Frugal Friday: CVS and Walgreens Shopping

Pictured below is my first venture into my goal of building a stockpile at no cost or very low cost! For $6.09 I ended up with: 2 packs of 45-count Dixie paper plates, 2 jugs of Sun laundry soap, 1 small jug of Xtra laundry soap, 2 bottles of Suavatel fabric softener, a small bottle of Dawn dish soap, a pair of Aloe-infused (SOFT!!!!) purple socks (to put back for my daughter-in-law for Christmas or her birthday), a three-pack of Blistex smoothie lip balms, and three boxes of Puffs w/lotion.

I was able to accomplish this by shopping at Walgreens with my Walgreens Register Rewards card, shopping at CVS with my CVS Extra Care card, and using coupons.

Breakdown:
With my Walgreen's reward card...

• Sun Laundry Detergent was $3.49 each. I bought two, which (if I remember right) was the maximum. I had two coupons: One for $0.75 and one for $0.50. Total: $5.73.
  
• Suavitel Fabric Softener was $2.99 buy-one-get-one-free. Total: $2.99.
  
• Dawn Dish Soap was $0.99. I had a coupon for $0.25. Total: $0.74.
  
• Puffs w/lotion was $0.99 each. I bought three, which was the maximum. I had some great coupons that I had received in the mail (along with a free sample) from Viewpoints. I had one coupon for $1.00 and two coupons for $0.50. Total: $0.97.

Total owed: $10.43.
I paid $6.00 of this with my Register Rewards, which left a balance of $4.43. Add the tax to that, and my out-of-pocket cost was $5.48.

(Prior to this trip, I was able to purchase the paper plates, the lip balm, and the socks completely free by using a coupon for the plates and paying for the remainder with my Register Rewards. I don't have the receipt any longer, so I can't type out the breakdown on that shopping trip.)

At CVS, the Xtra Laundry Detergent was on sale for $1.50. I had a coupon for $1.00 off, and so my total was $0.50, plus tax, for an out-of-pocket cost of $0.61.

Total paid out-of-pocket: $6.09.

For an explanation of how the CVS and Walgreens cards/deals work, check out these links:

CVS 101

Walgreens 101
(Note: In my local area, this link is a little out of date, due to the fact that it says "Unlike CVS, the Register Rewards (RR) are not tied to a store card." My local area is one of the few that has started using Rewards cards... which I assume will eventually be used in all areas.)

That's all for now. If you need me, I'll be mourning the loss of age 38. :)