Saturday, August 22, 2009

Steals and Deals

I have recently begun to study the supermarket/drugstore circulars each week to combine their sale prices with coupons to save money. I used to subscribe to a website but I was only able to see one store, so I thought I'd try it on my own. I only look at the stores that are close to my house: VONS, Ralphs, CVS, and Rite-Aid. CVS has the best bang for your buck for sure with their Extra Care Bucks (thanks Karyn!!). Several items every week are not only on sale, but generate ECBs which function at CVS just like cash, only they have an expiration date and you can't get cash back for them. If you do it right and only buy sale items, especially items that generate ECBs, you will end up getting many things for free or for a very low price. I thought it would be fun to periodically post some of my great deals, so here is the steal of the week (again, thanks to Karyn):

Regular Price:
L'Oreal Revitalift Lotion with SPF: $19.99
L'Oreal Cream Cleanser: $6.99
Normal total for 2 of each plus tax: $59.22

What I Paid:
Sale price for lotion: $14.99
Sale price for cleanser: $5.99
CVS coupon: $4 off $20 or more
L'Oreal Lotion coupon: $5 off
L'Oreal cleanser coupon: $1 off
ECBs when you buy $20 in Loreal products: $10
My total for 2 of each with tax: $4.90

Total Savings: $54.32

What a deal!! I had to do this in two separate transactions to use all my coupons. I had two of every coupon plus I already had some ECBs to use. If you don't already have some, you would have to pay an extra $10 for the first transaction and have $10 ECBs to use next time. Not too shabby!!

4 comments:

Karyn Hughes said...

http://www.couponmom.com/login.php
Register for this site for free, and you get told all the good deals for all your grocery and drug stores. You click on the items you want on the left, and then can print your list when you're done, seems similar to the one you were paying for!!

Megan @ SimplyThrifty said...

I use couponmom.com and love it!! I regularly save 50% or more off my grocery bill. I also read some blogs like athriftymom.com which have all the deals for you each week at CVS, Walgreens, target etc. It makes it super easy to find the best deals and save a TON of money.

Definitely check out couponmom.com and look specifically under their "Coupon deals by state" and "Coupon database" Those are the links i use most often on her site.

Jen said...

WOW! I can't believe that deal! I'm going to check out that couponmom website right now, it always helps to save the mula.

Hope you guys are well, I love seeing your pics and update.

Kristin Casebolt said...

Hey Steph!
It's funny that you blogged about this because I had a recent experience just like yours at CVS! I bought a bunch of stuff and ended up only having to pay $2 out of pocket!! I loved it!