$83.50 OC, $49.12 OOP, 41% Saved!Recently I became determined to start putting in a little bit of extra effort to save as much money as possible. In the past, when looking at how other people managed to clip coupons and find great deals, it seemed a little complicated. And, despite there being a plethora of tutorials and FAQs online dedicated to the subject, I was never really sure where to start.

Today I decided to just dive in, and I am so glad I did! I'm sure I could have gone about this in a better way and ended up saving even more, but I know I will get better over time.

Rather than making this a how-to, I am just going to explain how I got myself started and how I managed to save the money that I did today. If you're interested in doing the same, maybe my story can help you figure out the best way for you to start. Or, if you're a coupon-clipping, deal-finding, money-saving pro, then by all means please share any tips you may have!

I started out today by getting the Sunday paper and cutting out all the coupons for anything and everything I buy on a regular basis. I wasn't picky about brands or anything like that. Then I went to Coupons.com, RedPlum.com, and SmartSource.com and started printing out all the coupons on there that I wanted. I would have printed out a lot more, but my printer ran out of ink.

Next, I started looking through the store circulars to find out what types of sales and deals they were offering. It seemed like CVS was offering the most deals that would pair up with some of the manufacturer's coupons I had already clipped, so I decided to go there. Also, their ExtraCare rewards program intrigued me the most. 

Before leaving, I looked over the coupons and deals I would be using and tried to figure out the best plan of action. I will admit, it was a little intimidating at first. I wanted to make sure I didn't overlook something and miss out on the highest possible savings, so I ran through a few difference scenarios and did the math. In the end, it was actually more straight forward than I was expecting.

• Manufacturer's Coupons
  • $1 off any one Nature's Bounty product
  • $1 off any one Eucerin product
• Store Deals
  • $10ECB wyb $20 of Eucerin Products
  • B1G1 for any Nature's Bounty products
  • $2ECB wyb Tampax Pearl tampons

In order to get the $10 in ExtraCare bucks, I wanted to make sure I didn't spend more on Eucerin products than I really needed to. I'm not really picky about my body lotions, so I compared the different ones made by Eucerin and went with the one that had the lowest cost per amount. I could have just bought two bottles of the Eucerin lotion that was $12.99/bottle to put me over the $20 requirement, but then I would have had less product for more money. Instead, I bought two bottles of the $7.99 lotion and also grabbed a small $5.49 bottle of their hand lotion that included an extra 1oz bonus bottle. 

Paying attention to how much I was spending per ounce definitely paid off. Had I just grabbed the two more expensive bottles, I would have spent $0.77/oz and $6 more than necessary. Instead, I only spent $0.70/oz and $1.47 over the required amount.

Next came my vitamin D, which was buy one get one free. I normally take two of the 1,000 IU capsules each night. Well, that was $10.49 for 200 capsules. The 2,000 IU capsules, though, were $14.49 for 200. Right off the bat, I knew that the latter was the better deal.

When I went to the register, I signed up for an ExtraCare card which I was able to use for my purchase. With that card, I was able to get $0.50 off the tampons, B1G1 for the vitamins, and a total of $12 in ExtraCare bucks. Then with my two manufacturer's coupons, that was another $2 in savings. I could have used two more of the Eucerin coupons, since it's one per item, but I would have had to purchase two more Sunday papers, and the cost to do that would have been more than the savings.

• Original Cost of Items: $62.46
• Cost Out of Pocket: $45.47
• Amount Saved: $16.99
• Total Savings: 27%

Now a 27% savings is nice, but compared to other hauls I have seen, it wasn't very impressive. With my $12 in ECB printed out at the end of my receipt, I walked right back into the store to look for more good deals.

CVS puts their ExtraCare deals on little tabs of paper hanging off the price tags on each shelf, so they are easy to spot. Whenever I saw a deal on an item I use, I took a mental note of the total amount saved and the total amount spent. The goal was to spend as close to $12 as possible with as much savings as possible.

When I saw that the mascara I use was B1G1, I immediately grabbed two. That left me with $4.50 to spend. I really wanted to try and earn some more ECBs, so I went with a deal on some Dove deodorant (which smells AWESOME, by the way). Each stick was originally $4.79, but if I used my ExtraCare card, I would spend $7 for two and get $2ECB.

• Original Cost of Items: $25.72
• Cost Out of Pocket: $3.65
• Amount Saved: $22.07
• Total Savings: 86%!!!

 That is what I call a friggin' deal. And to top it off, I have another $2ECB to spend the next time I go in. Now, imagine I had made that second purchase with a few manufacturer's coupons! I could have easily saved another couple dollars and practically walked out of there with four free items.

The best part about CVS's deals is that sometimes they give you as many ECBs as the item is worth. If you can pair those types of deals with manufacturer's coupons, you're basically making money. I really hope my next haul includes some of those!