I almost decided against writing up this CVS trip because it is quite embarrassing for a “pro,” but I ultimately decided to write it up because you all should know that sometimes things aren’t pretty…even for those of us that have been doing this for a while.
Please do not try to do this at home, folks. It was pretty ugly even though a super kind (and generous) CVS employee helped sort everything out for me.
I had a 30% off Body Lotion CVS coupon from the Red Coupon Machine that I got about ten days ago and it was still valid for this trip. My roommate had been clamoring for the Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion, so I knew I had to go get it for her. However, I also saw some nice Eucerin deals on their lotions with this week’s Extra Bucks deal, high-value coupons and my 30% off store coupon.
I had the best laid plan for this trip, but it all went to hell in the Eucerin area. They only had one $5.99 or 2/$11 lotion left on the shelf. I was hoping to find four of them. So I decided to make the best of it and grabbed the one that was there, plus a priced $12.99 in-shower body lotion (so the roommate could try theirs too), but I was still about $1 short. For some reason I remembered the myCVS weekly ad showing that pricing started at a low number, so I took a chance on the travel size item for $1.27 (even though the ad said clearance wasn’t included.)
Well, it didn’t work out. The $1.27 item (correctly) did not track towards the Extra Bucks. So I did a return of the $5.99 and $1.27 items and went and grabbed an $8.99 item. I thought that my return would be adjusted for the 30% off CVS store coupon I used on the $5.99 and $1.27 items, but it wasn’t. I received the full register price of the items back. I then used that credit towards the $8.99 Eucerin Skin Calming Daily Moisturing Creme and had enough credit between it and the in-shower lotion to get the Extra Bucks.
I’m not going to write the full sequence of events that happened here, other than to make an adjustment for the 30% off that was applied to the items that were returned, so that extra $2.18 of savings is included in the final stats for the trip, but I really didn’t deserve them.
Also, I am listing a coupon used for the Eucerin Skin Calming Moisturizing Creme in the scenario below, however I actually didn’t use one at the time I bought it because I had already used a $2/1 coupon on the $5.99 item I returned. Since they didn’t deduct that $2 from my return, I didn’t think it was right to use another coupon on the $8.99 product…since I had already gotten $2 profit from the coupon on the returned item.
Hopefully that all made sense. So here’s how the trip should have looked 😉
TWO NIVEA IN-SHOWER BODY LOTIONS, regular price $7.99
Get $5 Extra Bucks for buying two select Nivea items
Used the 30% OFF Body Lotions CVS store coupon, Red Coupon Machine for select users about two weeks ago (deducted $4.80 for these items)
and used two $2/1 Nivea In-Shower Lotion coupons, 12/13 SS newspaper insert
Price at Register: $7.18, but received $5 Extra Bucks
NET PRICE FOR ALL: $2.18 (or $1.09 each!)
ONE EUCERIN IN-SHOWER MOISTURIZER BODY LOTION, regular price $12.99
ONE EUCERIN SKIN CALMING DAILY MOISTURIZING CREME, regular price $8.99
Get $10 Extra Bucks for buying $20 of Eucerin *excludes travel/trial*
Used the 30% OFF Body Lotions CVS store coupon, Red Coupon Machine for select users about two weeks ago (deducts $3.90 for the in-shower lotion; I have no idea if it would have deducted for the Creme because my 30% coupon was already used by the time I purchased it because of the return fiasco)
and used two $2/1 Eucerin coupons, 12/13 SS newspaper insert
Price at Register: $14.09, but received $10 Extra Bucks
NET PRICE FOR ALL: $4.09 (or $2.04 each!)
ONE TOTAL HOME DISH LIQUID, regular price $0.89
Get $0.89 Extra Bucks when you buy Total Home Dish Liquid
No coupons used
Price at Register: $0.89, but received $0.89 Extra Bucks
NET PRICE: FREE!
The extra $2.18 of excess savings (because of my own screwup) are listed in the final stats below.
Total Retail Value of All Merchandise: $38.85
Net Price Paid for Everything: $4.09
Savings Rate (excluding tax): 89.5%
In case you’re wondering, there’s no picture of this haul because we lost the original image while moving the site to a new server some time ago.