A CVS Trip Across Town

I feel like we are ALWAYS at the Children's Hospital. I seriously would like to get an employee parking pass cause we're always there. The thrifty in me HATES to pay $2 everytime we are there. Ugg. And I haven't convinced my husband to park across the street in the neighborhood and just walk to Children's. Oh well.

Anyways, this week, I politely asked my hubby if after my son's therapy appointment, if we could hit up a CVS that's kind of out of the way, but closer to downtown than our house. My bloggy friend Jenny at Momminitup told me that this particular one is very coupon friendly AND they take competitor coupons, along with $/$$ off coupons, and expired CVS coupons up to 30 days. Ok, I'm thinking about moving! :) Just kidding, but occasionally I like to make the trek down there to roll my ECBs, especially if it's not a great week and I need the $/$$ coupon for a boost.

So that's what we did this week, and thankfully my hubby was very considerate with my crazy idea, and very helpful with my son who now instantly freaks out whenever I pull into CVS. Not so much any other store, just CVS. He used to not mind at all, where ever I took him shopping, now that he's nearing 2, he's starting to develop some opinions of shopping, especially when it comes to CVS. I botched that up somehow. Oops.

We did pretty good. I was able to be relatively focused. I had $12 ECBs that expired on that day, so I did my best to get some back. I walked out with $9 ECBs so that's not too bad. The best part was that I didn't just get more razors/medicine/toothpaste, like normal. I actually walked out with a lot of FOOD! Here's what I got: (no picture, right now, sorry)

** 3 Skippy Peanut Butters, 3/$5, minus 1 $0.30 coupon. $4.70. I wish I had more! :(
** 3 Ragu Spaghetti Sauces, 3/$5, minus 1 $0.40 coupon. $4.60. " "
** 1 Schick Quattro Razor, $8.99, minus $4 coupon. $4.99.
** 2 boxes of Rice Krispies, 2/$4, minus 2 $1 coupons. $1 each.
** 2 bags of Gold Emblem nuts (chocolate covered Bridge mix--yum) $0.99 each, minus $2 off any 2 Gold Emblem nuts--coupon took off $1.98. Free
** 2 Johnson's Cucumber Melon Baby Lotions, $1.12 clearance price. Minus 2 $1 off coupons. $0.12 each.
** Bayer 4 ct. Crystals, $2, no coupon. $2.

Total: $29.21, minus $5 off $25 purchase from Rite Aid. $24.21.
Minus all other coupons, New Total: $13.53.
Used $12.47 in ECBs, paid $0.56 out of pocket!
Received 3 ECBs for Skippy/Ragu, 4 ECBs for Quattro razor, 2 ECBs for Bayer Crystals. 9 ECBs total.

The sweet check-out lady was nice and complimented me on my purchase. She said "Now, do you take a class on how to get such good deals?" Looking at the next person in line, she said "She only paid $0.56 for all of that!" :) The person politely acted impressed, but just wanted to check out. :) When someone asks me that, I usually always direct them to Money Saving Mom, cause that's where I got started and it's easy to remember. :) moneysavingmom.com

Long story short, I used about $12 ECBs, got 9 back. If not for that $5/$25 coupon, it would have been kind of a downer week, so I was glad we made it there.