I Scored at CVS!

Today and tomorrow are employee appreciation day at CVS. It's a great weekend for us to stock up because we get 30% off everything that's not on sale. It was really my virgin trip in getting used to coupons that print out, my own coupons and the Extra Care Bucks at CVS. Last week the husband went to CVS (without coupons) and stocked up on a few things. He may have forgotten the coupons but he came home with $17 in ECB's. It took me a long time today especially trying to find the deals. Some of the sales were still better than the 30% discount and I had some coupons for some things but I think I did ok for my first trip. I had my calculator with me and had to figure out savings and cost for everything. The manager kept coming over and asking me if I needed help. I think he took one look at my coupon stash, calculator, long list and changed his mind. I was in there for over an hour.

Here is everything I was able to get today.

I had $7.50 in coupons.

$17.00 in ECB's

Saved $16.56 for Employee Discount

Earned $5.00 in ECB's for next time.

Total savings of $35.06

Out of pocket = $34.30

So while I didn't do that great in getting back ECB's, I did save more than I spent. And I can go back tomorrow after the flyer comes out to see what else I can stock up on and get another 30% off. My big score of the day was the Neosporin ointment. I was marked $6.29, I had a $2 off coupon bringing it down to $4.29 and got 30% off ($1.89) so it brought the Neosporin

down to about $2.40. Not bad for a CVS Virgin.

I also spent a little more today than I would have. I bought some glycerin and Vitamin E oil to make some of my homemade face cream concoctions. Those two items alone were about $12.00 but it's still cheaper than buying the $20.00 face cream once a month.

We've been keeping very close watch on what we are spending. I've been concentrating on creating a good stockpile of items of items for our pantry. We haven't set a monthly budget yet for groceries but soon will. It's been difficult to set a monthly amount when you are stockpiling and hitting really good deals. It's become almost an obsession with me now to hunt down those deals. This is one pantry cabinet that I recently cleaned out and reorganized. I love the neatness.

This is another pantry cabinet that holds canned goods, juice, broth, pasta, mac and cheese. I had plans to do more grocery shopping this week but just didn't make it there. Tomorrow I have to regroup and get the groceries done but it should be ok because I have tons of coupons.

I stopped at Walmart on the way home. I needed storage containers and a new holder for my coupons. I have a small one but it's too difficult to find the coupons and there is not enough space for the categories I want.

Since my husband's bonus came in we decided we would create our stockpile out of the extra money. Is there really any extra money? Then we will set our monthly budget from that point. The other thing I need to keep track of is our produce. Since we get it from a wholesaler a lot cheaper than the stores, this works out well for us. But I forget to include it in my weekly totals. We also have our milk delivered each week and I forget about that too. It's a little more expensive having our milk delivered but to me it's really worth the convenience.

More bargains to come tomorrow.