Since August, when I first started this blog, I have learned some pretty cool things about saving money. I am only a little sad that it took my husband losing his job for me to really grasp how easy it was. I could kick myself for not learning about the great ways to get “something for almost nothing” at CVS. I guess like a lot of people, I used the excuse that I “didn’t have time” to figure all that mess out. Well, thanks to some really awesome sites out there, I don’t have to. At least not too much. Great sites like iheartcvs & slickdeals do much of the work and we get to reap the benefits. Now this doesn’t mean that there is no work involved at all. I mean, I do have to collect & file my coupons, figure scenarios for items we use and do the shopping. Walking out of CVS with $50.00 worth of merchandise for little or nothing gives me such a rush, even after almost 5 months in to it.
I started CVSing in August with a $20.00 bill and a hand full of coupons. I walked out with close to $50.00 in merchandise, $6.00 in change and $14.00 in ECBS (Extra Care Bucks). In essence, I got my purchases for FREE. Since that day, I make an effort to visit CVS at least once a week. For me and CVS, the year ended well. I came out with $100.00 in CVS gift cards, one of which I gave to my daughter in her stocking, and the other $75.00 for me to use in 2010. I also have a balance of $18.00 Extra Care Bucks and just today I got a coupon in my email for $5.00 off of a $25 purchase. It seems like I get something about ever 2 weeks from CVS. I would highly recommend signing up for offers via email from them! My 2010 goal is to see just exactly how much I can get for the $93.00 – I would love to be able to roll all of my future purchases in to ECBs and not have to spend any cash out of pocket for the whole year! As long as I don’t have an emergency and have to use those GCs, I don’t intend to. I will keep my readers updated weekly as to how it’s going. Sunday is the start so keep checking back to see how I did!
