*Note: Central Florida as well as a few other areas have a different ad with different deals. Be sure to check your ad before planning your deal scenarios.*
Last week was another fantastic week! Thank you to all the participants. This week is a bit light on the deals, so let’s see what y’all can come up with for under $5.00!
Don’t forget you can now grab a clickable CVS $5 Challenge Button for your post or blog.
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, then drop by Keeping the Kingdom First and add your permalink to the Mr. Linky box below.
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!
*RULES* Bloggers: Please make sure at least one scenario is $5 OOP or less
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!
Here is MY $5 Scenario for the week of March 22nd:
*coupons in red
Transaction #1
Buy 1 Crest Pro-Health Enamel Care @ $3.49 (limit 1)
$0.50/1 Crest Toothpaste (P&G 3/15/09)
Total After Coupons= $2.99
ECBs earned= $3.49
Transaction #2
Buy 1 Schick Quattro for women razor @ $8.99
$4.00/1 Schick Quattro (SS 3/22/09)
Pay with $3.49 ECBs from above
Total After Coupons and ECBs= $1.50
ECBs earned= $3.00
Grand Total OOP= only $4.49!
Total Value= $12.48 with $3.00 ECBs remaining!
Keep rolling those ECBs for even more savings!
There you have it! A 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!
Okay, I truly truly truly want to jump on this bandwagon, but here are my doubts: are the initial things you are buying from CVS more expensive then if I just bought them without ECB’s at walmart (or somewhere else)? How much time does all this couponing/CVSing take? I have two toddlers and a newborn – is this really possible for me? Also, the times I have tried to do the CVS thing, they have been out of the product! Help…
This may seem silly, but I wonder if you or others can help me. Everytime there is a ECB deal on the razors, I see scenarios using a SS coupon. I would love to take advantage of this, so I look through the SS insert(and save it every week for future use) but I’ve NEVER found a coupon for the right razor. Is it just my paper? It seems folks from all over the country are using this coupon and I miss out.
Sarah Mae-
If you plan to shop at CVS regularly, these products will be cheaper than Walmart. I promise you cannot get a premium razor plus a tube of toothpaste for under $5, plus have $3 left over to spend anywhere else. But I do understand your doubts! I was a skeptic myself, believe me!
As far as time, it depends on how quickly you learn. I recommend starting small, with just a few transactions each week. Shop early in the week to ensure the products are in stock. If they are not, ask the manager when their truck arrives. Most CVS stores only restock once a week.
I think with a newborn and 2 toddlers, this could be a challenge for you. I prefer to shop after my kiddos go to bed, while hubby is home of course. I hope this is possible for you! If you have further questions, just let me know!
Ellen-
Oh dear, I am so sorry to hear this! It is possible that your regional paper is missing some coupons. I just checked my SS to be sure, and it is there.
Have you ever tried ordering coupons from a clipping service or ebay? That is one way to get specific coupons you need.
I am wondering if you live in a more rural area? My understanding that if you live near a major metropolitan area, your paper should have all the coupons.
Perhaps you have a friend in another part of the country who could mail them to you? Hope this helps, and best of luck in your couponing adventure!
It took me quite a while to decide to get into the CVS game too. I was leery about putting in that initial OOP investment. I even had one false start where I earned ECB's on something and let them expire because I never made it back to the store.
What I wound up doing was waiting for a deal on something I needed anyways. Mine was Clean & Clear facewash. There was an ECB deal on it a few weeks ago that stacked with coupons I had and made the face wash about $2/bottle (compared to $6 normally). Once I had those initial ECB's I made up my mind that once I had a good stockpile (which didn't take long) I would try to earn as much free stuff as I could, and donate it at work (we serve kids and adults with disabilities and always take donations of food and toiletries).
I still don't do every deal that comes out- I watch for the ones that work out to less than $1 each or are moneymakers after ECB's and coupons. I do have an advantage in that I am out and around during the day, and if I have my coupon binder and a CVS flier with me it is easy to pop into a store and see if they have what I'm looking for. I do know that CVS will issue rainchecks that have no expiration date, but I don't know if the ECB deals still apply to rainchecked items.
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve left you an “award” on my blog. Don’t know if you want it.. but you are one of my favorite bloggers and I had to offer it!!!
So this is my first try for the $5 CVS game. Here’s what I’m going to do.
-This week Clorox wipes are on sale 2/$5. We use endless amounts of these wipes in my house (husband, dog, 2 boys!)
-I plan to get 6 of them (which would be $15)
-I have a Save $5 on $15 (bring my OOP to $10)
-Then I have 2 Clorox q’s (b2g1)saving me another $5
Final OOP is $5 for 6 Clorox wipes!! Did I mention I have ECB’s that will cover that?? :o)
Hi Alyssa,
I also would like to join in on this but I am a little confused on how it works. Are you allowing yourself to spend only $5.00 a week at CVS or is it only $5.00 total. I just recently figured out how to use the ECB’s and I wanted to try something like this on my own, but it would be nice to work with others who are also trying to save with ECB’s.
I wasn’t trying to stay within a $5.00 budget last week but rather figure out how this works. So I saw that the crest pro-health toothpaste was on sale for $2.99 and there was $2.99 ECB on it. So I got the ECB and used it towards what I originally had gone to cvs to get, pads. So I paid $5.98 but that was the sales price for the pads I got and the toothpaste was free.
This made me think that you might be mean that a person can spend about $5.00 a week not just once, because eventually you will run out of ECB’s, like me right now. Thanks!