Rethinking my Strategy

Yesterday while Little Dude was asleep I thought I'd sneak out alone and do my CVS and Walgreen's shopping. I made my plan of attack for both stores: My coupons were all organized, I had a detailed list for each store and I knew if I were alone there would be complete concentration!!

Despite the fact that I had $13 in Extra Rewards at CVS I was still somewhat disappointed in my total OPP. My failure occurred when I deviated from the list and began wondering the store looking for what else I could get to earn MORE Extra Rewards. I was being GREEDY!!!! What I should have been doing was figuring out how I could roll over and stretch my money with the Extra Rewards that I currently had and was about to purchase. Did I get things that I am going to use??? Yes. I also used A LOT of Extra Rewards to bring down the prices and went on my merry way. But, I just think I could have done better had my greed not gotten in the way.

After that I headed to Walgreen's. I was a wee bit better there....still spent more than I had wanted and also, again deviated from the list when I saw a BOGO Walgreen's brand Tylenol. My biggest, most proud moment....3 boxes of cereal for $1.83 each!!! AND, I got a $1.50 coupon for another 3 boxes next time! YIPPIE!

For the rest of February, I"m putting a halt on health and beauty items. I'm pretty well stocked up for the time being. No sense going overboard. If I run out of something, then I'll look into replacing it. The only things I'm going to allow myself to buy at either CVS or Walgreen's the rest of the month are grocery items. My second re-think is that I"m going to purchase a $25 gift card from both CVS and Walgreen's through a Scripp program; with my purchase from each of those store 6% will go back to the program in which I purchased the cards from. I will then have $25 to stretch and use at each store for the month of March. That will force me to use my Register Rewards and Extra Rewards smarter and force me to be a little more aware of what and how much I am spending at each store. When it's gone, my shopping for the month at those stores is done.

We'll see how it goes...