>Extreme Couponing is not new. It has been around for years but is the new “big thing” to hit the Internet, blogging world and TV. TLC even has a new TV show called Extreme Couponing! Denise from BlogHer is doing a series on Extreme Couponing. She started back in January and I’ve enjoyed reading about her process and progess.
I do use coupons but don’t really track prices and sales. My time is worth money. I will never spend 30 hours a week cutting coupons, checking sales online and off line or running around to different stores. Kudos to those who do and can but it is not for me.
There are some handy dandy websites that will match sales and coupons for you. That is the trick, matching up sales with a corresponding coupon so you get the most bang for your buck. I like CouponMom and SouthernSavers. These sites, and there are many others, track both grocery stores and drugstores nationwide.
Right now I seem to be getting the most benefit extreme couponing at CVS. Here is an example of my trip to CVS Saturday afternoon. Hubby needed deoderant, I needed Vitamin D, shampoo and Citrical. We also needed body wash. CVS has this thing called ECB (Extra Care Bucks) which are essentially buy certain items and you get a coupon for money off your next purchase. I had $5 from a previous trip to use.
Here’s how it all broke down…. the RG was on sale 2 for $5.00 and the Pantene was on sale 2 for $6.97. The GB body wash was on sale too. The vitamins were buy one get one free (BOGO).
$2.50 – Right Guard deo (saved $0.79)
$2.50 – Right Guard deo (saved $0.79)
$3.49 – Pantene 2 in 1 (saved $1.50)
$3.49 – Pantene 2 in 1 (saved $1.51)
$5.88 – Gold Bond body wash (saved $1.11)
$12.99 – Nature’s Bounty Vit D
free – Nature’s Bounty Vit D (saved $12.99)
$9.49 – CVS Citrical
free – CVS Citrical (saved $9.49)
Total (pre tax) $40.33. Sales savings $28.19
Then I had my coupons. The cool thing about CVS and most drugstores is that when they have a BOGO sale the items actually ring up 1 at regular price and 1 at free. You can still use a coupon for the free item, it just comes off the total.
– $2.50 – RG coupon for buy 1 deo get deo or body wash free
– $1.00 – Nature’s Bounty coupon
– $1.00 – Pantene coupon (required purchase of 2 items)
– $2.00 – Nature’s Bounty coupon
– $2.00 – Gold Bond body wash coupon
– $5.00 – ECB (from previous visit)
– $0.50 – ECB (printed when I went to coupon kiosk before shopping)
Total coupons – $14.00 off
With tax my total out of pocket was $27.02 which isn’t very bad considering it was all stuff I needed and can stockpile. Plus I also earned $5 ECBs towards future purchases. According to my receipt I saved $42.18 total with coupons and sales.
I didn’t need to buy 2 bottles of Vitamin D or Citrical but since it was on sale as BOGO plus I had 2 coupons to apply towards the purchase, why not? Now the majority of extreme couponers will include the ECBs towards what they saved on that trip. I don’t. For example, the Gold Bond body wash was $5.88 on sale plus my $2.00 coupon bringing the price down to $3.88. Then I got $3 ECBs for that purchase. Some people would say the body wash only cost me 88 cents since the store paid me $3. I have a hard time reconciling that in my brain so I don’t. Same with sales savings, except for BOGO.
There is tons more information on stockpiling and extreme couponing available. Click some of the links above for more detailed information or helpful videos on how this all works. Just remember – do what works for you!
Elizabeth
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