CVS Rookie Scores Some Deals

I've become addicted to blogs. All kinds really, but lately I've been reading some that are into couponing and frugal grocery shopping. And everyone raves about how great CVS and Walgreens are. So I thought I would try my hand at the CVS shopping this week.

A little background on how the CVS card works: First, you get a CVS Extra Care card. It is just like any other grocery store loyalty card...the cashier scans your card and you get a discount on your groceries. The difference in the CVS card is that you don’t get a discount up front, but you get Extra Care Bucks (ECB) following a purchase. The ECBs come in the form of a "coupon" printed at the bottom of your receipt. You can cut it off and keep it and use it just like cash on your next transaction. CVS has deals where certain featured items are worth a certain amount of ECBs or where you buy a certain $ amount of products and you get X ECBs back.

So here is my venture into the world of CVS couponing.
These were the deals that I was interested in from this week's flyer:
>Irish Springs Body Wash $4.99 (get $4.99 ECBs)

>Colgate Max Whitening Toothpaste $2.99 (get $2.99 ECBs)

>Dry Idea Deodorant $2.99 (get $2.00 ECBs)

>Buy $15 of these products, get $5 (ECBs): Quaker instant oatmeal 2/$5, Quaker granola bars 2/$5, Sunchips & Lays Baked 2/$6, True North Nuts 2/$6, Stacy's Pita Chips 2/$6, Tropicana orange juice 2/$6, Aquafina 12 pk 2/$6.

So this is how it went:

Transaction 1:
1 Irish Springs Body Wash 4.99
1 Colgate Toothpaste 2.99
1 Dry Idea Deodorant 2.99
= 10.97 total
- $ 0.50 Irish Springs Body Wash coupon (Sunday's paper)
- $ 0.75 Colgate Toothpaste coupon (Sunday's paper)
- $ 2.00 Dry Idea Deodorant coupon (online source)
= 7.72 cash + earned 9.98 ECBs

Transaction 2:
4 Aquafina 12 pk 12.00
1 Stacy's Pita Chip 3.00
= 15.00 total
-9.98 ECBs (earned from transaction 1)
=5.02 cash + earned 5 ECBs

Now I have 5 ECBs to get me started for next time!

The purchases:












Not bad for a rookie!