CVS Scenarios 4/17/11 – 4/23/11

It’s a pretty good week at CVS. I will be taking advantage of the Easter basket freebies. I have done pretty well collecting items the past few weeks and I’m happy to see my baskets filling for little out of pocket expense. Note that the Easter items in Transaction #1 are part of the 3 day sale. These prices and Extra Care Bucks are only good Sunday – Tuesday so do your shopping early this week if those items are part of your plan. This post includes specific items you can purchase and coupons that you can use to maximize your dollar AND your Extra Care Bucks at CVS. Please know that you do not have to follow these transactions if you do not want to. The goal of this post is to help you get an idea on how to roll your Extra Care Bucks from one scenario to the next. Please also know that these transactions do not take into account tax. Every state taxes differently so you may need to budget a little extra to cover tax.

If you are new to shopping at CVS, go HERE to read Intro to CVS.

To see this week’s CVS Weekly Ad go HERE.

Transaction #1

Buy one Paas Classic Easter egg decorating kit, $1.99 (you will receive $1.99 ECB)
Buy one Easter grass, $.99 (you will receive $.99 ECB)
Buy one CVS/pharmacy Green Bag Tag, $.99 (you will receive $.99 ECB)
(If you have remaining ECBs from last week use them here to save even more!)
Total Spent: $3.97 (If you do not use ECBs)
Receive: $1.99 ECB, $.99 ECB, $.99 ECB

Transaction #2

Buy two John Frieda Collection Shampoo, $5 each (you will receive $3 ECB)
Minus two $2/1 John Frieda Product 3/6/2011 SS Insert (exp 4/30/2011)
Minus $1.99 ECB, $.99 ECB and $.99 ECB from Transaction #1
Total Spent: $2.03
Receive: $3 ECB

Transaction #3

Buy one Edge Infused shave gel 7oz, $3.29 (you will receive $2.30 ECB)
Buy one Colgate Toothpaste 3-4.6oz, $1
Buy two Mars Snickers Egg singles, 2/$1
Buy one Nivea body wash 16.9oz or shower gel 8.4oz, $3.88
Minus one $1/1 Colgate Toothpaste 4/10/2011 SS Insert (exp 4/30/2011)
Minus one $1/2 Mars Easter Products 4/10/2011 RP Insert (exp 4/24/2011)
Minus one $0.55/1 Edge Shave Gel 3/20/2011 SS Insert (exp 5/1/2011)
Minus one $3/1 Nivea for Men Body Wash 4/17/2011 RP Insert (exp 5/14/2011)
Minus $3 ECB from Transaction #2
Total Spent: $.62
Receive: $2.30 ECB

Total Remaining ECBs to apply towards next week’s ad: $2.30 ECBs
Total Out of Pocket for all 3 transactions: $6.62 + applicable taxes for approximately $24 in products. AND – if you used ECBs from last week, you will have spent much less out of pocket on Transaction #1.
**Also – Don’t forget that your ECBs will expire in a few weeks and if you let them expire, you are basically throwing away money. If you are concerned you will let them expire, I would put your ECBs towards paper products like toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, etc which are hard to get dirt cheap!