Extreme Couponing

Have you watched this show on TLC? I alternate between being fascinated that these folks can leave the grocery story with $1000 of stuff that they only paid $10 for and thinking that they are totally insane. I mean, seriously, what are you going to do with 75 bottles of mustard? I use one, maybe two bottles of mustard a year.

Anyway, I can't stop watching and because I like to get stuff for free, I try to score a good deal. We get a lot of our drug store stuff at CVS. We like the CVS because it is one of the few places where your loyalty card actually gets you something. You earn 2% back on every purchase and $1 for every 2 prescriptions you fill and they give you a coupon at the end of each quarter that you can use on anything in the store.

Second quarter Extra Care bucks came out on July 1 and I earned $4.50. I took this to the store on Saturday, the last day of that week's sale paper. For last week, you could get a box of tampons on sale for $6.79 and they would print a coupon for $6.79 in Extra Care bucks on your receipt. I also had a $1.00 coupon for these tampons. This sale was $6.79 - $1 coupon - $4.50 in second quarter Extra Care bucks = $1.29, plus I got another $6.79 in Extra Care bucks.

For my second purchase, I bought toothpaste. I could get three tubes of Crest on sale for $9.00. I had a coupon for $1 off of two. On that sale, I got three toothpastes for $9.00 - $1.00 coupon - $6.79 in Extra Care bucks = $1.21.

My total was $2.50 for a box of tampons and three tubes of toothpaste. I say that was a successful shopping trip!