My first attempt at CVS...

2/3/09
I needed to go to the dentist on Wednesday afternoon so I decided to try out the CVS thing since I was up town anyway. {first I stopped at rite aid and bought the Bayer glucose monitors that I had a coupon for so I can donate them next week} For those of you unfamiliar with CVS they offer something called extra care bucks or ECB's. When you purchase something on the ECB list, the reciept prints a coupon for a certain amount of credit towards your next CVS purchase. This is what I did...

I needed cortizone cream and was going to buy it anyway, CVS just happened to offer $1 back in ECB's for it. I also had a manufacturer coupon {mq} for $1 off.
For my first transaction I bought:

Cortizone 10 on sale at $4.99
used $1 off mq
out of pocket {OOP} $3.99 {used health car flex plan debit}
recieved $1 ECB

transaction# 2
Excedrine 10 ct. {travle vial} $2.49
paid $1 ECB from transaction 1
OOP: $1.49 {from flex acct.}
recieved $2.49 ECB

transaction#3
2 jergins natural lotions on sale $7.99 each
used 2 $3.00 off mq's
used $2.49 ECBs
OOP :$7.49
Recieved $5.00 ECB

transaction#4
4 Glade candles on sale 4 for $10
used 2 $1.50/2 mq's {looked at the coupon wrong, thought I could use 4 of them...goofed}
used $5.00 ECBs from trans#3
OOP: $2.00
Recieved $5.00 ECB

so
$5.48 out of health account
$9.49 OOP
have $5.00 left for next time.

I know I could have done better. Like I said, this was a first attempt. I am sure I will get the hang of it eventually. I had planned on doing one other deal to get $10 ECBs, but the item was out of stock. I did get a rain check for next week though.
Good luck to all of you on your savings adventures!

Remember, even if you don't need something that you can get for free, someone else might. Donate your extra deals to charity!