Welcome, my fellow CVS fanatics! It’s Sunday, time for another CVS $5 Challenge.
If you are a first time visitor, here’s the lowdown:
Join me on Sundays as I host The $5.00 CVS Challenge!
Seasoned CVSers: share your best scenario(s) for the upcoming week at CVS.
Your budget: $5.00 out-of-pocket cash.
Your mission: to grow that $5.00 into even more ECBs to use in upcoming weeks.
Simply post your scenarios on your blog (you are welcome to grab the button), then drop by Keeping the Kingdom First and add your permalink to the Mr. Linky box.
Please link directly to your post, not your homepage. It would be lovely if you would also link back to The CVS $5 Challenge in your post.
If you have any questions about linking, please feel free to email me!
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*Note about sale dates: “Be sure to look carefully at your CVS ad this week since CVS has changed the sale dates in several test markets, including Dallas/Ft. Worth. In these markets, the sale will run Friday-Thursday, rather than Sunday-Saturday. From what I hear, CVS plans to try this out for six weeks and then evaluate whether to apply these new sale dates nationwide.”
Those of you in the test market (myself included), what do y’all think so far of the new format?
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On to the Fun Part… The Challenge!! This is an excellent week for females. *wink*
*RULES*
1. Come up with your best scenario/scenarios for the upcoming week at CVS using the current weekly ad, monthly deals, and coupons available. Your budget for Out of Pocket (OOP) expenses on the first transaction is only $5.00 (either cash OOP or ECBs on hand).
2. Using up to (3) scenarios (we don’t want to overwhelm the newbies with too many transactions), offer up your best scenarios to “grow” that $5.00 into more ECBs to use in following weeks.
3. If you want to divide your $5.00 allowance over the three scenarios to make them work, that’s fine!
4. Be sure to list coupons by inserts and/or with links to printables to make it easier for everyone to follow along.
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Here is MY $5 Scenario for the week of August 24th:
Transaction #1:
Buy (1) Kotex Lightdays (16 ct): $1.49
Use a $1/1 printable coupon here, and you’ll also find a $.75/1 coupon in the 7/20 SS insert and a $1/1 in the August 29 issue of All You.
Total after coupon= $0.49
ECB earned= $1.49
Transaction #2
Buy (2) Stayfree Pads at 2 for $9
Use BOGO (buy-one-get-one free) Stayfree coupon from 6/29 insert.
Use $1.49 ECB from above
Total after coupons= $3.01
ECB earned= $5.00
Transaction #3
Buy (1) Playtex Gentle Glide or Sport Tampons at $4.99
Buy (2) Colgate Total Toothpaste for $3.99 (on sale BOGO)*
Use $1/1 coupon from 6/22 SmartSource insert or $1/1 Playtex Sport printable coupon
Use 2 $1.00 Colgate coupons from today’s insert or $1.50 printable here
Use $5 ECB from above
Total after coupons= $0.98 or ZERO OOP (you may need to add a small filler depending on tax)
ECB earned= $3.00
Grand Total OOP= $4.48 or less
Value of items purchased= $23.46
*CVS corporate coupon policy does allow you to use 2 coupons on a BOGO sale
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There you have it! A new way to play the CVS ECB game by helping newbies learn the ropes. And who knows – you just might be inspired yourself by some of the deals you find, too!
Don’t have a blog? You can leave a comment with your scenario, too. I invite everyone to participate in The $5.00 CVS Challenge – no deal is too small, believe me!
By the way, we bloggers LOVE to get comments, so please do take a moment to spread a little comment love. Thanks!
Thanks for mentioning about the CVS Coupon Policy accepting 2 Q’s for BOGO deals. I almost ran into a problem with that on my deal for Pert Plus this week. Thankfully, the cashier was in a good mood today and made it work.
Thanks for hosting the CVS Challenge! I love seeing what everyone else gets!
~Stephanie @ Couponing 101
Just a heads up…I don’t think the printable Colgate coupon will work for the BOGO because the ones listed on the coupon aren’t BOGO…I tried it today.
Thanks for you site… I’m new to CVS and you have saved me a lot of money already! My question comes from the BOGO and couponing… where did you find CVS’s corporate policy? My local CVS will not allow me to use 2 coupons on a BOGO… only 1.
Great deals! Thanks, Alyssa!
Heather, you can call CVS, and they will give you their corporate policy. I had a friend call on this very issue because her store was giving her a hard time with the BOGO coupons w/ their BOGO deals. Corporate immediately called her store, and everything was fixed by that afternoon (or maybe the next day?).
For those who feel guilty using BOGO free deals with BOGO coupons (like I once did), rest assured that the store gets full reinbursement (plus 8 cents) from the manufacturer for the coupon. So to CVS, it’s still like you paid for one of the items (like using a gift certificate). For the manufacturer, you are trying their product, which is exactly what they want.
Sorry, Alyssa, if I stepped on your toes with answering Heather. I just know you may be super busy, and I just had a friend deal with this very issue.
THANK YOU for all you do!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the heads up… I’ll give them a call tomorrow.