The Power of Store "Cash"

I got my coupons and store flyers together on Sunday, and went through them to plan my shopping trips for the week, including my final cost per trip. We were running low on contact lens solution and mouthwash, both of which were on sale this week. I also had coupons for both items. My original plan was to go to Shoprite for two bottles of lens solution, and CVS for two bottles of mouthwash. My total for the two trips combined would have been about $12.

I went to Shoprite first and they were out of the solution, so I got a raincheck. I then went to CVS. When I got there I realized the mouthwash was going to cost me $2 more than I'd estimated, so I decided to go home and restrategize my shopping list before buying anything. After my restrategizing and taking CVSs Extra Care Bucks (CVS "money" you can use on your next purchase) into account I was much better off making all of my purchases there. Here's what I got on this trip:

•  2 bottles of RevitaLens Contact Solution
•  4 bottles of Crest mouthwash
•  4 Twix bars (for my mom)

The retail price for these items was $54.00
I paid $12.13, saving over 77%!

This is how I did it. I bought 2 bottles of mouthwash, on sale for $4.50 each - (2) $2.00 coupons. I paid $5.66 after taxes and got back $5.00 in ECB. I then purchased 1 bottle of lens solution on sale for $8.99 - (1) $3.00 coupon - $5.00 ECB, paying $.99, and getting back $3.00 in ECB. I did these two transactions twice (I had another $1.00 ECB from a previous trip, making one of my lens solutions free). I ended up with $6.00 ECB and my mom wanted 3 Twix bars. They were on a 4/$3 sale, so I used $3.00 ECB to get her 4, leaving me with another $3.00 ECB.

I knew about the items on sale at CVS and ECB when I was planning my trip on Sunday. Since I didn't think about splitting my transaction to use them the same day I thought that I would end up paying more out of pocket for getting the lens solution there. Clearly I was wrong. The lesson here is to pay attention when stores offer store "cash" back and see how you may be able to use them immediately to purchase multiple items you need.