Sister K's CVS Mistake

Sister K made 2 runs to CVS this week.  I'll share them both so hopefully you can learn from my mistake first, then go out and do better than I did.  ;o)

My first run was inspired by Sister C who got the great deal on Scott toilet paper last week.  I am embarassed to admit I actually ran out of TP this week, so I was excited to try to score this good deal.  Although I did get the TP, and I saved quite a bit, it could have been better.  See if you can figure out where I went wrong:

I did two transactions in order to maximize my savings and ECBs.  I started with $11 in ECB.

Transaction #1:

1 Papermate Pens 8 ct

    on sale for $1.99, got $1.99 ECB = FREE

1 Crest Pro White 4 oz

    on sale for $2.19, used $0.75/1 MQ, earned $2 ECB = FREE

1 Optifree Saline 2 pack

    on sale $14.99, used $3/1 MQ, earned $5 ECB = $6.99

1 U by Kotex

    on sale $3.49, used $1/1 MQ, earned $2 ECB = $0.49

1 Renu Saline 1 pack

    on sale $7.89, used $2/1 MQ, earned $6 ECB = FREE

1 Crest Pro Health 6 oz

    not on sale ( I thought it was) $4.29, used $0.75/1 MQ, un-earned* $2 ECB = $1.54

Also used a CVS coupon for $5/25 and $11 ECB

My OOP before tax was $12.14 and I saved $30.30

I ended up with $18.99 in ECB because *I made the cashier print out the Crest ECB I thought I earned but didn't.

Transaction #2:

4 Scott Toilet Paper

    on sale $7.49 each, no coupons :o(, earned $10 ECB as sub for gas card promo = $29.96

2 Skintimate Shave Cream

    on sale $2.19 each, used $1.50/1 on each one = $0.69 each

2 Schick Quattro Razor 3ct

    on sale $8.99 each, used B1G1 and $1/1 - (The B1G1 gave the scanner trouble and ended up taking off $13.99.  The cashier looked up the price and gave it to me anyway, yeah!) = $2.99 total for 2

Earned $10 ECB for buying $20 in Schick products between shave gel and razors

Also used a CVS $10/$50 coupon, and $11 of the ECB from my first transaction.

Total OOP before tax was $13.33, and I saved $55.39.

Ended with an additional $20 in ECB

Okay - pop quiz - Did you see where I could have saved more? 

Answer:

In transaction #1 I got the wrong toothpaste.  I spent $1.54 on something that should have been free because I bought the wrong size.  I'll probaly keep it because I'm terrible at remembering to take things back to the store for returns before it's too late and I didn't realize what I had done wrong until I got home.

In transaction #2 I could have used $8 more in ECB and brought my total down to only $5.33.

So there you have it, my first CVS run.  I did get some great deals, but I also wasted $9.54.  Left kind of a sour taste in my mouth.  Fortunately, I was able to use one of these mistakes to my benefit on Sunday.........