Confessions of a Tightwad

Ok, I have a confession... I am a tightwad at heart. I love me a deal folks! As of late, I have been trying to make sense of the coupon world. I have never been very diligent in this effort because I thought buying generic was cheaper. Thanks to Lori, I have been exploring the coupon avenue more lately. But I readily admit, I don't think I've got it all figured out yet.

About a year ago, another mom at our home school co-op group told me about CVS Extra Bucks program. Finally, after Lori's link to Southern Savers, I finally got on board for CVS's rewards program. Basically, they offer certain items each week that will earn you $ to spend on your next purchase. Over the past month or so, I have bought lots of items that were essentially free. I paid out of pocket for them, but got the entire amount back in CVS bucks. I have a stock pile of pens, pencils and notebooks because of it!

We went to CVS tonight to buy a few items. All the items I planned on buying were boasting ECB rewards or I had coupons for or both. I still ended up spending more than I would have liked, so I am trying to analyze to see if they were real "deals" or not.

Here's what I got tonight.....

I went in the store with $8.99 in CVS Extra Bucks. I also had $ 7.00 in coupons. I spent $56.00 out of my pocket and now have $18.00 in Extra Bucks for my next trip. I just found a reciept from Wal-mart and figured out I would have been about $3.00 better off to have gotten the Pond's facial wipes at Wal-Mart. On the other hand, by purchasing them there along with the Dove and the deodorant, I earned $5 back in ECBs. I would have come out better to have gotten more deodorant rather than the Pond's wipes. Oh well, maybe one day I will get it down pat!