Learning the CVS ropes and figuring out bargains
On Saturday I went to CVS to again try to find that Nova Max monitor that is free with coupon and gives the $20 back in extra care bucks. I again did not find it and I think that promotion ended Saturday so oh well. No $20 in free CVS money for me.
So the CVS deal I did take advantage of won’t help my readers, because it also ended Saturday, but I was really proud of myself for figuring it out. CVS had 16 packs of AA or AAA Energizer batteries for $8.99 with card, and a promotion that if you bought $20 worth of Energizer batteries, you got $10 in extra care bucks back. Well, the problem was, $8.99 x 2 is $17.98, and all the other Energizer batteries were way overpriced, so I’d have to get 3 16 packs to get the extra care bucks back. So $26.97 up front for 48 batteries, with $10 in extra care bucks back that’s like paying $16.97 for 48 batteries or a tad over $0.35 per battery. Not a bad deal, but at Aldi I get 8 (store brand) batteries for $2.29, so I am only paying about $0.29 a battery there. And I don’t like counting extra care bucks as savings in my current purchase, I like to count those savings when I make a future purchase (can’t count it twice after all). $26.97 for 48 batteries would be just too much to pay, for me.
But. The CVS brand batteries were also on sale. $5.99 per 10 pack of AA or AAA (normal price) but they were buy one, get one free. So $5.99 for 20 batteries, or just under $0.30 per battery. But it gets better. Some of the packages of batteries were not 10 packs, but 12 packs because they had “2 bonus batteries free” inside. I found 4 of the 12 packs (which I confirmed with the cashier were also part of the Buy One Get One Free deal) which brought the total cost to $11.98 for 48 batteries or just under $0.25 per battery. So a total savings over the Aldi price for store brand batteries of $1.92 for the volume I bought.
That might not seem like a huge deal but every $1.92 counts and for me it was very exciting. I am asking for rechargeable batteries for Christmas so hopefully these are the last batteries I have to buy for a LONG time.
And to make this deal even better, I used a coupon for $2 off a $10 purchase that was available right in the store next to the pharmacy counter, and $2 in extra care bucks I already had from buying toothpaste last week, so my total cost before tax was $7.98 for 48 batteries or a bit under $0.17 per battery. I know not everyone would have the extra care bucks left from a previous purchase, but the other $2 coupon was just there for the taking in my CVS. That brings my total savings over buying the batteries at Aldi to $5.92, which might seem a bit more substantial.
And I picked up another $2 off coupon to use in the future.
I am starting to really like CVS. I didn’t see any specials this week I was really excited about but there’s always next week. I am patient.
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November 19th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Using CVS deals is one thing I have to start doing! Thanks for the reminder!
November 19th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Congrat’s on a great deal. I have never found CVS to be extraordinarily big on “great deals”. Luckily, you know your prices. I’ve found that many times what initially looks to be a great price on something is cheaper at my local grocery store (once you do the math!). Deals have to be really amazing for me to go to CVS - and many times, I get there and the item/s are gone. Most of the time its limited quantities so no rain checks! Certainly doesn’t stop me from looking every week though! Patience will eventually pay-off.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
The Nova Max deal is actually on through the end of the month. The difficult part is finding the monitors. I found one a couple of weeks ago but none others checking five other stores.
CVS deals are great, especially once you start stacking coupons. I started a series of post on my blog outlining how to make the most of the CVS deals, which is in progress.
November 20th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I don’t have CVS where I live, but I’ve been slowly trying to figure out Walgreens. This month, I got two bags of candy (1 Hershey’s Kisses, 1 Reese Bells) for a party for $2. Not too bad. I was surprised at how small the bags were! Is it just me or have they gotten smaller since I was a kid?
When you say the Aldi batteries, are you talking about the Q-Force ones? I’ve bought them before, and I’ve found that they just don’t last as long as most other kinds before they need to be replaced.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:16 am
The Aldi batteries are called “Phaser” and I honestly haven’t noticed any difference between those and Energizer as far as lasting, but I don’t track as well as I should.
I need to branch out into Walgreens. And I think many packages of things have gotten increasingly smaller while getting increasingly more expensive. tricky. Ugh.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Ah. I don’t have Aldi’s where I am, I have Save-a-lot, and I was wondering if there was a difference between the generic brands the two carry. Batteries have become a “don’t buy the generic, buy the name-brand ones when you can get them cheaply” item for me due to the sub par Q-Force ones, but I suppose that’s not really fair of me because I haven’t tried any other generics.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I think that it is true that sometimes the generic stinks. I took a chance on the CVS ones which I have never tried, since they were on sale and I had the coupons so the price was so much less than what i usually pay. but usually I will only buy one package on generics first to try. Walmart’s generic batteries for example I found died way quicker than what i am used to. So I don’t buy those.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Thanks for the tip on the Walmart batteries, that’s good to know!