week, as they were on sale for $1.99 each. I wasn't sure which types of Cheerios that CVS would have, but I figured that they definitely had to have the regular, yellow box kind.  So I printed out two $0.50/1 Original Cheerios cereal coupons and headed to the store.

When I got there, there was Honey Nut Cheerios and Multigrain Cheerios on the shelf - but the space where the Original Cheerios would be was gone.  Oh, well, should've brought coupons for other products...

I did get some Sparkle paper towels with this $1/1 Sparkle Paper Towels printable coupon. And I bought some Milky Way bars with this B2G1 MILKY WAY Brand Bars coupon.  A couple of months ago I bought some Simple Pleasures candies on sale, made cookies with them, and last week I was featured on the Hershey's Facebook page.  So I'm planning to use these Milky Way bars in a new recipe - maybe Mars will come calling, too!

Here's all the details:

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CVS: Free shampoo and aspirin

Another quick run into CVS this week for just a couple of items.  I like quick trips, but I wish there were more great deals!

I did get the St. Joseph's aspirin that was a moneymaker after Extra Care Bucks.  And I got Pantene shampoo and conditioner and used the free Pantene conditioner coupon.  I thought that the register would take off $4, the cost of the conditioner.  Instead, it took off $6.99, which was the maximum value of the coupon.  Which meant that the Pantene was practically free after ECBs.  Not sure how I feel about that, though I'm sure if I brought it back, they'd tell me to keep the discount.

Here's the details:

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CVS: Keeping it simple

This week at CVS, there are going to be two ads - one for Sunday through Tuesday, the other for Wednesday through Saturday. Today's ad had a coupon for 20% off, which seemed great... until you read the fine print, which showed that it was only good for full-priced items.

I never buy items at CVS at full price, so this wasn't a big help for me.

The deals weren't that great, either. So I kept it simple and just picked up some paper towels and toilet paper. That's it! The deals weren't even all that great, but I needed the products and I had Extra Care Bucks to use to help pay for them.

Here's what I got from this ad:

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CVS: They read my mind!

At CVS this week, I was excited to see that there was an Extra Care Bucks deal on milk - buy one gallon at $3.49 (my local price; yours may differ), receive $1 ECB.  So I made plans to get milk there, as well as a few other items.

So when I scanned my card at the coupon printing machine, what came out?

A CVS coupon for $1 off milk!

Woohoo!  They must have read my mind!

So I ended up paying $1.49 for a gallon milk after coupon and ECBs.  It's not free milk, but it's a great price!

Here's what I got:

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CVS: What a racket!

What a racket CVS has!

First, they put their candy on sale.  And with coupons (or even without this week!) it's free or almost free.  So of course, I have to buy it.

But then my kids will eat the candy and they could get cavities.  So of course I have to buy toothpaste for them.

And they'll probably get their clothes all messy from melted chocolate, so I'll have to do laundry, and I'll need to buy laundry detergent.

Now all of a sudden my free candy has become a big drug store bill!

Of course, I am just joking about it being a racket.  But it did work out nicely that all of those things were on sale this week!

By the way, if you got the free Simple Pleasures this week, try using them in my Simple Pleasures-Filled Cookies!

Here's what I got:

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CVS: Cheap Honey Nut Cheerios!

It was another blah week at CVS for me.  But I had Extra Care Bucks that were going to expire, so I headed on over there to pick up a few things.

I got some Honey Nut Cheerios, which were 90¢ per box after coupons and ECBs.  From what I understand, Honey Nut Cheerios is the most popular cereal in the United States.  It certainly is the most popular cereal at my house! And I picked up some low-dose aspirin for my husband - we were almost out and he takes it daily.  At buy one, get one 50% off, it wasn't the best deal, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Here's all the details:

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CVS: Save with Suave

After going to Walgreens and forgetting my coupons, I headed back home to pick them up and then out again to CVS.  This week, I wanted to take advantage of the Suave deal: Buy $12 in participating products, receive $4 in Extra Care Bucks.

And my deal was made even sweeter when at the coupon printing machine near the front door, I received a CVS store coupon for $2 off two bottles of body wash!  Be sure to run your CVS card through the coupon station to see if you get this coupon, too!

Here's what I got:

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CVS: Forgot to give the coupons!

I went to CVS earlier today, picked out my items, and paid.  The total seemed pretty high, and I was trying to figure out why.  Then I realized - I was still holding the coupons in my hand!  D'oh!

I apologized to the cashier and handed her the coupons.  She simply totaled up the coupons and gave me the cash back.  It was that simple.  I was afraid she'd have to void the transaction and rering everything up, but she didn't.  Whew!  I'm sure the people behind me in line were relieved as well.

Today's customer service score: CVS 1, Walgreens 0.

Here's what I got today:

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CVS: Cheap school supplies (part 2)

At CVS this week, I picked up some cheap school supplies.  (I had already bought some at Walgreens a little while earlier.)  As I mentioned in the Walgreens post, this is the best time to pick up school supplies at a bargain.  Each week, a few school supplies will be at incredibly low prices.  The idea is to pick up those items, but not others, each week until you have everything your child or household needs.

And if you don't have kids, you should still hit these sales to get office supplies.  You'll find pens, printer paper, and lots of other household needs on sale at this time.

I also picked up the free after Extra Care Bucks chocolate bar - unlike last week, this time my CVS had them in stock.  And I picked up two cans of tuna and used a Recyclebank coupon to save on them.  But I picked up the wrong cans - it was the chunk light tuna that was on sale, and I picked up the chunk white.  Aargh!

Here's what I got:

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CVS: Out of chocolate!

Without a doubt, the CVS deal I was most excited about was the one for Hershey's Simple Pleasures.  Buy one Hershey's Simple Pleasures at 67¢, receive 67¢ in Extra Care Bucks.  Free chocolate, no coupons needed!

But when I got to my store, I looked around for the product.  I found the 5 oz bag of Simple Pleasures, but not the smaller one.  I asked the clerk where I might find it.  His answer? "We didn't receive it this week."

Grrrrr.

But I still got a couple of good deals - tuna fish with this Recyclebank coupon and Purex Crystals with this coupon.  As a Purex insider, I received a free bottle of Purex Crystals back in January when I did a giveaway for a Jockey sports bra and Purex Crystals.  I really liked the product, so I was happy to see it on sale again, and that there were coupons for it!

And I got my quarterly ECB rewards - only 50¢ this time.  Better than nothing, though.  I need to ramp up my CVS shopping, I think!

Here's the details on what I got this week:

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