As our household income changed and our fixed expenses remained the same, we began looking to our variable expenses. After reviewing our finances it seemed that the only truly variable expense was groceries--not an encouraging discovery. And lo, a friend led me to CVS 101.
I was never a big fan of coupons. I had tried using them myriad times. I would scour the newspaper inserts, clip the few coupons of the products I did use, and throw the remaining 90% away. I was (and still am) against buying products we wouldn't use or wouldn't normally buy, and certainly wasn't willing to sacrifice our desire to use products with natural ingredients. So, after numerous attempts at coupon-ing, I would give up, take my grocery list back to Marc's, skip the coupons for the simplicity of regularly low prices and buy what fit my menu for the week or what struck me as I walked through the store. Unfortunately, while that technique worked when we were DINKs, it wasn't working for our one income, multiple children, family. The pressure to re-evaluate kicked in again.
Out of desperation, and after doing a little more reading to get my determination up, I planned my first trip to CVS. (To learn more about how CVS and Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) work, click here, or here.) In the beginning, I was very skeptical. A blog I'd read insisted any newbies stick with it at least 3 months. "Ok," I thought, "three months. I can do that." At first I had to skip numerous weeks because I didn't have time to get a paper, didn't have the coupon inserts from previous weeks, couldn't print the web-coupons (we didn't have a printer), or was, quite simply, uninspired. I spoke to the dear friend who introduced me to the program in the first place and, thanks to her encouragement, determined to stick with it. I am so thankful now that I did.
After getting CVS 'under my belt', that same friend inspired me to try Giant Eagle and Target. Leave my beloved Marc's? It was practically sacrilege. I hate to say it, and I feel like a bit of a turncoat, but I have pretty much left Marc's for greener pastures. And by greener, I mean, more green in our pockets, and less green left in the grocery store. Sorry, Marc's.
