I’ve been preaching the benefits of coupons and CVS to you all for a few weeks now, and I don’t know how many of you reader readers have taken the CVS plunge, but a few of my real-life friends have and it makes me oh-so-happy to be sharing the joy! A couple of weeks ago my friend Krista, (who has been my friend since the 5th grade!) who is a very busy working mom, e-mailed me that she wanted to give it a whirl and asked for some advice. As I mentioned, Krista works full-time (and she’s a CPA so she’s REALLY busy right now since it’s tax season) and wants to spend as much time with her daughter as she can when she’s off, so she wanted to see if she could make CVS work for her on her lunch hour. She e-mailed me a list (ok it was a spreadsheet! I said she’s a CPA!) of items she was interested in purchasing and what coupons she had and asked me if I could help her coordinate her transactions. Well, as luck would have it, my mom had taken my kids to my Grandma’s that day, so I said, “I’ll meet ya at CVS!” We rendezvoused in the parking lot and I organized Krista’s coupons into three separate groups (by transaction) while she went in and signed up for her ExtraCare card. I also had a couple of coupons for items she wanted to get that I contributed (because I am pretty much the best friend ever).
After Krista got her card we went in together and filled her cart with the items for transaction # 1. I hung out near the counter to make sure everything went ok with her coupons (they let ya stack at this store! Woot!) Everything went well and she got lots of ECBs and her receipt was reallllllllllly long! It was awesome! She then took her things out to the car while I started filling her cart with transaction # 2. Then when she was in the parking lot, something crazy happened. She noticed that the trunk of my car was open. Being a good friend, she went to close it for me. But it was very windy, and her very looooong receipt got caught in my trunk and ripped!! Here’s how Krista tells it, in her own words:
On my first trip out to put things away I noticed Jenny’s trunk was open. I reached over to shut it and my receipt got in the way. So the trunk was shut, but half of my loooooong receipt with my Extra Care Bucks were trapped inside! I run laughing into the store – high on saving money – to tell Jenny. We must have looked like two freaks running around CVS giggling the entire time with my wads of coupons.
I had to go out to the car to liberate Krista’s ECBs! There were SEVEN precious ECBS trapped in my trunk! I got them out and then we continued with transactions 2 and 3. We were indeed rather giggly and high on savings. I have never had so much fun in a store without buying anything!! In the end Krista spent about $25 out of pocket but she got a TON of stuff and had 14 ECBs to take home with her for her next trip! A couple of hours after she got back to the office she e-mailed me ANOTHER spreadsheet – this one of all her transactions and savings! (Did I mention she is a CPA? And VERY organized!)
It was really fun to help Krista get started CVSing – not just because I got to spend time with her (which was the best part), but also because I know that this is going to be a big help to her family just like it is to mine. If you haven’t started yet, I encourage you to jump in like Krista, my sister-in-law Ruthie (mom of SEVEN!) and my friend Bethany have. You don’t have to be all CVS CRAZY like I am. You can put just a little time & effort into it and still save a lot! Feel free to email me with questions, and go here to Money Saving Mom for CVS lessons or if you have no idea what the heck I am even talking about. She also has a great e-book called Supermarket Savings 101 which has helped me conquer grocery stores as well – you can check that out here!
Allright, ready, set, SHOP! And save! True retail therapy is when you get to shop and BUY lots of stuff without SPENDING hardly anything!
