CVS Addiction - Ode to Holli

I was introduced to CVS'ing by littlest bird. Thanks Holli Jo!!! It's so fantastic and I'm totally addicted. Basically, CVS has this program with their card that lets you get tons of stuff for free. You have to make an initial investment (minimal), but then if you keep it up, you can get so much stuff for nothing or close to nothing. The basic premise is this - CVS will have a sale and advertise a few items a week that reward you with the same number of Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) as the item costs. Example: You purchase a tube of toothpaste for $3.00 and then $3 in ECB's prints out on your receipt. ECB's can be used as cash at CVS. So then you use your $3 ECB's to buy another tube of toothpaste, and get $3 new ECB's on that receipt. So now you have 2 tubes of toothpaste and $3 ECB's to use on anything else in the store, so for your next visit and the next sale, you won't have to make that initial $3 investment. It gets more valuable if you have a $1 off coupon for toothpaste. The same scenario - you buy toothpaste for $3, but you get a dollar of from your coupon and pay only $2, but you still get $3 in ECB's. You can imagine if you do this with enough items consistently, you can actually make money and get free stuff. Okay, not actual money, but ECB's are pretty good. If you are interested in actually doing this, and want a better explanation, visit littlestbird or Southern Savers. Do this before this weekend because there's a much better than normal sale on the 21st and 22nd!

Tonight was my first attempt and I know I will get better, but I spent $17.29 for all the stuff below, which was valued at $88.31. I also left CVS with $14 ECB's. Basically, that means I spent $3.29 for everything.


6 boxes of cereal, 2 bottles of contact solution, 5 deodorants, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 1 Ear Rinse, 1 box SleepMD, 1 bag M&M's