The thrill of a good bargain!

I've heard about people getting really good deals at CVS, Walgreens, Target etc so I wanted to give it a shot. I've been learning the ropes for 2 weeks now and have been getting some good deals but today I think takes the cake. Here's how our day started. First I went to Target. Here's what I got:

30 Individual String Cheese
2 Bottles Sunsilk Super Straight Shampoo
1 Bottle Excedrin Migraine
1 Bottle Excedrin Extra Strength
2 Johnson & Johnsons Buddies Soap
4 Glade Wisp Flameless Candles

my total BEFORE coupons: $58.14

and my total AFTER coupons:
$4.37!!!! The Flameless Candles alone are $9.99 regularly priced. I was in awe of the savings so I decided to continue on the bargain hunt...So I headed to CVS.

Now at CVS they have these things called Extra Care Bucks or ECB's which you can use for your next purchases. They work just like cash. You get them when you buy certain items. Say for instance this week, Colgate Toothpaste is $2.99 but you get $2.99 in ECB's for each box. So its like getting them for FREE! So here's what I was able to get at CVS today:

2 Febreze Noticables
2 Oral B Crossaction Toothbrushes
1 Lypsl Lypmoisturizer
1 Crest Pro Health Night Rinse
1 Crest Pro Health Rinse
5 tubes of Colgate Total Advanced Whitening
2 Gillette Mach 3 Razors
1 Swiffer Extendable Handle Duster
1 Swiffer Duster Refill
2 bottles of Downy Fabric Softener
1 Pampers Baby Dry 40 ct
1 Infant Motrin Drops
1 Infant Tylenol Drops
3 Johnson & Johnson Buddies Soap


Now granted I did this at 3 different CVS in 5 different transactions but I added up all my receipts and....

my total was $107.68

but after using some of my ECB's and coupons, my final out of pocket cost was:

$8.73!!!! AND I still have a $10 ECB from the Mach 3 Razors that I didn't realize was on the bottom of one of my receipts so in reality I could have gotten all of that for FREE!! I can hardly believe it myself! All that planning was DEFINITELY worth it. And all of my friends who laughed at me for clipping coupons are probably jealous now haha (love you still!) I was just so excited I had to write about it. I learned exactly how to do all this and with a little working in of my own from Money Saving Mom and The Censtible Sawyer. Two FABULOUS sites. I'm heading back tomorrow to work on some more deals too and to use my $10 ECBs I have still! WooHoo! Well thats all for now. I hope this inspires you to get out and bargain shop. I'll post a pic tomorrow of my stash! Good night! :)