This weekend was great as far as grocery shopping is concerned. First, we used a combination of coupons and weekly deals to cut a $170 grocery bill down to $99 at ShopRite – a 42% savings on a purchase that large is great!
But, we received even greater savings at CVS – of course you knew I couldn’t write about grocery savings and not mention CVS, right?
After our savings at ShopRite, we took a trip to CVS to pick up a couple of things before the weekly sale was over. Plus I received a $5/30 coupon that expired on 8.15. Unfortunately, a couple of the best deals were already sold out, so we had to get rainchecks. So we decided to wait until the next week (Sunday) to use the coupon.
Ok, so our Friday shopping consisted of two checkouts.
Here is our first order:
And here is the tally:
Total Value – $14.76
Savings from weekly deals – $8.70
Manufacturer & CVS coupons – $2.00
Extra Care Bucks Spent – $4.00
Total Savings – $14.70 (100%)
Subtotal – $0.00
Tax – $0.06
Total Paid – $0.06
I would have to say that the highlight of this order was the fact that our total after coupons and ECBs was $0.00 – i.e. FREE!!! Those pesky taxes brought it up to $0.06 
.
Here is our second purchase:
And here is the tally:
Total Value – $22.98
Savings from weekly deals – $12.20
Manufacturer & CVS coupons – $3.75
Extra Care Bucks Spent – $7.00
Total Savings – $22.95 (100%)
Subtotal – $(0.04)
Tax – $0.07
Total Paid – $0.03
This purchase was fun because they actually owed me $0.11 and the cashier asked me to buy something else because she wasn’t sure how to complete the transaction! I added a folder, and they still owed me $0.04 before tax.
So, here is what our purchases from Friday look like:
All of this for a total of $0.09!!!
Sunday is the first day of the new CVS weekly deals. It was also the day that my $5/30 coupon was set to expire! So, we devised a masterful plan to buy exactly $30 worth of items so I could use the coupon.
Here is what our order looked like:
A couple of deals for this week were so good, the items were sold out already! So, without my $7 worth of toothpaste to reach $30, I had to improvise. I picked up a gallon of milk and some ice cream (for my wife of course).
Here is the tally:
Total Value – $38.01
Savings from weekly deals – $7.38
Manufacturer & CVS coupons – $13.00
Extra Care Bucks Spent – $16.00
Total Savings – $36.38 (96%)
Subtotal – $0.35
Tax – $1.28
Total Paid – $1.63
My subtotal was only $0.35 – you know, I’m really starting to get tired of this “tax”! So, here is what our CVS shopping looked like for the entire weekend:
For this entire group of items, we only paid $1.72!!! Here is the complete breakdown:
Total Value – $89.25
Savings from weekly deals – $32.78
Manufacturer & CVS coupons – $27.75
Extra Care Bucks Spent – $27.00
Total Savings – $87.53 (98%)
Subtotal – $0.31
Tax – $1.41
Total Paid – $1.72
So, in really looking at the numbers, we actually paid $0.31 for these items and $1.41 to the State of New Jersey! Also, you may notice that the totals are a little off, that is because we purchased the medical supplies with our Flexible Spending Account.
Now, here is a complete list of the items that we purchased:
9 Caliber Folders
4 Boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars
2Boxes of Caliber Pencils
4 Betty Crocker Warm Delights
2 Reeses King Size Peanut Butter Cups
1 Gallon of 2% Milk
1 Tub of Haagan Daz Ice Cream
1 Bottle of Head & Shoulders
1 Purex 3-in-1
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
1 Zegerid OTC
1 Tylenol Precise
1 Blink Tears
So, all this for $0.31 before taxes…only at CVS (ok, probably not, but this is my focus for now)! I haven’t even mentioned the ECBs that they gave us! We received $26.99 back in ECBs! That means CVS actually paid us $25.27 to take all of these items off of their hands!
I must mention that planning these trips did not take long at all. We just looked at the circular, then compared the deals to our Coupon Database, and then printed or cut the necessary coupons!
Have you saved a lot of money recently? I would love to hear about it! What is your favorite store to shop for groceries? Do you use coupons and watch for sales?
Be sure to leave your comments below, and don’t forget to enter your email below for updates from KNS Financial and our “Faithful With A Few” blog!
© 2010, Khaleef Crumbley. All rights reserved.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Thank you for continuing to share your CVS experiences, it is motivation to keep at it! I think I am getting better with every trip, and the coupon database has helped me find coupons I would have missed out on. Keep up the good work.