Weekly Grocery Shopping: SUPER AWESOME!!!

Today I did my weekly grocery shopping. i had twenty five bucks left over in my budget. i am trying to wrap my head around how much i saved and everything and well... it's a little bit hard to explain, but I'm going to try. Walgreen's gives you rebates which you claim at the end of every month and they give you a gift card to use in the store. if you choose a gift card, they give you an additional 10% back. so technically if you only purchased the stuff that is free after coupons and rebate, they would be giving you the 10% back and they would actually be paying you to shop there! crazy i know.
CVS does what they call easy care bucks. I am currently learning the ins and outs of the ECB's. basically ECB's are like a cash coupon printed on you receipt and certain items in the store qualify for them. for instance.... today, i bought a razor that was on sale for 7.99. i had a coupon for four dollars off so the final price was 3.99 but it was an ecb qualifying item so i got back $4.00 on my receipt to use on my next purchase. it's slightly confusing but once you get the hang of it, it's super fun and you can get so many things for free. so here's my crazy shopping trip this week... I'm going to break it up by store this week and I'm not going to put how much i saved. read all the way to the end for the magic number.......

Walgreen's

1 pkg Excedrin Gel Caps
5 packets of vegetable seeds (like to plant a garden with)
2 boxes sugar free Jell-o
1 box Reynolds wrap foil
1 box of 6 Walgreen's nutritional drinks
8 rolls paper towels
Total spent: $12.49 BUT, i had a gift card from my rebates from Walgreen's' from last month so I actually spent none of my own money out of pocket for this store.

CVS

1 Gillette Fusion Razor
1 EARrinse cleaner

Total spent: 6.78. I used ecb's hat i had earned last week in the amount of 5.98 so my total cash out of pocket was 6.78 BUT, i received 11.99 in ecb's towards my next purchase.

Ralph's

3 Avocados
1.75 lbs top sirloin steak

Total Spent: 4.78

Albertson's

8 Cans Progresso Soup
2 Cans Betty Crocker Frosting

Total spent: 13.00 BUT, I received $10.00 to use on my next purchase.


So, i ended up spending $24.56 in cash out of pocket tonight. BUT, I ended up getting $25.99 to use towards other purchases in the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously that's freaking amazing. I had to do the math like fifty seven times to make sure i was not going crazy and had my figures correct. i even used a calculator. so yep.... i spent 24.56 in cash, but got 25.99 to use next time i shop (just like cash, no minimum purchase or whatever). yeah... I'm awesome. Come pat me on the back!