My Gather Home Depot gift card arrived today! Just in time for some gardening supplies! My husband rattled of a pretty hefty list right off the bat, and I told him I'm going to have to spend a lot more time here if he expected everything to be purchased with gift cards!
We've been using a chest freezer in the garage all winter because our freezer in the house was so full. Now that we're buying fewer and fewer prepackaged frozen foods, we've got more room so today we're unplugging the chest freezer. I've made a concerted effort to go through the house too and unplug everything we can like lamps and small appliances to help save on the electric bill, but also just as importantly to be more environmentally conscious.
I've been contacted by three of the organizations I originally sent emails to regarding their needing/wanting any free health care and or cleaning supplies I'm able to acquire for free. I'm really pleased I can help out in this way. Shopping at CVS and using their sales, ECB's and my manufacturer's coupons saves our family a lot of money and even more exciting, I've figured I'll be able acquire hundreds of dollars of free items over the course of this year to benefit organizations that are in desperate need of the this kind of help.
My trip to CVS today was incredible: I looked at the bottom of my receipt and it told me I saved $101.43!!!!! Isn't that unbelievable? Here's what I did:
*Bought 3 bags of candy-2/$5 plus coupon for $1.50 off three bags
*1 Tube Colgate Toothpaste - on sale plus used a coupon for $1.00
*Used my rain check from last week for 4 cans Chicken Stock
B1G1 plus used coupon for $.1.00 off 4 cans.
*Bought CVS spray hand sanitizer - full refund as a thank you gift for being on the CVS advisory board I mentioned in an earlier article.
*Bought 2 Lady Schick 24/7 deodorant -used 2 coupons @$.75 ea. - received $2.00 ECB
*Bought Bic Soleil Shaver Kit - used $2 coupon and received $3.00 ECB
*Bought Ascencion Blood Sugar Meter - (Normal price $79.99) on sale for $30.00 - used manufacturer coupon for $30.00 off meter (yes, this was free!)
*Used $2 ECB from my last trip.
I can't wait to contact one agency in particular about the meter!
Kroger was a quick trip because we needed to get a prescription filled and pick up a few things for lunches. Today's prescription was our 5th out of 5 required to receive a $5 off groceries coupon. I picked up the prescription first, got the coupon and then used 2 $1.00 free grocery coupons from my last 2 Kroger trips.
After using those coupons and one for a free can of dog food and one for a bag of organic salad mix I ended up saving 71%. PLUS: I got a register coupon for $2.00 off Advil and a coupon for future purchase of the salad blends (and the salad blends coupons for the two previous customers who didn't get them from the cashier!)
One thing I read in several articles by others is that by saving coupons even for items you wouldn't normally buy, you can take advantage of good sales and other deals. That's been the case for me. I don't keep every coupon, but I keep them different brands of the same item now. Having that inventory gives me more opportunities to save and/or receive items free.
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Comments: 41
I usually do not shop at CVS except for a nice sale item from time to time, because many of their items are a lot more expensive than other stores. Kmart, Walmart, and Canada Pharmacy are were I usually pick up my medical related items because they are often half the price or less than CVS.
I had also not often shopped at CVS in the past - I even gave my shopper card to my daughter when she moved to an apartment! I check out their fliers every single week now, because of the ability to get so many items for free - It doesn't matter what the original cost of an item is if you can end up getting it free with rebates, Extra Value Bucks and manufacturer's coupons.
If I were a person who used no coupons at all - Wal-Mart is hand's down the best place to buy just about everything.