[angelmomma]

I'm thinking of doing two tranactions for the May deals with a pack of diapers in each deal. The way I figured it I'd be getting more ECB's back then spent plus a pack of diapers. But, will I regret not having any May deals left if I do this? I'm new to this but my point in starting was to get free/ cheap diapers... thanks!

[angelmomma]

oops- is "it" smart-

[arizonah13]

If you live near CVS's that sell out of the free after ECB deals quickly, then it probably is a good idea to try and get them early. You may want to break the deals up a little bit though, so you can use the 3/15 coupon from the Washington Post and get a little more bang for your (extra care) buck!

[MommySusan1]

I did than in April and got all confused. The cashier started grabbing things that I meant to go in the next transaction, son was getting frustrated and I got a headache. I am lucky that my CVS usually is well stocked with the deals (I think I am the only CVS'r). I am going to break up my deals over the course of the month. If you look at the May book, there are a lot of frees and some moneymakers, so there are a lot of deals to do.

[angelmomma]

I'll be using 10/50- I have about 9 of them now. But, I will see if the 3/15 will work out better

[Holli0303]

I would use the 3/15 and space them out. I think you will be sorry next week if you max them out. Find out what day they stock so you always have options if they are out of something. For instance my plan for tomorrow is to get 2 large soft soaps for $11 and around $4 of stuff I need. For me it's eggs and the $1 gallon storage bags, and $1 tin foil,for round one. Use 3/15, 2 ($1) soft soaps, 10 ecbs. get back 11 ecbs. I will go to every store I can doing this sort of thing and stocking up on the things I need so I don't take it out of my budget since my husband and I have a card and I didn't know about the soft soap having two different ones I still have 9 left to buy plus I have 2 eob deals left as well. I will get pretzels, $1 cheese crackers, $1 apple sauce for my baby, bread, what ever I can. I only have to buy meat and produce at the grocery... I pack 15 lunches and 10 snacks a week so this saves me a ton that I would spend at the grocery store! I wont start on the may deals until next week when I start to run out of milk and eggs and snacks. Sorry I dont have a diaper deal for you, I use cloth I am sooooo cheap!

[Daytime Daddy]

What am I missing? I didn't see diapers in the May ecb deals????

[akoysimplelang]

I would suggest buy the Free items ASAP, before I always wait for the next week and just get dissapointed and then never see those FREES for the whole month. This month I bought the CVS apirin in one transaction, the first day of the month, after that I never saw them anymore. The only disadvantage here I am having a hard time using big extra bucks, atleast I am happy, I got my FREES.

[angelmomma]

Originally Posted by Daytime Daddy

What am I missing? I didn't see diapers in the May ecb deals????

no there aren't any in the May deals. But I was planning on buying the deals that were free after ECB's (plus I have coupons) and a pack of diapers- brand of my choosing- and using a $10/$50 coupon. So that would make me get more ECB's than I spend. Make sense?

[angelmomma]

Originally Posted by akoysimplelang

I would suggest buy the Free items ASAP, before I always wait for the next week and just get dissapointed and then never see those FREES for the whole month. This month I bought the CVS apirin in one transaction, the first day of the month, after that I never saw them anymore. The only disadvantage here I am having a hard time using big extra bucks, atleast I am happy, I got my FREES.

yes, it seems like my stores sell out of the frees quickly. Plus most of the limits are only 2 or 3 so the ECB's back won't be that high anyway.

[tracylynn01]

around here the monthly deals are gone quick, so I'd go for it if it were me. Good luck!!

[moonflower]

I get everything the first day...I am still finding things to finish up in April..I refuse to buy something that does not allow me to break even at least. I still have the REvlon make-up erasers and the Colgate TB's to get.. Anything I have a coupon for is a potential item.. I even maxed out on the Nive a ($150 in April)..thats a lot of Nivea.. Anyway..my point is if you using the $4/20 or 3/15 or 10/50 there will always be things to buy even if you get all the free things available the first day of the month..

Always has worked for me anyway

[danielephant]

Originally Posted by angelmomma

I'll be using 10/50- I have about 9 of them now. But, I will see if the 3/15 will work out better

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! where did you get that guy at! would love to find ONE of those! !

[angelmomma]

Originally Posted by danielephant

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! where did you get that guy at! would love to find ONE of those! !

everytime I make a transaction it prints a 10/50. It was great at first- it's a bit overwhelming right now b/c I'm afraid I'll have to waste some b/c they expire within 2 weeks and lately I've made a lot of trips so that's why I have so many. I can't really complain though!

[mrsfloyd]

The only downside I can see to getting all your freebies at the first of the month is that May has 31 days in it and ECBs expire 28 days from the day they are printed. So if you get all the deals on May 1, 2, or 3, your ECBs will expire before the June deals come around, and you may be faced w/ having to just spend your ECBs rather than be able to roll them if no good weekly deals come around before the end of the month. Plus I don't get any of the $/$$ CRTs anymore (apparently CVS doesn't think that they need to bribe me to come shop anymore LOL), so my deals aren't as good if I don't get freebies or have good coupons to go w/ my deals. I will check my stores on May 1 and see how well-stocked they are, and probably get a few freebies but not everything so that I can finish out some of the freebies in a week or 2 so my ECBs will still be good in June.

[mjloves2shop]

I never do ~ in fact I only finished up the EOB late last week and bought the last of my CVS Tylenol today.

I have 30+ stores relatively close by though! But if you have the $3/$15 it makes sense to stretch it out a bit. I stretched out the EOB and pain because they were both CVS brand and I had $3/$10 rcpt coupons. So I would do a few of each and throw in a bag of $.50 pretzels to get me over $10. The more $3/$10 I was able to use the better my discount!

But if you don't have a choice of stores ~ a bird in the hand may be best!

[angelmomma]

Originally Posted by mrsfloyd

The only downside I can see to getting all your freebies at the first of the month is that May has 31 days in it and ECBs expire 28 days from the day they are printed. So if you get all the deals on May 1, 2, or 3, your ECBs will expire before the June deals come around, and you may be faced w/ having to just spend your ECBs rather than be able to roll them if no good weekly deals come around before the end of the month. Plus I don't get any of the $/$$ CRTs anymore (apparently CVS doesn't think that they need to bribe me to come shop anymore LOL), so my deals aren't as good if I don't get freebies or have good coupons to go w/ my deals. I will check my stores on May 1 and see how well-stocked they are, and probably get a few freebies but not everything so that I can finish out some of the freebies in a week or 2 so my ECBs will still be good in June.

great point about the ECB's expiring- I didn't think about that!

[momof2plustwins]

All depends on how many CVSer's are in your area. I find the FREE after ECB items to go very quickly. So if I see them I grab them right away. I have a lot of stores around here but it seems there is some very silent competition. LOL. IDK where these other CVS'ers are hiding but they obviously hit the stores before me.

I wouldn't worry about the ECBs expiring if you go weekly and participate in those deals. Mine never get close to expiring because I'm constantly rolling them.

So Yes I'd get the FREE after ECB items at the beginning of the month and then take your time on the rest. I still have plenty I could do from this months and I'm at CVS several times a week, sometimes several different stores a day.

[angel nee nee]

well there's always June if you max out May...
I'd make sure to do it later than May 1st so ECB won't expire until at least June 1st.

[bachophobia]

I like to space mine out. Just my preference to use more $/$ coupons (when they are available!)

[LVMom2twins]

Originally Posted by mrsfloyd

Plus I don't get any of the $/$$ CRTs anymore (apparently CVS doesn't think that they need to bribe me to come shop anymore LOL),

Is that why i am not getting them anymore??? LOL

Also great point about the 28 day ECB expiration...

[mjluna]

Can someone pm me and let me know of a way to get some more q's. All I can find are 4/20. Where are you getting the 3/10 and 3/15??????

[SuzyNEON]

Originally Posted by mjluna

Can someone pm me and let me know of a way to get some more q's. All I can find are 4/20. Where are you getting the 3/10 and 3/15??????

PM'ed ya!

[Gossamerwings]

we only have 1 CVS and I am lucky if I can find all the deals. SO if I see them I get them.

[mrsfloyd]

Originally Posted by mjluna

Can someone pm me and let me know of a way to get some more q's. All I can find are 4/20. Where are you getting the 3/10 and 3/15??????

The 3/10 come from the card-scanning coupon-printing machines in some stores. The 3/15 is from a newspaper, and many people are printing it out from the online version of the newspaper, but I personally don't believe that it was really intended to be a printable coupon. I am sure that we will have regular emailed printable coupons again soon enough.