Economic Endeavors :Helping you save and earn money, deals, coupons and freebies

My CVS scenarios for the week of 7/20

Posted on 11:54 PM comments (6)

**If you're new to the CVS game this post won't make much sense to you. Go here first to read my Beginner's Guide to CVS and learn everything you need to know. Then come on back and read the rest of this post to see how I'm getting $80 worth of stuff at CVS for free this week, and you can too!

Looks like it'll be a decent week at CVS this week! The following scenarios are for Sunday, because they use the $3/$15 coupon which expires Sunday. Also, to do the Clean and Clear scenario, you'll need to print the coupons from 2 computers (print limit is 2 per computer).

Here's what I came up with (please let me know if you see any errors!):

Transaction 1:

$4.99 L'oreal Vive shampoo or conditioner (on sale B1G1)
$4.99 L'oreal Vive shampoo or conditioner
$1.49 Trident Xtra Care gum (on sale B1G1)
$1.49 Trident Xtra Care gum
$3.00 CVS brand Diaper Rash relief

$15.96 before coupons
$9.48 after discounts for L'Oreal and Trident sales

-$4.99 B1G1 L'Oreal Vive coupon (from 7/13 SS)
-$1.49 B1G1 Trident Xtra Care coupon (from 7/20 SS)
-$2.00 CVS Brand Skin care coupon (the online link to these is gone, but iheartcvs.com has a pdf file you can save that is already preshrunk to a printable size)

$0.98 after coupons! (and you have $3 towards your CVS brand baby care ECB offer, buy $15 get $5 ECBs)

**If you have the $3/$15 coupon and shop before the end of the day today, you could add on $2.50 worth of stuff, get it for free, and your total after coupons would be $0.48!**

_________________________________

Transaction 2:

$4.99 Veet Hair Removal Cream
$7.99 Veet Ready to use Gel Wax Strips (earns $5 ECBs on $10 purchase)
$1.49 Trident Xtra Care (on sale B1G1, earns $1 ECB on 2 - monthly deal)
$1.49 Trident Xtra Care
$2.00 CVS Soft Cloths baby wipes

$17.96 before coupons
$16.47 after discount for Trident sale

-$3/$15 (expires Sunday!)
-$4 (2) Veet printable also here
-$1.49 B1G1 Trident (from 7/20 SS)
-$2 CVS skin care printable

$5.98 after coupons, earns $6 ECBs!

_________________________________________

Transaction 3:

$3.49 Clean and Clear
$3.49 Clean and Clear
$3.49 Clean and Clear
$4.69 Clean and Clear (earns $5 on $15 purchase)
$3.00 CVS Diaper Rash Cream

$18.16 before coupons

-$3/$15 (expires Sunday!)
-$8 (4) Clean and Clear printables
-$2 CVS brand skin care printable

$5.16 after coupons, earns $5 ECBs!

_________________________________________

Transaction 4:

$4.99 L'oreal Vive shampoo (on sale B1G1)
$4.99 L'oreal Vive conditioner
$2.00 CVS Soft Cloth baby wipes
$3.00 CVS Diaper Rash Cream (or 2/$3 cotton swabs)

$14.98 before coupons
$9.99 after discount for L'oreal sale

-$3/$15 (expires Sunday!)
-$4.99 B1G1 L'oreal (from 7/13 SS)
-$2 CVS skin care printable

$0 total after coupons

__________________________________________

Transaction 5:

$4.99 L'oreal Vive shampoo (on sale B1G1)
$4.99 L'oreal Vive conditioner
$3.00 CVS Diaper Rash Cream (or 2/$3 cotton swabs), earns $5 ECBs on $15 purchase
$2.69 Half Gallon of milk

$15.67 before coupons
$10.68 after discount for L'oreal sale

-$3/$15 (expires Sunday!)
-$4.99 B1G1 L'oreal (from 7/13 SS)
-$2 CVS skin care printable

$0.69 after coupons, earns $5 ECBs!

__________________________________________

Weekly totals:

Total of products: $82.73
ECBs spent: $12.81
ECBs earned: $16.00

Profit of $3.19!

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Free American Greetings card at CVS

Posted on 9:12 PM No Comments

MoneySavingMom has a link to print a coupon for a free American Greetings card at CVS! AND she says that this card can be printed more than once!

I'm planning to stock up on a few for future birthdays and holidays! (Thanks Crystal!)

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

My CVS loot from this week

Posted on 7:29 PM comments (1)

Yay, I'm back online! On my own beloved laptop. We were able to buy a new hard drive today and install it and get it up and running pretty quickly. Here's hoping for a long stretch of time in the future with no computer problems. We've had enough of them in the last few weeks!

Ok, on to the CVS pics.

I went to CVS three times this week. The first time, I did two transactions (numbers 3 and 4 from my scenarios here). Here's what I bought:

(Kindly ignore my silly husband in the background, "photobombing" my picture, his newest attempt at annoying me or making me laugh, not sure which. I told him I was going to post it, so true to my word, here it is :) If you're unfamiliar with Photobombing - the art of inserting yourself into other peoples pictures to surprise them later- google it. Funny stuff (but some of the pictures may be slightly offensive, so beware).

Anyways, on my second trip I did 3 transactions (numbers 5, 6, and 7 from my scenarios here). Here's what I bought:

And on the third trip, I made up a couple of scenarios on the fly. Here's what I bought (in two transactions on my husband's card):

All in all, a pretty good week. I really like Herbal Essences, so I'm glad to be stocked up on that (and actually wish I had more than 4 man. coupons so I could have gotten more!), and I'm happy to have gotten the EOB hand wash, because I like having nice stuff like that in the bathroom.
But really, 21 nail polishes? I'm embarrassed to say that I bite my nails (I mean, REALLY short) so I'll probably keep a few for my 10 year old daughter and give the rest away.

And I love the photo books! Super easy to make, and perfect timing. My nephew came home from the hospital two days ago, and I made 5 photobooks of his first few weeks of life while in the hospital before and after his heart surgery, and gave them away to close family as keepsakes.

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Offline

Posted on 10:48 AM No Comments

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts this week. It has really been one of those "Murphy's Law" kind of weeks - whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. Or so it seemed.

This week was my 4-month-old, Callie's first week of physical therapy. She has Torticollis,which is a condition in which her neck muscles are tighter and less used one one side than the other, so her head is almost always tilted to the right. It's easily corrected with PT, and she sleeps through the session, so it doesn't bother her at all. But the PT is twice a week, and since our family only has one car, I knew this would be a week of crazy scheduling.

What I didn't anticipate was our AC completely shutting down on Tuesday. After being gone all day, we came home around 8pm, hoping to get the kids to bed and relax. Instead, we walked into our house and it felt like a sauna.
Long story short, we stayed a couple of nights at my husband's parents' house while we took care of getting new AC.

Last night we were back home in our air conditioned house, and we watched a bit of TV and went to bed. I didn't even try to use the laptop until this morning, only to realize that it is having the same problem that it was having a couple of weeks ago when we had to restore everything to the factory settings. It turns out that our hard drive has gone bad. So my husband is pricing a new hard drive today while he's at work, and I'm hopeful that we should be able to find one, buy it, and install it by the end of the weekend.

Until that time, I'm limited to accessing the internet from my Sidekick phone, which allows me limited blogging abilities at best. I'm not even confident that I'll be able to post this after the 15 minutes that I just put into typing it all out on this tiny little keyboard. :)

Thanks again for your support and patience! I'll try to at least get my normal weekend CVS pics and scenarios up if I'm able to take some time at my in-laws this weekend to use their computer!

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Heads Up Monday! CVS deals for the next two weeks!

Posted on 10:30 AM comments (5)

**If you're new to the CVS game this post won't make much sense to you. Go here first to read my Beginner's Guide to CVS and learn everything you need to know. Then read the rest of this post for tips on how to make the game work for you, too!

Here's what I see for the week of 7/20:

Money Maker!

Gum:
Trident Extra Care Gum is $1.49 and B1G1.
Use B1G1 coupon (from tearpads) or 2 $0.75/1 coupons (from August All You Magazine)
Earns $1 ECB when you buy 2 (July monthly deal)
$1 profit after coupons and ECB!

Free!

Baby Products:
Buy $15 of listed CVS Brand Baby products, earn $5 ECBs
Products include:
Jumbo pack Diapers, Training or Kids Pants, 2/$12
Soft Cloths baby wipes 72-80ct, 2/$4
Shampoo, powder, oil, hair detangler, lotion, bath, etc, 2/$4
Diaper Rash Relief, $3
Cotton Swabs, 2/$3
Children's Pain Relief, $4
Some of these items can probably be paired with the $2 off CVS Brand Skin Care printable, making them free. Since you can only use the coupon once per transaction without it beeping, use the items as fillers throughout the week to get you to the $15 mark and earn $5 ECBs!

Nearly Free!

Air Freshener:
$2.49 Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Refill 1pk. (earns $1 ECB, limit 5)
$2.49 Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Refill 1pk. (earns $1 ECB, limit 5)
Use $1/2 Glade Scented Oil Refill (from 6/8 SS)
Final Price; $0.99 each after coupon and ECBs!

Toothpaste:
Colgate Total is $3.59 and B1G1
Use 2 $1.50/1 printable
Final price: $0.59 after coupons and sale!

Face Care:
Buy $15 Clean & Clear products, earn $5 ECBs
$1 off all Clean & Clear
Prices start at $3.49 (after $1 off)
Buy 3 products at $3.49 and 1 product at $4.69 = $15.16
Use 4 $2/1 printables
$2.16 for all 4 products after coupons and ECBs!

Other Deals of Note:

4/$11 Pepsi 12pk, 12oz cans (earns $3 ECBs)

All Small and Mighty 3x laundry detergent is $6.49 and B1G1
Use 2 $1/1 coupons (from 6/22 RP or printable)
$2.25 each after coupons and sale!

L'oreal Vive Pro is $4.99 and B1G1
Use 2 $1/1 coupons (from 4/27 RP or 6/8 SS)
$1.50 each after coupons and sale!

Special Offers:

Buy Palmolive dish liquid 25 oz and get a free CVS Kitchen or scrub sponges 2-4 pk

Buy $10 of participating Pepsi co products and get free CVS Sun Care Product (up to $10.49 value) Limit 1

__________________________________________

Here's what I see for the week of 7/27:

Money Maker!

Make-up:
$9.99 Revlon Limited Edition - Bronzing Face Powder, Blush, Eye Shadow, or Lip Color (earns $9.99 ECBs, limit 1)
-$1 Revlon Color Cosmetic Product (from 4/6 SS)
Profit of $1 after coupon and ECBs!

Free!

Picture DVD:
$9.99 Kodak Picture Movie DVD (earns $9.99 ECBs, limit 3)
FREE after ECBs!

Bandages:
$2.99 Band-Aid bandages (earns $2 ECBs, limit 1)
-$1 Band-Aid (any, from 5/18 RP, or Ultra Strips, from 6/15 SS and 6/22 RP)
FREE after coupon and ECBs!

Cotton Balls and Polish Remover:
$0.99 CVS Brand Cotton Balls or Nail Polish Remover.
Use the $2 off CVS Brand Skin Care printable coupon with these to make them free!

Nearly Free!

Deodorant:
$1.99 Dove or Degree Deodorant
-$0.75/1 Dove deodorant (from 6/8 RP)
$1.24 after coupon!

Tums:
$3.69 Tums
-$2.25 Tums QuikPak printable
$1.54 after coupon!

Razor:
$3.99 Schick Intuition Razor
-$2 (from 6/22 RP)
-B1G1 (from 7/13 SS)

Hair Color:
$5.99 Clairol Natural Instincts or Loving Care (earns $1 ECB)
-$2 Clairol (from 4/20 or 5/11 RP)
$2.99 after coupon and ECBs!

Other Deals:

Buy $10 worth of Hershey's candy, get $5 ECBs.
There are two pages of candy that qualifies for this deal.

Buy $20 worth of Johnsons products, get $10 ECBs.
If you have any $1/1 Johnsons Baby or Buddies, these would work great for this deal (from 4/17 RP)

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

My CVS scenarios for the week of 7/13 (Revised!)

Posted on 9:16 PM comments (9)

**If you're new to the CVS game this post won't make much sense to you. Go here first to read my Beginner's Guide to CVS and learn everything you need to know. Then read the rest of this post to see how I'm getting over $80 worth of stuff for free at CVS this week, and you can too!

**If you didn't already know, the $/$$ dryspell is over. For this week, at least. :)
Get your $3/$15 CVS coupon here!

Well, I had a couple of errors in my previously posted scenarios for this week, so I went ahead and redid them. Thanks to Amina for pointing out that the limit on the small photobooks is one (not 2, as I previously planned), and to Centsible Savings, who clued me in to the Sally Hansen coupon (it will only take $2 off of 2 bottles, but will take $3 off of 3).

Here are my revised scenarios:

Transaction 1:

$4.99 Airwick Freshmatic Mini
$4.99 Airwick Freshmatic Mini
$5.00 (2) Herbal Essences Shampoo or conditioner
$2.97 (3) Sally Hansen Hard as Nails or Extreme nail color

$17.95 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$8 (2) Airwick Mini printables
-$3/2 Herbal Essences (from 7/6 P&G)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable

$0.95 after coupons!

_________________________________________

Transaction 2:

$4.99 Bayer with Heart Guard 30ct (earns $2 ECBs)
$6.99 Ensure 6pk
$2.97 (3) Sally Hansen nail polishes
$4.39 Nature's Bounty vitamins (B1G1)
$4.39 Nature's Bounty vitamins

$23.73 before coupons
$19.34 after discount for Nature's Bounty sale

-$3/$15
-$2.50 Bayer (from 5/18 SS or printable)
-$3 Ensure printable
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable
-$4 (2) Nature's Bounty printables

$2.85 after coupons, earns $2 ECBs!

(There's also a full mail-in-rebate for the Ensure here, making this deal even sweeter!)
_________________________________

Transaction 3:

$7.99 Kodak 6x8 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $7.99 ECBs)
$3.99 Kodak 4x6 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $3.99 ECBs)
$1.98 Sally Hansen nail polish
$5.00 (2) Herbal Essences Shampoo or Conditioner

$18.96 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3 Kodak Photobook coupon (from 5/4 or 6/8 SS)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences (from 7/6 P&G)

$6.96 after coupons, earns $11.98 ECBs

(I could have done two of the big photobooks and used 2 $3/1 coupons, which might have earned me a couple more ECBs, but it would have printed out one ECB for $15.98, and it would be hard for me to spend an ECB that big. Hopefully by doing a big photobook and a small one together, it will print out 2 separate ECBs, in smaller denominations, and that will be much easier to work with in the future!)

____________________________________________

Transaction 4:

$7.99 Kodak 6x8 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $7.99 ECBs)
$5.29 Excedrin PM Aspirin Free
$3.49 Colgate Total (B1G1)
$3.49 Colgate Total
$1.98 (2) Sally Hansen nail colors

$22.24 before coupons
$18.75 after discount for Colgate sale

-$3/$15
-$3 Kodak Photobook coupon (from 5/4 or 6/8 SS)
-$3 (2) Colgate Total (from All You magazine, or printable)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)

$4.75 after coupons, earns $7.99 ECBs!

______________________________________________

Transaction 5:

$4.99 Essence of Beauty 12oz Hand Soap
$2.97 (3) Sally Hansen nail color
$5 Herbal Essences shampoo or conditoner
$4.79 Excedrin Back and Body

$17.75 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3/$2 Sally Hansen printable
-$2 off CVS brand Skin Care printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)

$4.75 after coupons (wait for the ECBs, a few scenarios down...)

_______________________________________________

Transaction 6:

Do Transaction 5 a second time, exactly the same, to get more EOB and Excedrine towards those ECB deals.

_______________________________________________

Transaction 7:

$4.99 Essence of Beauty 12oz Hand Soap
$2.97 Sally Hansen nail color
$5 Herbal Essences shampoo or conditoner
$5.29 Excedrin PM Aspirin Free

$18.25 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3/$2 Sally Hansen printable
-$2 off CVS brand Skin Care printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)

$5.25 after coupons, earns $15 ECBs

________________________________________________

Weekly Totals:

Total price of products: $136.63
ECBs spent: $30.26
ECBs earned: $36.97

Profit of $6.71!

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox

My CVS scenarios for the week of 7/13

Posted on 12:39 AM comments (8)

**If you're new to the CVS game this post won't make much sense to you. Go here first to read my Beginner's Guide to CVS and learn everything you need to know. Then read the rest of this post to see how I'm getting over $80 worth of stuff for free at CVS this week, and you can too!

**If you didn't already know, the $/$$ dryspell is over. For this week, at least. :)
Get your $3/$15 CVS coupon here!

Looks like it'll be a pretty good week at CVS this week. I'm planning to make some photobooks, a couple with pictures of my girls, and one each for my mom and sister with pictures of my newborn nephew that I've taken while he's been in the hospital. His surgery went well and we're hoping he'll be released this week, so it'll be nice to have a photobook as a reminder of all that he's endured and how blessed we are to have him in our lives, healthy and whole. And to get the photobooks for free is a blessing in itself!
Hopefully it won't take too much time or be very complicated to make the books. This will be my first time using the machine.

Here are my scenarios for the week:

**EDIT: I had a couple small errors in these scenarios, so I redid them, even better now than they were! Click here to read my new post with the revised scenarios!

~~Transaction 1:~~

$4.99 Airwick Freshmatic Mini
$4.99 Airwick Freshmatic Mini
$5.00 (2) Herbal Essences Shampoo or conditioner
$1.98 (2) Sally Hansen Hard as Nails or Extreme nail color
$0.50 candy or other small filler item (so your total won't be negative after coupons)

$17.46 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$8 (2) Airwick Mini printables
-$3/2 Herbal Essences (from 7/6 P&G)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable

$0.46 after coupons!

_________________________________________

Transaction 2:

$4.99 Bayer with Heart Guard 30ct (earns $2 ECBs)
$6.99 Ensure 6pk
$1.98 (2) Sally Hansen nail polishes
$4.39 Nature's Bounty vitamins (B1G1)
$4.39 Nature's Bounty vitamins

$22.74 before coupons
$18.35 after discount for Nature's Bounty sale

-$3/$15
-$2.50 Bayer (from 5/18 SS or printable)
-$3 Ensure printable
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable
-$4 (2) Nature's Bounty printables

$2.85 after coupons, earns $2 ECBs!

(There's also a full mail-in-rebate for the Ensure here, making this deal even sweeter!)
__________________________________________

Transaction 3:

$7.99 Kodak 6x8 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $7.99 ECBs)
$3.99 Kodak 4x6 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $3.99 ECBs)
$1.98 Sally Hansen nail polish
$5.00 (2) Herbal Essences Shampoo or Conditioner

$18.96 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3 Kodak Photobook coupon (from 5/4 or 6/8 SS)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences (from 7/6 P&G)

$6.96 after coupons, earns $11.98 ECBs

(I could have done two of the big photobooks and used 2 $3/1 coupons, which might have earned me a couple more ECBs, but it would have printed out one ECB for $15.98, and it would be hard for me to spend an ECB that big. Hopefully by doing a big photobook and a small one together, it will print out 2 separate ECBs, in smaller denominations, and that will be much easier to work with in the future!)

____________________________________________

Transaction 4:

$7.99 Kodak 6x8 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $7.99 ECBs)
$3.99 Kodak 4x6 10-page hardcover Photo Book (earns $3.99 ECBs)
$3.49 Colgate Total (B1G1)
$3.49 Colgate Total
$1.98 (2) Sally Hansen nail colors

$20.94 before coupons
$17.45 after discount for Colgate sale

-$3/$15
-$3 Kodak Photobook coupon (from 5/4 or 6/8 SS)
-$3 (2) Colgate Total (from All You magazine, or printable)
-$3/2 Sally Hansen printable

$5.45 after coupons, earns $11.98 ECBs!

_____________________________________________

Weekly Totals:

Total price of products: $80.10
ECBs spent: $15.72
ECBs earned: $25.96

Profit of $10.24!

**EDIT: I realized that I still haven't done the Essence of Beauty monthly deal yet and I really need some hand soap, so I worked out 3 scenarios to get them (along with a quite a few other things) for free.

$4.99 Essence of Beauty 12oz Hand Soap
$1.98 Sally Hansen nail color
$5 Herbal Essences shampoo or conditoner
$4.79 Excedrin Back and Body

$16.76 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3/$2 Sally Hansen printable
-$2 off CVS brand Skin Care printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)

$3.76 after coupons (wait for the ECBs, a few scenarios down...)

Do this transaction 1 more times exactly the same.

Then do this one:

$4.99 Essence of Beauty 12oz Hand Soap
$1.98 Sally Hansen nail color
$5 Herbal Essences shampoo or conditoner
$5.29 Excedrin PM Aspirin Free
$5.29 Excedrin PM Aspirin Free

$22.55 before coupons

-$3/$15
-$3/$2 Sally Hansen printable
-$2 off CVS brand Skin Care printable
-$3/2 Herbal Essences
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)
-$2 Excedrin (from 6/8 SS)

$7.55 after coupons, earns $15 ECBs

Total spent on above 3 transactions: $15.07
Spent $0.07 oop for all that stuff!

~~Plus, sent in for the rebate for the Excedrin Back and Body (from the 6/8 SS)!~~

Blidget Promo Badgegreat free widgetsWidgetbox