Gaming Ibotta

How much do you think I paid for all of this?

I've been using my Ibotta app quite a bit lately so I thought I'd share a couple tips on how I've been maximizing my returns.

Almost every week there are bonus opportunities that show up in the app.

Usually there is a "Midweek Money Maker" bonus that runs from Monday morning to Wednesday night and a "Weekend Warrior" bonus that runs from Thursday morning to Sunday night. In addition, there are other themed bonuses that pop up from time to time. These are in addition to brand bonuses which run for longer periods of time where you can get some extra cash back by completing several different rebates offered by the same brand. Purchase requirements for the Midweek and Weekend bonuses vary from person to person and week to week. I think that the more you buy, the higher the purchase requirement becomes. This is just a theory though. 

I had some particularly good bonuses this past week so I thought I'd use them to illustrate how I play this game.

I had a Weekend Warrior Bonus of $5 for completing 10 offers that started at 7 am on Thursday morning 3/26/22. I also had a "Swish" Bonus of $5 for completing 17 offers that also started on 3/26/22 and ran until Wednesday 3/30/22 at 1:59 am (so essentially Tuesday night). I also ended up with a Midweek Money Maker Bonus of $3 for completing 6 offers that started on Monday 3/28/22 at 7am and went until Thursday 3/31/22 at 1:59 am (so essentially Wednesday night).

You can double dip on the bonuses, meaning a purchase on Thursday will count for BOTH the Weekend Warrior Bonus AND the Swish Bonus, while a purchase on Monday will also count for the Midweek and Swish Bonuses. That meant I could complete 10 offers over the weekend to get $5, then complete 7 offers Monday - Wednesday and get another $3 plus $5.

The only downside about these bonuses is that you only get credit for ONE purchase of a required item per receipt even if you get money back on more than one item. That means if the purchase limit on widgets is 5 per receipt and you buy 5, you will get the rebate back for 5 but only get credit for one item for the bonus.

So here's my breakdown in actual items.

List will be ITEM / price / coupon / Ibotta rebate / store

Friday March 26th

1. Kraft Parmesan Cheese  $2.98/ no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

2. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70/ no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

3. (2) U by Kotex 40 ct liners @ $2.97 each/ $4 off 2 /$ 2.00 each / Walmart

4. Johnson & Johnson body wash  $4.92 / $1.00 / $1.50 / Walmart

5. Johnson & Johnson lotion  $4.92 /$1.00 / $1.50 / Walmart

6. Schick Intuition Bamboo razor  $5.97 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

7. Skintimates 4ct razor  $5.97 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

8. Dixie 10ct Disposable cutting boards  $4.88 / no coupon / $2.00 / Walmart

9. Siggis Skyr yogurt  $1.99 / no coupon / $1.69 / Kroger

10. Mountain Dew Zero Sugar  $1.99 / no coupon / $1.98 / Meijer

11. Canine Carry Outs $1.00 / no coupon / no rebate / Kroger*

*I messed up and bought this at the wrong store so it didn't count

Total before tax: $43.26

Total with tax: $45.47 ($35.59 in taxable items, 7% tax)

Total after coupons: $31.47 (45.47 - 14.00)

Total after Ibotta rebates: $12.80 (31.47 - 18.67)

Total after Ibotta $5 Weekend Warrior Bonus and $0.50 J& J Bonus for purchasing 2 different items: $7.30 (12.80 - 5.50)

Monday March 28th

1. Kraft Parmesan Cheese  $2.98 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

2. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

3. (2) U by Kotex 40 ct liners @ $2.97 each / $4 off 2 / $2.00 each / Walmart

4. Skintimate 4ct razor  $6.08 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

5. Aspercreme 3ct Flexi-Motion patch  $20.49 / $19.00 / $4.00 / CVS

What I really wanted a deal on this week was cheese and I was hoping the rebate would reset so I was really happy that it did. I also really wanted to try out the Aspercreme patches. Those were purchased at CVS and I used a combination of coupons and ECBs to get it for $1.49.

I was also glad both the Kotex and the razors reset as I was making $1.64 for every two boxes of Kotex I bought (2 x 2.97 plus tax = 6.36 - 4 coupon = 2.36 - 4 Ibotta = -1.64) and the razors were basically free with the $4 coupon and the $2 Ibotta rebate.

One of the keys to gaming a bonus is to find items that you can get for free to increase your item count if you don't already have enough items that you really need or want. On the other hand, there will be some weeks when there really isn't anything that you need or want. In that case it's senseless to chase a bonus.

I picked up a different "flavor" of razor on Monday and didn't realize it was $0.11 more; either that or they raised the prices over the weekend!

At this point I needed two more items to complete both bonuses. I saw that I could get 9 Elements bathroom cleaner for free if I drove to the Walmart across town and I could also get Compeed Blister Care bandages for free if I also drove to the Walgreens across town (the stores near me did not have them in stock) but I really didn't need those even if they were free, plus I didn't want to waste my gas and time driving to the other side of the county for two items so I just stayed put and hoped the cheese rebates would reset again in 24 hours.

I considered just buying more cheese on a separate receipt on Monday and hope the rebate reset by Tuesday but I also knew I'd be driving by the Walmart again on Tuesday so I decided to wait it out. 

If I was going to buy cheese early I needed a separate receipt because the transaction limit on the cheese was five, meaning I could buy five at once and get a dollar back on each one, but it would only count as one item for the bonus. If the transaction limit had been one I could have bought them all on the same receipt and used the same receipt when the rebate reset.

Tuesday March 29th

6. Kraft Parmesan Cheese $2.98 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

7. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

Yay!! Cheese reset. Totals for Monday and Tuesday...

Total before tax: $43.87

Total after tax: $44.82 ($13.51 in taxable items*, 7% tax)

*my CVS transaction got royally messed up so it had to be re-rung and when they re-rang it all the coupons I had used came off as CVS coupons pre-tax so I only paid tax of $1.49 instead of $20.49.

Total after coupons: $17.82 (44.82 - 27)

Total after Ibotta rebates: $3.82 (17.82 - 14.00)

Total after $5 Swish Bonus and $3 Midweek Bonus: -$4.18 (3.82 - 5.00 - 3.00)

Grand total of all items after all 3 Bonuses: $3.12

In reality, these items all ended up being free and actually a bit of a money maker because, in addition to Ibotta, I also utilized my Shopkick and Fetch Rewards apps. Using them in combination will be a post for another day.

So let's look at this picture again...

Who pays $90.29 for this? Like is this how much stuff really costs? ...as the majority of it was purchased at Walmart. And one does not live on cheese alone. This is just what I bought for my Ibotta rebates. I got other food too... with different deals and sales.

I track my purchases because, as I've mentioned before, the main reason new couponers stop couponing is they find themselves actually spending MORE money by chasing crazy deals on stuff they don't need. I don't buy things I don't need UNLESS I get paid to take it out of the store. However, if acquiring something I don't need gets me a deal on something I will use, then YES, I'll get it. Tracking my purchases keeps me accountable and I can make sure I'm not wasting money on stuff.

Here's the breakdown on what I got this weekend and let's say I ended up spending $3.12 total.

This is what I really wanted...

Is it worth $3.12? Heck ya, it is.

These are things I don't really need but will use... I mean, at least my dog will be happy and I have a killer apple dumpling recipe that uses Mountain Dew...

These are things I don't need but I'll offer to my destitute college/grad student kids...

Let me know if you have any questions.

If you don't have Ibotta and want to try it out you can sign up with my referral code: nshhsjp

You will get $10 with your first receipt and I will too :)

Double Double Dipping Walgreens

 

I always love a good double dip deal. It's even better when the deal item is fun. This is what fell into my lap today.

First let's talk Ibotta. This was my first double dip.

New offers loaded yesterday and I caught wind of a double dip on the Godiva Domes. Looks like if you purchase the dark pink boxes of Godiva Assorted Chocolate Domes it will count for the $1.50 offer for the Godiva Chocolate Domes AND the $1.50 offer for the Godiva Valentine's Day gift boxes. Better yet, the is a $1 bonus available if you complete both deals. Since this one item counts for both deals you will get the bonus for buying one box.

These are on sale at Walgreens this week for 2/$8 when you use your myWalgreens number at checkout - no coupon needed - you just have to be a myWalgreens member. My store did not have the sale tag up and the regular shelf price showed $4.99, however, if you buy any quantity over two they will ring up for $4 each. Since my store did not have the shelf tag I scanned the box in store with my Walgreens app before I purchased it to make sure of the price. I also scanned it in the Ibotta app to make sure it was attaching to both offers. Ibotta had a limit of 5 per offer so I bought 5.

Five boxes cost $20 but since I would be getting back $3 per box plus the $1 bonus that meant I would get $16 back. $4 for 5 boxes (80 cents a box) is a pretty good deal in and of itself and anyone with Ibotta can do this deal.

The deal got even better for me. This is my second double dip.

I had a digital spend booster in my myWalgreens account for this week for spend $18, get $5 Walgreens cash (WC). If you have one you will find it under "coupons" in your myWalgreens account and you will need to "clip" it for it to apply.

I also had a paper spend booster that spit out of the register after I made a purchase yesterday to spend some Register Rewards that were expiring. The paper spend boosters seem to print randomly and for different amounts. The one I got yesterday was spend $30, get $7 WC.

This is what a spend booster looks like.
This is not the one I used today; this one is for $6 when you spend $20

You CAN double dip on your spend boosters on one transaction if you have both a digital and paper booster. You will need to spend the higher amount of the two boosters but you will earn the WC for both boosters. In my case, if I spent $30 I would earn a total of $12 WC ($5 + $7).

With Spend Boosters your total pre-tax SPEND must be over the threshold amount. If you have Walgreens store coupons or use WC to pay, this amount will be subtracted BEFORE the threshold amount so even though I had over $30 in WC in my account, if I used it to pay for this transaction I would no longer get credit for the spend.

On the other hand, manufacturer's coupons count as a form of payment and are subtracted AFTER the threshold amount is calculated. The Godiva gave me a perfect way to spend money in the store but actually get most of my money back through Ibotta.

I needed $10 more of spend so I picked up some Compeed Blister Pads for $7.99. I had a $4 manufacturer's coupon and there is an Ibotta offer for $4 back so this would end up free. I also picked up Revlon nail clippers for $2.49 because I had a $2.50 Revlon beauty tools digital coupon in my account. This made my pre-tax pre-coupon total $30.48. I also had a $3 *Register Reward from a previous purchase that was a manufacturer's coupon so I used that.

*Register Rewards coupons can be store coupons or manufacturer's coupons. It will be written on the coupon. 

At the register the $2.50 digital, which should have adjusted to $2.49 since my items was less than $2.50, did not come off but at this point I wasn't going to worry about it. I paid $25.61 out of pocket. I got back $12.34 in WC and $20 from Ibotta meaning I MADE $6.73 for my purchase today.

Double double dip complete!

If this Ibotta offer resets this could be dangerous 😉

Walgreens 1/12/22 - When Things Go Sideways

I hadn't been to Walgreens in over a month. I used all my Register Rewards last month on laundry detergent and the rest of what I had earned was sitting in my Walgreens cash account with no danger of expiration. However, I got lured back in today.

Today it was birthday cards. Fancy pop-up birthday cards.

Cards I would never in a million years pay full price for... but for a dollar? Well...

So here's the deal. The cards are really $12.99 but if you order them online they are $1.00. The only issue with ordering online is that you have to place a minimum $10 order for store pick up. The deal was intriguing enough though to send me digging around my Walgreens account.

A couple things stood out.

First, I had two "spend boosters" - these are coupons for extra Walgreens Cash (WC) when you spend (WYS) a certain amount of money.

The first was $3 WYS $12, expiring this Saturday 1/15/22.

The second was $7 WYS $15 on 3 different transactions, good until 1/31/22.

If I spent $15 in one transaction that meant I would earn $3 automatically plus knock out one of the three transactions for the $7 bonus. 

I found multiple deals this week - not necessarily for things I needed but definitely for things that would net me some free money for the stuff I wanted.

So here was the plan...

Transaction #1 - done online

3 Birthday cards @ 1.00 each = 3.00

4 Gillette shave products, buy 1 get 1 50% off

- found some for $2.99, so 8.97 for 4

Aveeno moisture bar for 2.89

Total would be 14.86 before tax, so not $15 but over $12 so I would get the $3 WC.

The Gillette shave products have an offer for $4 WC when you buy 2, meaning I would get back $8 in WC for 4.

There is a digital manufacturer's coupon for $3.50 for the Aveeno. This would adjust down to $2.89 making the Aveeno bar free. 

This is what my order originally looked like...

Well, then I got another email. The Aveeno was out of stock. Ugh. That made my pre-tax total $11.96. I was 4 cents short of getting my $3 WC bonus so I ended up earning a total of $8.11 WC for this order rather than $11.11. Total out of pocket (OOP) cost was $12.80.

So... I started today with $11.82 WC in my account from last month.

Now I had $19.93 WC and paid $12.80 OOP.

I had the 3 cards I wanted plus 3 shave gels and a can of shaving cream.

AND, when I picked up my order I got another spend booster coupon for $7 WYS $30, expiring 1/18/22. This was a physical coupon meaning I could double dip it with my digital spend boosters.

More plotting...

Proposed Transaction #2

(2) packages of  Zantac 25-count

- $12.49, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off

- get $5 Register Reward (RR) WYB 2

- I have (2) manufacturer's coupons for $3 off

- there is an Ibotta rebate for $3 for each package

Pre-tax total would be $18.74 which should get me the $3 WC plus count as one of my three $15+ transactions.

I would end up paying $12.74 + tax OOP but get $6 back from Ibotta, $3 WC, and a $5 RR.

Proposed Transaction #3

(2) Oral B toothbrushes @ 3.00 each

(2) Colgate toothpastes @ 3.99 each

(2) Suave body wash or shampoo @ 2.00 each

- pre-tax total would be $17.98 so that would count for my second $15+ transaction

- use $1 oral B digital coupon

- use (2) $2 Colgate digital coupons

- use $5 RR from Zantac purchase

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Oral B

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Colgate

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Suave

- there is an Ibotta rebate for $1 for each Oral B toothbrush

I would end up paying $7.98 OOP but get back $2 from Ibotta and have another $12 in RR

Proposed Transaction #4

(2) Charmin 9 mega packs or Bounty 6 packs @ 9.99 each

(2) Bic Soliel 4 packs 

- $6.29, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off

(1) Palmolive 8 oz dish soap @ $0.99

- pre-tax total would be $30.41 so I would get $7 WC for the WYS $30 booster plus another $7 WC as this would be my third $15+ transaction

- use $8 off 2 Bic Soleil manufacturer's coupon

- use $0.50 off Palmolive manufacturer's coupon

- use $4 RR from Oral B

- use $4 RR from Suave

- get back $5 RR for Charmin/Bounty

- get back $5 RR for Bic Soleil

I would end up paying $13.91 OOP but get back $14 WC and $10 in RR.

Total after all 4 transactions would be $47.43 OOP - $8 back from Ibotta = 39.43 spent, 

but I added $25+ WC into my account and have $14 in RR remaining, so really I'd be even on my spend with all my products being "free."

NOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED... 😂😂😂

Transaction #2  

Purchased the (2) Zantac and my RR did not print.

The cashier told me, "Oh, our machine isn't working."

Arghhh!!! Like she KNEW it didn't work but didn't think it was a big deal.

I have made it a habit of photographing the shelf tag because this has happened to me so often.

The manager credited me $5 in WC.

Normally that would be great since the WC doesn't expire in 2 weeks like the RR, however, I was planning to do the "when you spend" deals and if you use WC to pay for your order it decreases your spend amount. The RR counts as a coupon and will not decrease what counts as spend.

At least I got a $15+ transaction out of this.

After tax and coupons, I spent $14.04 OOP. Got back $8.18 in WC ($3.18 for spending $12+ and $5 for my RR) and $6 from Ibotta.

Transaction #3  

Total cluster is all I can say.

I went to the other Walgreens down the street so there would be a functional catalina machine.

I picked up my 2 Oral B toothbrushes and my 2 Colgates then noticed something disturbing on the shelf tag.

What bothered me was that the Oral B, Colgate and Suave were listed all on the same offer. The way this tag was reading, it would mean that I would only get one $4 RR if I bought all 6 items on one receipt.

As an aside here, the Walgreens ad has gone digital and I HATE it. I find it really hard to follow the deals because you have to keep clicking to open things to read the details. Online each deal is listed separately but I know that often times there are multiple items that will qualify for the same deal.

I decided not to take any chances and have my items rung up separately. This would mean that I wasn't going to get a $15+ transaction but I figured I didn't have to do all of them this week. I also felt funny asking to do three separate transactions so I decided to just do two and picked up the Oral B and the Colgate.

Oral B went as expected.

Total after tax and coupon was $5.42.

Since I was no longer doing a "spend" transaction I paid with $5 WC and $0.42 in real money.

Got back a $4 RR and $2 from Ibotta.

Colgate was totally NOT what I expected.

This was the deal I planned on doing...

When I got to the store though I noticed that some of the Colgate was actually $2.99 with what I thought was the same offer...

I thought that since I had (2) $2 Colgate coupons my total at the register should be $1.98 + tax and I'd get a $4 RR. My pre-tax total after coupon was actually $3.98 and I didn't get a RR. When I pointed this out to the cashier and showed her the shelf tag she noted that the tag said "$4 Walgreens Cash rewards" and I DID receive $4 WC.

Ugh. This was a totally different offer. My second $2 Colgate coupon was for the Colgate Optic White which was included in the other offer but not in this one so that is why only one of the Colgate coupons came off.

Total after tax and coupon was $4.40.

I paid with $4 WC and $0.40 real money.

Got back $4 WC.

I decided to stop after that. I didn't feel like chasing more transactions today and, among other things, I noticed at both stores that they were out of the Bic Soleils and low on both Charmin and Bounty.

Maybe it's still too early to get back into actively couponing.

Really, what I primarily stockpile from drugstores is paper products, trash bags, laundry detergent and dish detergent; all the rest is fun and extra, with most of it getting donated.

Todays spoils...

Depending on how you price the cards ($1 vs $12.99),
this is either $42.69 or $78.66 worth of product

Total OOP spend $27.66 - $8 Ibotta = $19.66.

Earned $11.29 net in WC and a $4 RR.

Total WC balance is now $23.13.

CVS: Starting from Scratch

Let me preface this post by saying, as I noted in my Intro to CVS post, some CVS coupons are personalized so you may or may not be able to reproduce what I did. I am writing this so you can get an idea of what is possible and look at what you can do with the hand that you are dealt. I am also very open to helping you work out a deal with the coupons that you have.

Honestly, I had not set foot inside a CVS for several months prior to last Thursday. Last week I got sucked back into couponing with some Walgreens deals so I decided to play around on the CVS app and website to see what was available. Next thing I know, CVS sent me a surprise ECB for $5, good one day only on 12/9/21. Ummm... free money! That was enough to lure me in the store.

I knew that if I rolled the ECB by purchasing something that produced another ECB, then the new ECB would be good for another 30 days, thus buying me some more time to find some deals.

So, I found this...

It was a good deal hence the display was pretty bare

Poparrazi nail polish. Buy 2 for $5, Get a $5 ECB back. Free nail polish.

I decided it would make a nice stocking stuffer for my 10 year old niece so I bought 2.

I used my $5 surprise ECB and got everything for free, plus I got a new $5 ECB.

I then noticed the limit on the deal was 2, meaning you could do it twice, so I did it again.

This time I did it at self-checkout and for some reason my new ECB would not scan. The cashier came over and manually entered it as a CVS coupon so I ended up paying tax.

My family also fills some of their prescriptions at CVS. You get a $2 ECB for every 4 prescriptions filled. There have been times over the last year that I saw this ECB in my account and then let it go to waste because it was too much trouble to go in the store and find something. This time though, I saw that I had another $2 ECB in my account that expires on 12/16/21 so now I had $7 in fake CVS money to play with.

If you have absolutely no ECBs in your account and want to start with some, a way to get a "free" $10 ECB is by signing up for Care Pass. Care Pass is their home delivery program. It costs $5 a month or $48 a year, however you also get a $10 ECB to use every month and the first month is free. You can sign up for the free month and cancel if you want. I haven't done this yet but might sometime in the future if needed. The service itself sounds like a good deal because you get free shipping on many of items.

"First Day" Summary 

I ended up with 4 bottles of nail polish

$5 ECB for nail polish

$2 ECB for prescriptions

Spent $0.35

This week I started out by doing the Crest Toothpaste and Scope mouthwash deal (details HERE).

12/12/21 Summary  

1 liter bottle of Crest Scope mouthwah

2 tubes Crest toothpaste

$3 ECB for toothpaste

$3 ECB for mouthwash

Spent $2.38

I also noticed that the $5 ECB that I had tried to spend on 12/9 for the nail polish was still showing up as active in my account. I no longer had the physical coupon so I sent the digital one to my card to see if it would stick.

12/13/21 Summary  

As I said in my Intro to CVS post, sometimes you have to buy stuff you don't need to get the stuff you really need. When I checked out on 12/12 I got a CRT for $6 off a $30 purchase. So now I'm holding (2) $3 ECBs, a $2 ECB, and possibly a $5 ECB. This week's ad also shows a Buy $20, Get $5 ECB promotion that includes paper towels. I need paper towels

If I bought (2) rolls of Scott paper towels that would get me over $20 ($10.49 x 2 = $20.98), qualifying me for the $5 ECB.

Unrelated to CVS but deal related, I also had a Venmo offer that I have been meaning to use.

Venmo will give you $10 back on your first CVS purchase of over $20. You pay with your Venmo QR code at the register.

I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to use this.

I also wanted to leverage the $6 off $30 CRT to earn more ECBs so I decided to take advantage of this offer...

There are promotional cosmetic gift sets that are either $4.99 or $9.99. The $4.99 one will print out a $4 ECB and the $9.99 one will print out an $8 ECB. I also had a $3 off $10 cosmetic purchase in my account and saw online and in my app that it would attach to a $9.99 purchase.

So, original plan was this...

Buy (2) Scott paper towels and (1) $9.99 gift set = $30.97

Use: $6 off $30 total purchase, $3 off $10 cosmetic, and the $2 ECB that was going to expire 12/16.

30.97 - 6 - 3 - 2 = 19.97 + tax = 21.37

The Venmo offer was for any amount over $20 so my pre-tax total didn't matter. I would get back a $5 ECB for the paper towels and an $8 ECB for the cosmetic set so I would be paying $11.37 out of pocket but get back $13 in ECBs.

However, in store at the register, the $3 off $10 cosmetic physical CRT wouldn't take because I was a penny short. The cashier canceled the transaction and told me I could send the coupon to my card so it would come off digitally but then the reception was bad in the store and my app wouldn't load. I told the cashier not to worry about it and had her try the $5 ECB that was still in my account. The $5 came off so my net price was still the same. Fetch Rewards also gave me 635 points (0.63) for the Scott paper towels and the overall purchase.

Now though I still had the $2 ECB that was going to expire on 12/16. I decided the best thing to do was cash it out with Ibotta and Fetch. Both apps have an offer for RIND snacks. Ibotta will give $4 back and Fetch will give 2000 points ($2). This is actually a great double dip because one purchase will count for both programs.

Ibotta offer

Fetch offer

The snacks are $4.99 regular price. I had a 35% off one regular price item that I used along with my $2 ECB so I paid $1.94 out of pocket, therefore "earning" $4.06 through Ibotta and Fetch.

Ibotta redemption

Fetch redemption

In summary, I started a week ago with a "gift" of a $5 ECB and a $2 ECB.

I ended up with: (4) bottles of nail polish, (2) tubes of Crest Toothpaste, (1) liter bottle of Scope, (2) 12-roll mega packs of Scott paper towels, (1) cosmetic gift set, and (1) RIND snack bag.

Scope has already been given away

Taking into account my Venmo rebate and Ibotta cash, I paid $12.04 out of pocket.

I earned just under $3 in Fetch points for bonus scans and receipts.

I still hold $24 in ECBS, all of which now expire in January.

Usually around January CVS runs a Spend $30 promotion where you actually get a $10 cash card (which functions as a gift card) back instead of ECBs. If that happens I will try to roll my ECBs to that so I don't have to worry about them expiring. Otherwise, I will keep rolling to get things I need but eventually try to find a way to "cash out" so I end up with no money out of pocket.

Now going back to buying stuff you don't need to get the things that you want.

I wanted paper towels.

If I had straight up bought paper towels I would have spent $20.98 + tax and gotten back a $5 ECB.

If I had used the $7 in ECBs I started with that would have been $13.98 out of pocket and I'd be left with a $5 ECB for my next deal.

If you don't want to go through juggling deals that's perfectly fine.

I find this fun so that's why I do this. For all my "trouble" I spent $12.04 out of pocket vs. $14.96 ($13.98 + tax). I ended up with $24 in ECBs vs $5. Plus I got a bunch of other stuff in addition to the paper towels, most of which will be gifted or donated.

If you want to get in on this too, one of the best ways to "practice" is to play around on the website putting things into your shopping cart to see what coupons attach and what ECB offers are available. Let me know if you have any questions or want me to work any deal scenarios with you. 

Intro to CVS Couponing

There are several stores which I have a love hate relationship with and CVS is one of them.

To be blunt, I think that if you do not use coupons CVS is one of the highest priced retailers around.

However, if you play the drug store game with them, it is also one of the best stores to keep getting stuff for free. What is problematic is that the stuff isn't necessarily the stuff you need, and many times you need to get stuff to get stuff.

Tonight I obtained a 1L bottle of Crest Scope mouthwash for the purposes of this post.

The regular price at CVS is $5.49-$5.59 (depending on the store).

Same bottle is $3.92 at Walmart, $4.09 at Meijer.

Using coupons though, CVS ended up paying me to buy their overpriced mouthwash.

Couponing at CVS is complicated. For starters, not everyone gets the same coupons.

Their free rewards program is called Extra Care. After you sign up you can either use your Extra Care card or your phone number to access your account. You can scan your card or enter your phone number at one of their red coupon machines in store to get your weekly coupons or see them in your account online. 

If you are doing things purely digitally then you will need to add the CVS coupons you want to use to your account. You will also see manufacturer coupons that you can add digitally to your account. Manufacturer coupons will not print out at the coupon printer so everyone has to add the ones they want digitally to their account. Everyone has access to the same manufacturer coupons and a select number of CVS coupons every week. After that, the other CVS coupons in your account are personalized to your spending habits based on an algorithm. For example, if you want shampoo coupons you may need to buy some shampoo first before you start getting shampoo coupons in your account.

CVS coupons that print out at the red coupon machine are called Cash Register Tape (CRT) coupons. They are called this because if you don't scan your card when you first enter the store then the coupons will print out on your cash register receipt after you make a purchase.

CRT coupons come in a couple different varieties.

There are spend threshold coupons, such as $5 off a $20 purchase, or $4 off a $12 cosmetic purchase.

There are percent off coupons, such as 30% off a single item, or 20% off all cosmetics. Percent off coupons can only be used on non-sale items. When using multiple coupons, the percent off will always come off after all your other discounts. For example, if you have a $10 item and you use a $2 manufacturer coupon and a 30% off coupon, the 30% will come off of $8, not $10.

There are straight dollar off coupons.

Technically, you can use one manufacturer coupon per item purchased. Sometimes though, if you have a coupon that is $x off y items (like $5 off 3), the coupon will only attach to one of those items and if you have another coupon for the item that will attach too. You can use as many CVS coupons as applicable in a transaction. This can make the register math very complicated. I tend to do many small separate transactions because of this. When your transaction gets too big some coupons do not play well with others and if something doesn't go as planned it's harder to catch.

One of the keys to shopping for free or nearly free at CVS is Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). This is what I call fake CVS money. You earn ECBs by purchasing items in a promotion. Most ECBs expire a month after they are earned so you will need to either spend them to earn more ECBs or have a good exit plan on using them before they expire.

I thought the best way to further explain CVS was to give a real life example. One of the nice things about the CVS website and their app is that you can practice what you're going to buy before you actually set foot in a store so you can play around with all the possible coupon combinations and see what will work and what won't. So, without further adieu...

This is a page from this week's ad. I'm going to do the Crest toothpaste deal and the Scope deal online first.

After you are logged in, when you click on the items you plan to purchase you will also see all the coupons that apply to the item as well as the promotion it is eligible for.

The $5 off 3 Crest coupon, $2 off 1 Crest coupon, and the $1 Scope coupon are manufacturer coupons available to everyone. The $2 Oral Care coupon is a personalized coupon in my account so you may or may not have it.

I put 2 Crest toothpaste and 1 Crest Scope mouthwash in my cart to see which coupons would attach.

I can now see that my total for the 3 items at regular price was $13.07

The $10.30 in savings includes the sale price of the items plus I see that the $5 off 3 Crest, the $1 off Scope, and the $2 off Oral Care all attached, giving me a pre-tax total of $2.77.

I will then earn a $3 ECB for the toothpaste and a $3 ECB for the mouthwash, thus "earning" $3.23 ($6 ECBs - $2.77 spent). In real life it will be a bit less than this due to tax.

I then went to the store and did the same transaction.

The only difference in store was that the $2 Scope coupon attached instead of the $1 Crest toothpaste coupon, making my pre-tax total $1.77. Total spent out of pocket was $2.38 and I now own (2) $3 ECBs so I came out $3.62 plus 2 tubes of toothpaste and a liter of mouthwash ahead.

I will pocket the ECBs to get some things I need later this week. The rest will be given away.

Plus, I got a $6 off $30 CRT print. I can use that! Stay tuned.

How I Coupon

 This post will explain my personal couponing philosophy. I call it "Real Life Couponing" as opposed to "Extreme Couponing" because, as I've said in the past, you can't live on toothpaste. Couponers coupon for different reasons. I coupon to primarily reduce my overall cost of living. I have on rare occasion resold items but that is not my main goal. Once you understand how to coupon though you can scale it to do whatever you want. This is how I personally coupon but there are no hard and fast rules.

My cardinal rule: Don't Buy Anything You Won't Use!

The only exception to this rule is if you are getting paid to buy something.

In that case I will buy an item and either donate or give it away.

I can't tell you the number of people that have started couponing and quit because they realized they were spending MORE money rather than SAVING money. This happens when you are enticed to buy things just because it's a great deal. That cereal you never eat might be 80% off but if you buy it and never eat it you are just wasting your money.

Couponers are organized hoarders because one of the key tenets is stockpiling. Here's how it works...

Every household has stuff they NEED all the time or use on a regular basis. Examples include things like toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, shampoo, or pantry staples like canned foods or pasta. So, let's say trash bags are on sale this week for $2 (normally $3) but this week you can get it for $1 using a coupon. Instead of buying just one box, you buy a 6 month supply - so let's say 6 boxes. That way, when you finish your box of trash bags next month, you don't HAVE to buy another box at the regular price. As you stockpile more and more items, there will be less stuff you HAVE to buy at the regular price. Instead of spending money on stuff you have to buy, you can focus on buying just what's on sale.

This is how it saves you money. Going back to the trash bag example, you just bought 6 boxes of trash bags for $6 - that's $2 sale price minus $1 coupon for each box. Regular price is $3. $3 X 6 = $18, but you only spent $6 so you saved $12. Repeat this process with lots of other items and the dollars add up.

When you are starting out the easiest things to stockpile are nonperishable household goods and health and beauty aids. We're talking paper products, toothpaste, shampoo, laundry detergent, feminine products, etc. If you are not brand loyal you can get most of these things for free.

Take a moment and figure out how much stuff - detergent, paper products, shampoo, etc - your household uses in a month. Then, next time one of these products go on sale buy a 6 month supply. The way sales cycles work those products will most likely go on sale again within that time. I also recommend a 6 month supply because, if those products go on sale for even lower during that time, this leaves you room to buy more at the lower cost. This is called dollar cost averaging. When I first started out I actually kept a notebook to keep track of what I paid for stuff so that when a sale occurred I could figure out whether it was a good deal or not.

Everyone's list will be different. For instance, my husband has sensitive skin and for some reason he can ONLY tolerate Arm & Hammer laundry detergent therefore that's the only detergent I buy. I used to get it for $1 a jug. Now my "buy" price is $2.50 or less. Toothpaste on the other hand, I'm not brand loyal, and will use anything. Toothpaste is always free.

So how do you buy things that you need that don't go on sale or offer coupons? Overage.

Back in the paper coupon days overage was a term used when the value of your coupon exceeded the value of the item you were buying and the store gave you back the difference, essentially "paying" you to buy something. Well, the stores caught wise to this and now a days you can't get back cold hard cash but there are other ways...

Some store will have their own form of "fake money" that can only be used in that store. We're talking Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) at CVS, Walgreens Cash (WC) at Walgreens, etc. You can spend their fake currency in store on anything. You earn it by buying certain advertised products every week. If you can figure out how to buy the advertised products for little to no money then you will "make" money in the form of the store's currency to buy other things that you need.

Here is an extreme example...

This week CVS has a promotion where you buy $30 total on certain products and you get back $10 in ECBs, and Airwick products are included in the promotion.

There are coupons available for a free Airwick warmer.

So, if you had 12 of these coupons, you could buy 12 of these in separate transactions.

Separate transactions because you do NOT want a second one to ring up half price.

ECB offers at CVS are cumulative so they do not need to be in one transaction.

Total cost pre-tax would be $31.08 (12 x 2.59), thus qualifying you for the $10 ECB.

Manufacturer coupons are considered a form of payment so you get credit for spending $31.08.

Use the coupon to get your item for free. In Indiana you end up paying $2.18 for tax for all 12 and get back a $10 ECB, thus "making" $7.82.

And yes, there are ways to get 12 of the same coupon but that will be covered later.

This is an "extreme" example because, really, who needs 12 Airwick warmers? 

But you get my point. This is how you game the system.

I will be going in depth on each of the drugstore programs in another post.

Another way to "make" money is via rewards apps. Ones I use are Ibotta, Shopkick, Fetch, Checkout51, Swagbucks, and Coupons.com. These apps will give you money or points back for buying certain products. You send them a picture of your store receipt to get your money/points. The beauty of this is that sometimes multiple apps will have offers on the same product so buy one item and get money back from several different programs, resulting in a profit.

Fetch Rewards is covered HERE. I will be writing about the other programs in a future post.

I'm gonna stop a moment here and ask a favor. All the knowledge I share here is always free and I have no affiliate links in this blog, meaning I don't make any money off the blog. As I start posting about the day to day deals that I do I will be referencing these apps. If you don't already use these and want to sign up I would appreciate it if you could use my referral codes so I can get a little something back for sharing. 

Ibotta: nshhsjp, you get $10 with your first receipt and I get $10

Fetch: 51JURA, you get 2000 points with your first receipt and I get 2000 points

Shopkick: NICE762443, you get 250 points when you earn 10 points in 7 days and I get 250 points

I hope this is a good intro to understanding the basics. Let me know if you have any questions. Lots more to come but I'm trying to break this up into bite size pieces.

Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards is an app based reward program I joined this week and I've been really pleased with how easy it's been to earn points.

How to Earn Points 

Super easy! Just snap a photo of your receipt - ANY receipt and you'll get points!

I received 2000 points for my first receipt after I signed up through a referral link.

You will get a minimum of 25 points for any receipt.

I actually snapped photos of every receipt I could get my hands on and I got 600 points for my next receipt, then 400, 100, and 150 points for subsequent receipts, before it started tracking at 25 points.

None of these receipts had any special offers on them. They were mainly receipts from my Walgreens purchases this week, plus receipts from Target, Kohl's, Aldi, Meijer and the gas station. Like I said, it's ANY receipt; ANY retailer!

Looks like you can get credit for receipts as far back as 14 days. Once I snapped a photo of a receipt that was outside this time window I got a notification that more or less said they would accept the receipt this time, but it was really too old to accept.

You can submit a total of 35 receipts in any rolling 7 day period.

You can also hit the DISCOVER tab on the bottom of the app and it will show you a list of items that offer bonuses. If one of those items is on your receipt you will get extra points.

One of the things I like about this rewards program is that you don't have to pick and add which bonuses you want to redeem like some of the other programs. It's all automatic. If you have a qualifying item on your receipt you will automatically get the points, no activation required.

You can also get credit for online purchases at most of the online retailers. 

For Amazon you will need to log into your account through the app but your account information is only saved locally on your phone, not in the cloud. Once I connected my Amazon account I got credit for every purchase I had made in the last 30 days. Sweet!

There is an extensive list of other online retailers on the app including the likes of Target, Walmart, Shipt, Bath and Body Works, Best Buy, DoorDash, etc. I haven't been able to take advantage of this yet because you need to provide your email and on an iOS device it only supports Gmail, AOL, Outlook or Yahoo domains; on an Android device it only supports Gmail domains. I also am not sure if I want the app looking through my email either so I'm not sure I'd enable this feature if I could.

Redeeming Points 

1000 points equals $1.00 in redemption value for most redemptions.

Redemptions start at 3000 points but it looks like most of the gift cards start at 10,000 points.

10,000 points gets you a $10 gift card at a large number of retailers.

There is also a VISA gift card option if you want more of a cash equivalent but those are more expensive, with a $10 gift card starting at 11,500 points.

The one downside to this program is that they do not have an option of cashing out your points for real cash via Paypal or a bank transfer.

Personal Experience 

Like I said, I joined this week. I immediately earned almost 8000 points by snapping photos of every receipt I had laying around. I then looked at the point boosters. The Cafe Caps and the Blue Diamond almonds caught my eye.

This is the time of year I splurge on frivolous food items. They make fun gifts, stocking stuffers... or maybe a gift for myself 😁 When a new product hits the market there are often lots of offers available and that was the case for the Cafe Caps.

The hot cocoa option goes for $8.99 and the coffehouse creation option goes for $9.99 at Meijer. Both contain 6 capsules that you dump into a cup before adding either hot milk or coffee. I seriously would never pay that much real money for these items. HOWEVER... Meijer currently has an mPerk coupon for $3 off each one. The Ibotta app also has an offer for $3 back on each one. Using both of those effectively lowers the cost to $2.99 and $3.99, respectively. Fetch Rewards then offers bonuses of 2500 points, so $2.50 in points, for each one. That doesn't make them free but it was compelling enough for me to buy them to give them a try.

For the Blue Diamond almonds, I love these 6oz cans and stock up whenever someone has them on sale for $2 or less. This week Kroger has them for $1.47 if you load a digital coupon and Fetch will give you a 750 point bonus when you buy 2 cans.

I easily earned over 10,000 points in 2 days. I will probably continue to accumulate points until one of the retailers on their gift card redemption list has a sale, then redeem my points for a free gift card to use at the sale. Case in point, I saw somewhere online one of the couponers that redeemed for $100 in Bath and Body Works gift cards for their sales this month. That would be a great double or triple dip as the items are on sale, you can use the retailer's coupons for the sale, and you pay with a free gift card.

Referral 

If you don't already use Fetch Rewards, I would love it if you would try it out by signing up with my referral code 51JURA.

You will get 2000 points with your first receipt when using my referral code.

I will get 2000 points when you snap your first receipt.

Hope you found this information helpful!