Getting Paid to Shop
By KellyH, RichmondMommies.com member
I love getting stuff free. I’m sure half of America does. Lots of people cut coupons, but don’t usually use them. And that’s just flushing your money and time down the toilet (or, more literally, throwing it out when you toss the old coupons you spent the time clipping and forgot/didn’t remember you had/couldn’t have been bothered to pull them out when you were shopping and actually brought them!). So, how do you become a bit more organized and actually use those coupons? Well, it make take a bit of time, but isn’t your time worth it? Not to mention your bank account?
I’ve heard of people playing the CVS game, and I was curious. Like I said, “free” is a favorite word of mine. So I started paying attention. Within a few trips, I think I’ve done very well for myself. My biggest trip was Boxing Day (the day after Christmas). Had my mother not been with me, not that she thinks I’m a liar, but she wouldn’t have believed me. I’m not a big exaggerator (well, most times anyways) but she couldn’t wrap her mind around how I got so much for so little.
After sitting at the kitchen table chatting and drinking my pot of coffee (you do need a LITTLE bit of stamina to save money sometimes), I figured out how to buy $190 worth of stuff for $7.80 out of pocket. Can’t beat THAT with a stick, eh? It took me about one hour to figure out what CVS was giving out for free, which coupons I had and in which order I needed to buy things (I had three separate transactions) in order to maximize my ECBs (Extra Care Bucks). I’d tell you exactly what I bought, but I didn’t keep my receipts.
But here’s a quick example of another great trip where I was PAID to shop there. I bought a Schick Intuition Razor (8.99), Crest Pro Health toothpaste (3.49), the new Colgate Wisp toothbrush thingies (1.99), the new L’Oreal Everpure shampoo and conditioner (6.99 each) and a L’Oreal hair dye kit (7.49). The total was $37.74 including tax. But, thanks to my manufacturer’s coupons, a $5 off $30 CVS coupon that I printed out from the scanner at CVS (some of the newer or revamped CVS stores have a little scanner where you can scan your card and it’ll print out coupons — here’s a tip: keep scanning the card until it says that no more coupons are available. Sometimes it’ll only be once, sometimes up to three times) and using my Extra Care Buck coupons (referred as ECB’s), my grand total was $5.74. HOWEVER, I also EARNED $11.49 in ECB’s. So, technically, I was PAID $5.75 to shop there and walked away with $38 in products!
Oh, and I didn’t really pay $5.74 out of MY pocket. I also had some prescriptions that I had to transfer to CVS and I found some $25 coupons in the Rite-Aid flyer where they’d give you $25 for transferring a prescription to them. Well, CVS honors those coupons, too. So, that $5.74 came off of the gift card I had for transferring a prescription there. PLUS, for every 2 prescriptions you fill at CVS, you earn $1.00 ECB which prints out 4 times a year. Plus, you earn a small percentage on everything you spend there. I just earned $11 this last quarter…though most of that was due to prescriptions being filled.
I just went to CVS again today and bought $47.72 worth of products (Garnier Shampoo, Schick razor, Zyrtec, Charmin toilet paper and medicated Bandaids). After my coupons and using $17.39 in old ECBs, I spent $6.19 OOP and earned $18 in ECB - and again, that $6.19 was actually NOT out of MY pocket as I still have money left on one of my $25 gift cards.
I’m getting good with my coupons at Kroger, too. Not that I’m walking out with $500 in groceries for $5 like you see some people do on the news, but I’m saving a minimum of 30% upwards of 70% on my grocery bill just by paying attention to what’s on sale and matching up my coupons. On one of my smaller shopping trips, I bought $76.33 worth of groceries for $36.65. That was a savings of 53%. And had I not bought the frozen Tiramisu that I wanted to try as a treat to myself and the $3.99 Lactaid milk that we were trying my daughter out on, my savings would have been closer to 69%!!! And that was simply by matching my coupons to what was on sale that week. A more recent trip saw me paying only $83.91 for $157.17 worth of groceries which was a 47% savings. I don’t always have a coupon for everything I buy, but I do try to find one. And spending just an hour matching my coupons to sales earns me about $30-$70 an hour. And I don’t have to pay taxes on that! ?
There are a ton of coupon sites out there. Not only do I cut out coupons every Sunday morning from what comes in the paper, I also print them online from www.coupons.com and use shortcuts.com to electronically download coupons right to my Kroger value member card (which is a card that has to be scanned to get my sale prices).
So there it is! It’s not very hard to get paid to shop, or at least pay as little out of pocket as possible. Just spend a bit of your time to save!
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on April 30th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Great Post!! Thanks!
on April 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
maybe a pic of your wallet as it overflows with coupons and savings
on April 30th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Which CVS in RIchmond are you going too that has a scanner? I can not seem to find one.
on April 30th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
The new Willow Lawn CVS has a scanner. I was just at another one a couple weeks ago that had a scanner but my brain is scrambled from our move and I can’t remember which one it was! I’ll get back to you as soon as I remember.
You can also as the cashier to scan your CVS card when you walk in. Sometimes the register will print out coupons. I’ve had cahsiers look at me like I’m nuts because I’m not ringing up a purchase, but it does work.