How far can you stretch $15? (A case for the working the pharmacy deals.)

Here is a summary below of my last three transactions from CVS. It shows how much you can get for $15 at the pharmacies once you have extracare bucks rolling. I bought $75 in on-line gift cards before Black Friday because I knew I was making a large purchase to get a digital camera. And that got me a free $15 gift card. So here is what I was able to get with that


CVS 12/25

6 Items
Total Spent $10.51 off free gift card
Saved $30.20
100% free Due to gift card total saved $40.71 (and received $15 in extracare bucks!)
Total Spent: 0
Total Saved: $40.71
Percentage Saved: 100%

CVS 01/01
Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner (1 each) 2/$7.00
Ice Mountain Water $4.49
2 Nature’s Bounty Melatonin Buy One Get One Free $8.99
1 Motions Oil Moisturizer $3.79
1 Motions Shampoo $3.99
1 Proline Hair Food $4.79
Coupons: $5 off any purchase $30 or more, $1 off Pantene, $2 off Pantene, 2 $1/Nature’s Bounty
23.95 in ECBs
Total Spent: $.60
Total Saved: $46.92
However $.60 was paid off my free gift card and thus all was free!
Total Saved: $46.92
Percentage Saved: 98.7%
Total out of pocket percentage aved: 100%
Received $13 in ECBs

CVS 01/04/2010
1 Aquafina Water 12 pk $2.49 saved $1.00
1 Nivea Body Wash $6.99
2 Nivea Lipcare products $2.99 each

1 $2.00/1 Nivea Women's Body Wash
1 B1G1 Nivea Lip Care
$7.50 in Extracare bucks
Used remaining $1.71 from free CVS gift card
Total out of pocket spent: $1.66
Total Saved: $15.20
Percentage Saved: 90.2%

I got $104.51 worth of things! Bottled water, body wash, Herbal Vitamins, ethnic hair care products and more! (Well technically it was for $16.66.) My overall savings from these three transactions was 84.1%. The funny thing is I’m not all that good. I won’t dare try Rite Aid since I have to get rebates back from them, I’ve let Walgreens Registry Rewards expire before (they only give me two weeks!), etc. I’m still learning a lot of things but I think that is pretty good considering I was using a free $15 gift card.

If this motivates you to try your hand at the pharmacies check out my posts under CVS (as it is the easiest to start with.) Also think about signing up for My Points as you can earn free gift cards through there including ones for CVS. Leave a comment or email me if you’d be interesting in signing up for My points.

Lastly check out this post: How to Save Money at the Drugstore by The Greenest Dollar