CVS at last...

and Target too!

Ok, so many of you that read this blog are probably familiar with the craze of CVS shopping! I had seen the blogs with pictures of an array of items where the writer told of $35 purchases for $.13 and the like. I didn't believe it. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is right?

Well, I can admit it...I was wrong.

So this post is going to tell you what I got/at what price/at what store. I will then walk you through what NOT TO DO and how I got some of it so cheap.



At CVS, I got:
1 box of CVS brand band aids
2 Listerine Smart Rinse for kids 8.5 fl. oz
2 Johnson's buddies easy grip sudzing bar
2 bags of Chex Mix
2 boxes of Honey Nut Scooters by Malt-o-Meal (knock off of Honey Nut Cheerios)

I paid $7.47 and saved $11.98 on my purchases. I am going to be returning the band-aids (see below) so I will actually only have spent $5.00 and I also got a $7.?? voucher off my next purchase (with no minimum purchase)

At Target, I got:
1 bag of size 3 Pampers Cruisers 35 count
1 mega bag of Huggies Natural Care wipes 232 count
and a headache (see below)

I paid $10.00 and I saved $7.00 on my purchases. I am going to be returning the huggies brand wipes and swapping them out for Pampers wipes as I really like Pampers brand better. I don't know why, I just do.

So, here's what I did. I went to this post (who is the queen of CVS shopping in my book) and printed off her list of what to buy and printed off the coupons from her links. Jonathan found the Target diaper/wipe information somewhere else I think.

I took a tired and hungry baby and two active 6 year old boys to CVS after a fun day of playing at Sarah's house (where her 4 year old told me that M.E. looks just like me-I loved it!). Jonathan met me there on his lunch break and I can promise you that had he not showed up, we would have walked right back to the car and came right back home. As we breezed through the doors of CVS, Luke and Isaac immediately became possessed monsters shouting, "I know where everything is mommy" or "I can help you find that daddy!" So much for not drawing attention to ourselves. M.E. fell asleep in the buggy that is about as big as my sink, but hey she was asleep and how big of a buggy do you REALLY need at CVS. We started on the hunt with the shopping list and coupons in hand. Here's the first thing we did wrong:

*we didn't go the minute we found her blog (evidently the stuff sells out quick)

The band-aids were gone. There was one pack (I was hoping to buy two) and sure enough when I got to the car later on, I then realized that the one pack I did get was obviously in the wrong spot; therefore, I paid too much and wasn't able to get my extracare credit for later back on them.

Second thing I did wrong:

*I sent Jonathan to find the chex mix.

He got the wrong ones even though I told him to get the $.99 version. He picked up the $1.99 version so we ended up paying $1 per bag instead of getting them free. Chex Mix was on our grocery list though so I'm not worried about that one.

Take my advice. Shop with no kids. I really did LOVE having J there, but the kids, NOT SO MUCH! As we put stuff in the buggy, they would loudly say "Who's that for mommy!" or "I want that one...I want that one...puhlease, can I have that one" I almost had to venture over to the liquor section to see how many bonus buy extracare credits I would get back on that purchase.

As we got to the counter, I saw the man eyeball me with my mountain of coupons and computer generated list and I decided to just bite the bullet. "We're doing the coupon thing," I told him. He replied, "oh goody"

Next, daddy was back to work and the now AWAKE and even more grumpy M.E. and the boys and I headed over to Target to try my coupon magic out there. The deal was buy one pack of Pampers and one pack of Pampers wipes and get $7 off. ($5 Target online coupon, $2 manufacturer coupon) By the time we get to the front, M.E. is hysterical. I'm serious. People staring. I think I am hearing Isaac and Luke whining about how hungry they are, but I can't be sure because M.E. is breaking the sound barrier. As I load my two items on the counter, I then realize I have accidentally picked up Huggies wipes. I need a paper bag and Kleenex as I am about to cry the big ugly cry. I am trying to explain to the check out girl who is staring at me that I have picked up the wrong wipes and I'll be back after I've lost my mind in aisle 13 picking out the right ones when she says, "just give me your coupons, I'll make them work." AND SHE DID.

So, what did I do with all my money I saved? Well, today, I went to McDonald's and bought the kids happy meals. They looked at me like I had horns on my head. We don't do full blown McD's very often so they were happy campers and mommy got 4 minutes of silence while they ate.