CVS $5 Challenge

This week I decided to participate in the CVS $5 Challenge, hosted by Alyssa at Kingdom First Mom.com. The challenge is to come up with a scenario to purchase items you need at CVS with a budget of $5.00 out of pocket.

Transaction #1

Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste $3.49

Use .50 off coupon from the 3/15 P&G insert - or $1.00 any crest toothpaste from Publix

$2.99 (or $2.49) Out of pocket

Receive $3.49 in ECB's

Transaction #2

Schick Intuition Razor - $8.99

Use $4.00 off coupon from 3/22 Smartsource

Use $3.49 in ECB's from transaction #1

Pay $1.50 Out of Pocket

Receive $3.00 ECB's for next week!

Total out of pocket is $4.49 for $12.48 in products. - I have to give Alyssa credit for this scenario - its the best one this week for newbies.

Also, Check out this post from Coupon Cravings for the scoop on What's Free at CVS this week.

CVS Savings

I had a great week at CVS this week. Mostly because I went on Sunday instead of waiting until the end of the week when all the good stuff was gone. Also because I've discovered that to really get the most benefit, you need to keep your tranactions small. Anytime I've ever tried to do one big transaction, it always backfires on me.

This week all of the products I wanted were in stock so I didn't have to try to adjust my transaction in my head. It went as follows:

Carnation Instant Breakfast - $4.99 - earns $4.99 ECB's

(2) Act Mouthwash - $1.98 - earns $1.98 in ECB's

Aveeno Shaving Cream - $4.99 - earns $2.00 ECB's used $2.00 off coupon here

Dawn Dish Liquid - $.97 - used $.50 off coupon from this Sunday's paper

Johnson's Buddies Soap - $1.19 - used $1.00 off coupon

CVS Vitamin D - $2.99 - earns $2.99 in ECB's

I used $12 in ECB's that I had earned from last week's transactions and paid a total of $2.10 out of pocket. For this transaction I earned $11.96 in ECB's.