Notes from a Couponer Wannabe: Part Three

We got to go on a little road trip this weekend!  Super fun!  We went up into the mountains and they were all covered in snow.  Unfortunately the only wildlife we spotted was of the two-legged variety, but maybe another time.

So anyway, that kind of pushed my couponing planning back a little bit.

BUT here's what I am planning to do this week.

On Couponing

Click here to see the site that explains about CVS and which coupons to pair with what sales.

1.  Basically it works like this:  buy a Sunday paper.

2.  When the different Coupon Divas ( such as Crystal from Money Saving Mom and Erin from 5 Dollar Dinners) post their coupon formulas on Facebook,  find the coupons in your stash from the Sunday papers and clip them.  If they are printable coupons, it will probably say so and you can search for them and print them.

3.  Take to the drugstore the coupons that the Divas have mentioned, find the proper brand.  Buy enough to get the CVS Extra Bucks if you are at CVS and there, you did it!  You saved money!  Yay!

My first time trying this was with diapers.  I had to buy $30 of diapers to get $10 in CVS bucks.  I didn't realize that they had to have the little CVS Extra Bucks sign above them to get the deal.  I thought I was buying Pampers because I had a coupon for them.  Nope.

But it was a learning experience.  Yesterday Firstborn needed eyeliner so I told her we'd go to CVS and use the Extra Bucks to buy it.  Without our $10 Extra Bucks it would have been about $13.  So I spent $3 out of pocket for two eyeliner pencils.   BUT they were running a Extra Buck deal Buy $12 worth of Maybelline Eye Makeup, get $4 in Extra Bucks.  So I actually had a $1 leftover if you think in terms of Extra Bucks being cash.

But I had to ask for my Extra Bucks.  They didn't actually come up on their own.  Still.

Not bad.  Not bad.  :)

Have fun with this!

~ Jenn

PS:  If you are new to this, couponing can be overwhelming.  I mean . . .to me, it's a bit like exercising.  You don't just jump in there and do everything that the experts do on your first time out.  It takes awhile to get those pathways in your brain created . . .the ones that "get" exactly what's going on.  It is definitely a skill!  But that's the great thing about our brains!  They were made to adapt and learn new things!  So I am going to press on.  :)