Your local CVS will give you all that and more! All you need to do is show up, coupons in hand, and collect the appropriate items.

My CVS purchase this morning:

Palmolive Dish Detergent (13 oz.) @ 1.49ea. x 2 = $2.98
Playtex tampons (either Sport and Gentle Glide) 16-20 ct. = $4.99
Advil Liqui-Gels 20 count = $4.19
CVS Beauty Bar 2pk = 1.99 x 5 = $9.95

Total: $22.11

– $2 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) for the Palmolive ($1 ECB each, limit 5)
– 2 x $.40 coupons (Q’s) found here
= $0.18 for the dish detergent.

– $3 ECB for the tampons (Limit 1)
– $2.50Q found here
= -$0.51 for the tampons (Yep, that’s a NEGATIVE SIGN.)

– $4.19 Mail In Rebate (MIR) for the Advil*
= $0 for the Advil

– $5 ECB for the CVS Bar Soap ($1 ECB each, Limit 5)
– $3/$10 CVS brand CRT**
= $1.95 for the bar soap

Remember the total spent before Q’s, MIR’s, CRT’s, and ECBs (Enough alphabet soup for ya? Better study, there’ll be a quiz later.)? $22.11

Remember what you’re supposed to do if you ever get a total above $20 at CVS?

TRUSTY $4/$20 COUPON!

$22.11 – $4 = $18.11

Subtract $6.30 in Q’s and my CRT and you have $11.81.

I had an ECB for $11.97. I decided that rather than waste that precious $0.16, I bought a Blow Pop for $0.33. I know. Impulse buys. They’ll get you everytime.

With taxes, I owed $0.39

I received a glorious $10 ECB

And let’s not forget that $4.19 MIR

That brings my pretax total to -$2.05. After taxes were added, I walked away $1.26 richer.

*The MIR is located on the inside of the front cover of the CVS flier for this week. It is for Advil Maximum Strenth. However, my CVS (and quite a few others, I believe) is not stocked with the new Maximum Strength Advil because of some kind of FDA delay. They had a sign saying they would substitute any Advil 16-20 count for the rebate.

**What is a CRT? Good question. I believe in my heart that it stands for Cast Register Tape, however, I have nothing to back up that belief.What I KNOW is that after you have been using your CVS Extra Care Card for a few weeks, it will keep track of the purchases you make and spit out coupons accordingly at the end of your receipts. For example, if you make a lot of toothpaste purchases, you may find a CRT at the end of your receipt for $2 off Aquafresh.

The great thing about CRT’s is that they can be combined with manufacturer’s coupons, and ECB deals for ULTRA savings.

This particular CRT was for $3 savings when $10 of CVS brand products was purchased. If you add it up, however, you’ll find my CVS brand total only comes to $9.95. I brought this to the cashier’s attention and suggested I substitute something else to get the correct total. She told me not to worry; the coupon rang up. I didn’t push the subject!

Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, was this post the most confusing thing you’ve ever read (that would be a 1) or a very helpful tutorial (that would be a 10)? Am I preaching to the choir? Do you already know the CVS ropes and are only interested in deals? Or am I speaking Greek? Should I take it down a notch? Take out a few abbreviations?

If you are a newbie to the CVS game, I highly recommend Crystal’s CVS 101 post. We all have to start somewhere…