Shopping Like a Champ, not a Chump

I was talking earlier about being all crazy about coupons right now and I wanted to give you an example of how I try to make the most of my shopping.



This is a shopping trip from CVS a few weeks ago. CVS is sort of a coupon clippers goldmine. In addition to taking all manufacturer's coupons they also have their own system, the Extra Care card which gives holders special sale prices and more coupons via e-mail and an in-store kiosk. They are also very big on offering Extra Care Bucks which are essentially coupons that you earn for making specific purchases, they print off at the end of your receipt and you can use them on a future purchase, just like cash. The downside to CVS is that I think the regular price of items tends to be higher than usual, which means it's not that great of a place to shop unless you are going coupon commando (which I totally was on this trip!)

There is only one item that I bought that I didn't have a coupon for, and that was the Sally Hansen Facial Hair Cream Bleach, which I saw and remembered that I needed so I grabbed it.

Everything was bought with either manufacturer's coupons, CVS coupons, sometimes both. In most stores you can stack a manufacturer's coupon with a store specific coupon (like one they put in their own ad.)

Here's the line by line:

• M&M Plain Snack Size  (2 for $5.00 sale)               $2.50
• M&M Peanut Snack Size (2 for $5.00 sale)             $2.50
• CVS Coupon off 2 packages of M&M        (-$1.00)
• Brach's Candy Corn                                                 $0.99
• CVS Coupon off Candy Corn                      (-$0.99)
• Softsoap Body Wash                                                $4.39
• Softsoap Body Wash                                                $4.39
• CVS Sale, Softsoap, Buy 1 Get 1 Free         (-$4.39)
• CVS Coupon off any Softsoap Body Wash   (-$1.50)
• Rice Chex Cereal (2 for $6.00 sale)                           $3.00
• Coupon                                                         (-$1.00)
• Corn Chex Cereal (2 for $6.00 sale)                          $3.00
• Coupon                                                         (-$1.00)
• Dawn Dish Soap (on sale)                                          $0.97
• Coupon                                                         (-$0.50)
• Method Concentrated Laundry Soap                          $8.99
• Extra Care Bucks Rebate                               (-$5.00)
• Colgate Total Toothpaste                                           $2.99
• Extra Care Bucks Rebate                               (-$2.99)
• Sally Hansen Facial Hair Cream Bleach                      $5.99
• Bounce Dryer Sheets                                                 $5.97
• Charmin Toilet Paper (sale)                                        $9.99
• Coupon                                                         (-$0.25)
• Charmin Toilet Paper (sale)                                        $9.99
• Coupon                                                          (-$0.25)
• CVS Coupon                                                 (-$1.50)
• Extra Care Bucks Rebate*                             (-$10.00)
• $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase CVS coupon**             (-$4.00)
• $5.00 off a $25.00 purch. CVS e-mail coupon**       (-$5.00)

* This Extra Care Bucks was $10.00 after the purchase of $25.00 worth of select P&G items (the Bounce and the 2 Charmins)
** I was able to stack these 2 coupons because my grand total was over the purchase qualifications of $45.00.

So, in the end, after tax, I spent about $28.00 on everything in the picture, which to me seemed like a pretty fair deal. It's stuff I needed (except the candy corn) and I don't think, I could have done much better elsewhere.

There are a couple of great web sites that I use to plan my special shopping trips and to find out the best deals:

I Heart CVS
I Heart Wags
Chief Family Officer
Wild For Wags