CVS - Out of stock!

Alas, my CVS didn't have either the Colgate toothpaste or toothbrushes in - not even a spot on the shelf. "We're hoping they'll be on the truck tonight!" I was told. And there were only 2 Dry Idea roll ons left. I had wanted to max out the deal (I had 4 coupons - 2 printed on 2 computers) but I also don't feel like going to another store later, so I just got the two. More on this later.

I bought:
1 Irish Spring body wash - $4.99
2 Dry Idea roll on (Powder Fresh - it worked) - $5.98
1 double paper - $2.50

I used 2 $2/Dry Idea coupons, $8.99 in ECBs, 42 cents on a money card, 37 cents OOP. Got back $8.99. Now I wish I'd been able to fish out the Irish Spring coupon to use in the transaction, but for various reasons that really wasn't possible. (It would've made me break even.)

So if I do make it to another CVS, I would get one more Dry Idea and one travel pack of baby wipes. If I had over a $2 ECB first and then the $2 coupon, it should be close to free for both. I don't use the Dry Idea, but I'll take the free baby wipes. OR I could do the Colgate + Dry Idea, hand over $4 first and then the $2 coupon, and get back $4.99. A better deal (money maker) but I do need those baby wipes. We'll see...

Oh, and I had a $4.99 ECB on my other card, so I got one more body wash for free (no OOP) with that.



Total OOP: $8.54 ($5.84 tax)
Total merchandise: 8 double Sunday papers, 4 boxes Throat Coolers, 1 Garnier 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, 6 packs of Stayfree maxi pads, 1 box of sheer Band Aids, 4 boxes of Soy Joy bars, 1 pack of Nutra Trim gum, 4 bottles Dawn, 2 travel packs of tissues, 7 greeting cards, 2 boxes 5 ct. allergy meds, 2 3-packs of CVS brand paper towels, 1 box of CVS cold medicine (Dayquil-ish), 1 Gillette shampoo, 1 Gillette conditioner, 1 Gillette shampoo+conditioner, 1 box of 30 Breathe Right strips, 4 Gillette Gamer razors, 2 L'Oreal towelettes, 1 KY product, 1 CVS toilet paper, 1 10-count Excedrin, 1 chewable aspirin, 2 Johnson's Buddies soaps, 1 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, 1 small CVS mouthwash, 10 25-count CVS cotton rounds, 4 small boxes of Wheat Thins, 1 Boost Kid Essentials, 2 Cascade Action Pacs, 1 bag of Halls cough drops, 2 Energy Shots 2 pack, 4 Colgate toothpastes, 1 small box Breathe Right strips, 3 bottles Suave body wash, 2 bottles Herbal Essences shampoo, 2 bottles Herbal Essences conditioner, 1 Snickers heart candy, 2 bottles Mylanta Mint, 1 Fruitopia shampoo, 2 Venus Spa Breeze razors, 1 Renuzit Tri-Scent starter kit, 1 box 10-count Carnation Instant Breakfast, 2 single-serving Pringles, 1 bottle Vaseline lotion, 1 tube Crest toothpaste, 1 bottle Irish Spring body wash, 2 Dry Idea roll on.

Current ECB status: $15.99

CVS Scenario for 3/15/09

OK, option A is to go tomorrow to the CVS that I know starts its sales on Saturday and use my $1/Colgate coupon (that expires on 3/14) to make $1 on the Colgate.

Option B is more likely.

Transaction 1:
Dry Idea - $2.99
Newspaper - $2.50
Use $2/Dry Idea coupon (printable from coupons.com), $3 ECBs, pay 50 cents + tax OOP. Get back $2.

Fish out coupons and then get:

Colgate - $2.99
Irish Spring - $4.99

Use .50/Irish Spring, .75/Colgate [I just noticed this will be for the "Total" line - and I don't know for sure that the free Colgate is part of that line, so I may not be able to use that.]

Total is $6.73 - I think I probably have a combo of ECBs that will equal $7 so I'll add filler, pay whatever OOP, get back $7.98 - or use $6 ECBs + the money card, pay a tiny bit OOP, get back $7.98. Not sure yet. But basically end up with close to what I started with - getting the paper for free, hooray!

We'll see. I'm reevaluating and if the Colgate coupon isn't for the right thing, the 50 cent Irish Spring coupon isn't worth it for me to fish out (I'd just have to add a 50 cent filler, basically). So here's Option C:

Colgate - $2.99
Irish Spring - $4.99
Dry Idea - $2.99
Double paper - $2.50

Use $2/Dry Idea coupon. Total will be $11.47 (I have to figure out what combination of Bucks I have). I'll get back $9.98.

Edit: Two different forums (hotcouponworld and afullcup) are reporting that the Dry Idea limit is 3. I have four coupons printed now - and I think I may go for it, as that $3 in overage would cover my newspaper! My total would be $13.45 [I could use $12.99 in ECBs and 41 cents on my money card] and I'd get back $13.98!

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CVS - Lotion, shampoo, conditioner, etc.

A pretty straightforward trip, although I forgot to get one thing we needed. I'll have to grab it later.

1 double paper - $2.50
2x Herbal Essences Hydralicious (shampoo/conditioner) - $5.76
1x Vaseline lotion (30% more bottle) - $3.69
1 Crest Pro-Health toothpaste - $2.99
1 travel tissue pack - 50 cents (filler)

Used $10 ECBs (handed over first), $1.50/Vaseline, $1/Crest, $3/2 Herbal Essences. Balance before tax was negative 6 cents, woohoo! Paid 15 cents OOP (tax - argh, forgot about my money card!), got back $6 ECBs.

(The lotion is a really good deal - $3.69, get back $2 ECBs, and my region got a $1.50 coupon. And then the shampoo/conditioner - $2.88 each, use the $3/2 coupon from a few weeks ago, pay $2.76, get back $2, so you pay 76 cents for two bottles. Not bad!)



Total OOP: $8.17 ($5.53 tax)
Total merchandise: 7 double Sunday papers, 4 boxes Throat Coolers, 1 Garnier 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, 6 packs of Stayfree maxi pads, 1 box of sheer Band Aids, 4 boxes of Soy Joy bars, 1 pack of Nutra Trim gum, 4 bottles Dawn, 2 travel packs of tissues, 7 greeting cards, 2 boxes 5 ct. allergy meds, 2 3-packs of CVS brand paper towels, 1 box of CVS cold medicine (Dayquil-ish), 1 Gillette shampoo, 1 Gillette conditioner, 1 Gillette shampoo+conditioner, 1 box of 30 Breathe Right strips, 4 Gillette Gamer razors, 2 L'Oreal towelettes, 1 KY product, 1 CVS toilet paper, 1 10-count Excedrin, 1 chewable aspirin, 2 Johnson's Buddies soaps, 1 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, 1 small CVS mouthwash, 10 25-count CVS cotton rounds, 4 small boxes of Wheat Thins, 1 Boost Kid Essentials, 2 Cascade Action Pacs, 1 bag of Halls cough drops, 2 Energy Shots 2 pack, 4 Colgate toothpastes, 1 small box Breathe Right strips, 3 bottles Suave body wash, 2 bottles Herbal Essences shampoo, 2 bottles Herbal Essences conditioner, 1 Snickers heart candy, 2 bottles Mylanta Mint, 1 Fruitopia shampoo, 2 Venus Spa Breeze razors, 1 Renuzit Tri-Scent starter kit, 1 box 10-count Carnation Instant Breakfast, 2 single-serving Pringles, 1 bottle Vaseline lotion, 1 tube Crest toothpaste.

Current ECB status: $16.41 ($.42 of it on a money card)

CVS - Scenario for 3/8

Yeah, it's a bit early, but I wanted to start figuring things out.

I have a coupon for a free Crest toothpaste, so I'll be using that to get a free $2 in Extrabucks, hooray!
I think I'll use my last $3/2 Herbal Essences coupon - they're on sale for $2.88 each with $1 ECB back on each, so I'll spend $2.76 and get $2 back. This is my preferred brand too.
Then...probably not much else aside from the paper, unless some super deal shows up. I could grab the vitamin D this week but I may put that off. We'll see.

More to come as I see more deals!

Edited 3/7/09: Ah! According to iheartcvs.com, Crest Pro Health Enamel toothpaste will be on sale the week of 3/22 giving $3.49 back! I'm holding onto my coupon until then! :)

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CVS - Carnation Instant Breakfast

I had a really nice little scenario going on and then...my CVS didn't have the ACT rinse in yet. But they did have the mini Pringles cans - which apparently were always right in front of me, but of course I didn't see them until three of my coupons had expired. But I did have two coupons that hadn't yet expired - and I thought I'd get overage from them. Alas, no, the computer was on to me!

Anyway:

1 Gillette Venus Spa Breeze razor - $7.99 [I knew I'd be "spending" $2 on this, but I like it so I didn't mind!]
1 Carnation Instant Breakfast - $4.99
2 mini Pringles - $1.58
2 Dawn Ultra - $1.94 [I got two because I thought the second one would be paid for, at least in part, by the Pringles overage, but I was wrong.]
1 double Sunday paper - $2.50 [after I got home, I found that one part of the SmartSource insert was missing - but just that. It seems there aren't many coupons in the missing part that I'd want two of but still, how strange!]

Used two 50 cents/any Dawn coupons from the Home Made Simple booklet, two $1/Pringles coupons, $2/Venus, and $13.98 in ECBs. The first Pringles coupon went through as $1, but the second was adjusted down to 58 cents. I paid 57 cents OOP [13 cents tax] and got back 8.99 [so I spent bucks on the razor, the newspaper, and the Dawn]. Oh, and in a week or two, there is a deal where you buy Crest and get back $2 ECBs - and I have a coupon for a free Crest, so I'll make up for the $2 for the razor then. :)

Then I used my other card (on which I had a $10 ECB from a survey I did - so actually free money!) to buy more Carnation, Listerine for a family member who requested it [I'll be paid back], and a 3-pack of paper towels [in retrospect, I could've gotten the vitamin D - which would've given me a higher OOP, but more bucks back - and I'm getting reimbursed for the Listerine. On the other hand, I don't need the vitamin D - I actually do take D, but in drop form - and we can always use the paper towels.] I paid my 93 cents OOP with my money card - technically using the bucks from my regular card on a different card, which is always nice.



Total OOP: $8.02 ($5.38 tax)
Total merchandise: 6 double Sunday papers, 4 boxes Throat Coolers, 1 Garnier 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, 6 packs of Stayfree maxi pads, 1 box of sheer Band Aids, 4 boxes of Soy Joy bars, 1 pack of Nutra Trim gum, 4 bottles Dawn, 1 travel pack of tissues, 7 greeting cards, 2 boxes 5 ct. allergy meds, 2 3-packs of CVS brand paper towels, 1 box of CVS cold medicine (Dayquil-ish), 1 Gillette shampoo, 1 Gillette conditioner, 1 Gillette shampoo+conditioner, 1 box of 30 Breathe Right strips, 4 Gillette Gamer razors, 2 L'Oreal towelettes, 1 KY product, 1 CVS toilet paper, 1 10-count Excedrin, 1 chewable aspirin, 2 Johnson's Buddies soaps, 1 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, 1 small CVS mouthwash, 10 25-count CVS cotton rounds, 4 small boxes of Wheat Thins, 1 Boost Kid Essentials, 2 Cascade Action Pacs, 1 bag of Halls cough drops, 2 Energy Shots 2 pack, 4 Colgate toothpastes, 1 small box Breathe Right strips, 3 bottles Suave body wash, 1 bottle Herbal Essences shampoo, 1 bottle Herbal Essences conditioner, 1 Snickers heart candy, 2 bottles Mylanta Mint, 1 Fruitopia shampoo, 2 Venus Spa Breeze razors, 1 Renuzit Tri-Scent starter kit, 1 box 10-count Carnation Instant Breakfast, 2 single-serving Pringles.

Current ECB status: $20.41 ($.42 of it on a money card)