Coupons!

Today I went on my first couponing trip, and after saving $48 I am SO excited about starting this. After having multiple people asking me how I did it, I thought I would make a post explaining step by step exactly what I did. It is all very overwhelming trying to get it all figured out so hopefully this will help those of you that read this. There are so many stores to choose from to do your coupons. Since I am brand new to couponing I am just sticking to one or two stores for now which is CVS, and dollar tree. Below is a link to CVS' store policy on coupons and also a link to dollar trees. 

http://www.cvs.com/bizcontent/general/help/coupon-policy.pdf

http://www.dollartree.com/custserv/custserv.jsp?pageName=TermsConditions

The first thing you will need to do is get a CVS card. Once you get one register it online, and also register the number on your card for CVS beauty rewards club, It's all free. 

After you do that than you are set. The next thing you will need to do is on Sunday go buy 2 Sunday papers. I think I'm actually going to get 4 papers this next sunday because most coupons are limited to 4 per person, but I just got 2 this time. Dollar tree has them for $1 each instead of the regular $2.50.

A website that I highly recommend using is:

www.krazycouponlady.com

That website will help you out so much. The CVS circular is on there as well as in your Sunday papers. On her website if you click on "find my store" and than go to CVS she will have links posted for online coupons for all the items that are on sale that week at CVS. She will also have coupons listed that are in the paper for those items. You will want to keep all your coupons out of your paper even if you don't need them that week because they are good for a month.

At CVS they have Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). The ECBs is how you will save alot of your money. For example CVS maybe having a sale on shampoo one week. Buy 2 for $7.00 get $2.00 back in ECBs for your next purchase. When you do a couponing trip you will have to do several different transactions. Each transaction you will use the ECBs that you got from the last transaction to help pay for the next one.

Here is exactly how I did my trip:

My first transaction was one bottle of Revelon nail polish.

It was on sale for $4.99, buy 1 receive 3 extra care bucks. 

There was a $1.00 coupon in the paper for revelon products. So I used my coupon, and paid $3.99 and I received 3 in extra care bucks. 

My second transaction was another bottle of revelon nail polish. Again it was on sale for $4.99, buy 1 receive 3 extra care bucks.

I used another $1.00 off revelon coupon (this is why you need more than one paper). Plus I used my 3 extra care bucks that I just received from the first transaction which brought the nail polish down to 0.99 cents. Plus I receive 3 extra care bucks. 

My third transaction was for 2 Colgate toothbrushes. 

They were on sale 2/$5.98, receive 2 extra care bucks. So I got 2 for $5.98, there were two $1.00 coupons that I used which brought the price down to $3.98, plus I used my 3 extra care bucks which made the total $0.98 cents and I got 2 extra care bucks. 

My fourth transaction was for 2 Colgate tooth pastes. 

It was on sale 2/$5.98, receive 2 extra care bucks. So I got 2 for $5.98, there were two $1.00 off coupons in the paper which brought the total down to $3.98. Plus I used my 2 extra care bucks which brought the total to $1.98 and I got 2 extra care bucks.

My fifth transaction was for Colgate mouth wash.

It was on sale 2/5.98, receive 2 extra care bucks. So I got 2 for $5.98, there were two $1.00 coupons in the paper which brought the total down $3.98, plus  I used my 2 extra care bucks which brought the total to $1.98 and I got 2 extra care bucks. 

My sixth transaction was for 2 Pantene Pro V shampoos. 

They were on sale 2/$7.00, receive 1 extra care buck. So I got 2 for $7.00, there was a $3.00 off coupon in the paper which brought my total to $4.00, 

Plus I used my 2 extra care bucks which made my total $2.00 and I received 1 extra care buck.

My seventh transaction was for 2 Pantene Pro V conditioners.

They were on sale 2/$7.00, receive 1 extra care buck. So I got 2 for $7.00, there was a $3.00 off coupon in the paper which brought my total to $4.00, 

Plus I used my 1 extra care buck which made my total $3.00 and I received 1 extra care buck.

My eighth transaction was for 2 cans of the Arizona tea drinks. 

There was an in store print off coupon for 2/$0.88 cents. So I got 2 for $0.88 cents and used my 1 extra care buck so my total was $0.00

So all together with tax I spent $18.15

and saved $48.34

After CVS I went over to dollar tree. I just did one transaction. I got 2 bottles of Palmolive dish soap, and 2 bottles of soft hands hand soap. The total was $4.00, I had two $0.50 cent off coupons from the paper for the Palmolive and two $0.50 cent off coupons from the paper for the hand soap which brought my total to $2.00

I hope this was really helpful. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will answer as best as I can. I'm still trying to learn all of this to, but I'm excited to start saving so much money by doing it! I think  I might start doing a weekly posting on my trips to show what I got, what I paid and saved, and tell exactly how I did it. 

Here is a pic of all the items from my first trip.