Robbing the Store

I just have to share my experience at CVS this week. It's been a couple of weeks that I have been couponing and I had yet to score my first big deal. I was determined that today (being last Sunday) would be the day! On Sunday, armed with my 2 newspapers, I carefully planned out a small list of things to get at CVS. My small list included Jerame's deodorant, toothpaste, AA batteries, granola bars, and some Reese's mini's. I know, I know, candy right? The fact of the matter is that I buy candy. It is going to happen and there is no way around it. I might as well admit this fact to myself and buy it cheaply when I can. Anyways, hard to believe this small list totaled almost $50!

I was feeling the pressure as Jerame had decided to accompany me on this trip. He wanted to see what my new hobby was doing for us. I could tell he was super annoyed as we walked around the store and I put things in our basket that in his mind "We don't need". And by the time we were at the cashier and she had rung everything up and the register said "$46.51" I thought Jerame was going to have a heart attack. I handed the cashier my CVS rewards card and the register went down to about $23.80 because everything I had bought was "Buy 1, Get 1 Free". I forked over my coupons : $1 off granola bars, $0.75 off toothpaste, $1 off batteries, and $6 in ECB's from CVS. When the cash register finally settled on $15.05, I was so proud! I looked over at my husband and he had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. As we were leaving the store he said, "WOW! You just robbed them!" He later admitted that my hard work was paying off (music to my ears!).

While I may not have robbed them, I was so close to my savings goal! When I started out doing this, I was looking to save between 40-70%. Well, this trip was savings of 68%! Pretty good for someone just starting out in the field! Now you may never see me on Extreme Couponing but then again, you never know :)