Week 1: $25 CVS Gift Card Challenge 87% Savings

Last week, I told you how Cheryl at Simply CVS had asked me to participate in her $25 CVS Gift Card Challenge.  I was very excited to begin my challenge this week, but things did not go exactly as I intended.

To begin with, I usually try to get to CVS on Sunday evening, but I had a very good friend from college visiting me this weekend, so I did not get out on Sunday.  I also did not spend very much time on the computer this weekend in general, and because of that, I missed out on a few printable coupons that could have made my trip tonight even better, and one of the coupons I had planned on using expired.

I had to redo my plan, so I went back through Cheryl's ECB Deals post, and I also checked out some of the posts that had already been linked up on her Share Your CVS Shopping Trip post for this week.  I found the one at Thrifty Texas Penny to be especially helpful.

My store was also out of a few items that I intended to purchase. I had to leave a few things off, and substitute a couple of items that I did not have a coupon for.

My original plan was this (I had $9 ECBs to begin with from my last trip):

Transaction 1:
--Buy Papermate Pens  $1.99   (Get $1.99 ECBs)
--Buy Renu Sensentive $7.89  Use $2/1 Printable (no longer available). (Get $6 ECBs)
Total:  $7.88 +tax
I intended to pay with $7 ECB, and Get back $7.99 to add to my $2 remaining for $9.99 total ECBs, and only owe $0.88 + a very small amount of tax.

Transaction 2:  *means I did not know what the price would be until I reached the store.
Bengay  (Get Back $2 ECBs) *  Use $5/1 printable.
Schick Disposable Razors *  Use $1/1 from 6/19 SS.
Schick Disposable Razors*  Use BOGO from 6/26 SS.
Skintimate Moisturizing Shave Cream $2.19 Use $1.50/1 printable (no longer available).
Skintimate Moisturizing Shave Cream  $2.19 (if needed to reach $20)  Use $1/1 printable.  Also in 7/24 SS.  (Get $10 ECBs for spending $20 on Schick/Skintimate)

Well, here's how it actually went down....Transaction 1 they were completely out of, so I decided to just skip it and only do Transaction 2.  If my calculations were correct, it should have only cost me about $1 more in the end.  However, they were also all out of the Moisturizing Shave Cream that I had coupons for.  I didn't want my trip to be a total waste, so I decided to substitute the Skintimate Shave Gel, which was the same price, only I did not have coupons for those (there are $0.55/1 in the 7/24 SS, but I did not bring them along).  That ended up costing me $2.50 extra right there.  Also, I decided to grab an extra Bengay, since they were only $5.89, and I had two $5/1 coupons.  I did not receive ECBs for the second, but I thought it was a great price anyway. =)  I also found they had the single cans of Seatle's Best Coffee in the refrigerated section.  I had not been able to find these anywhere, and had 3 FREE coupons, so I grabbed three of those as well.

Here's what I came home with:

3 Seattles Best Single Serve Coffee

2 Bengay

2 Skintimate Shave Gel

20 Schick Disposable Women's Razors  (2 Bonus packs with 8 + 2 free)

WEEK 1 Totals:

Total Shelf Price:  $39.61

Total Sale Price:   $37.21

Total After Manufacturer Coupons:  $13.45

Price Paid After $9 ECBs:   $4.45 + $0.65 tax = $5.10    87% Savings

I have $19.90 left on my gift card, and $12 in ECBs to start with on my next trip (which I can already begin planning, because Cheryl has the 7/31 Ad Scan Preview already posted)!

Part of me is a little bit bummed that things did not work out as I would have liked, and that I ended up paying a little bit extra because of that, but the sane part of me is somewhere in the back of my mind telling me that $5.10 is an amazing price to pay for 20 razors, 2 shave gels, 2 Bengay, and 3 single serve coffees.

I am also kind of glad that it happened this way, because it shows that even couponers are human.  Life gets in the way (we do have lives!), we slack off, we miss printable coupons, we let coupons expire, we miss out on items being in stock.  But I like to think that saving money with coupons, especially at CVS, is like a game.  I didn't want to "bench myself" this week because things didn't go exactly as I planned, so I changed it up, and I think I still came out a winner!

I'd love to hear how your trip to CVS this week went!