Exactly what you shouldn't do...

Say to yourself: "Hm, I got a $5/$30 purchase in my CVS account, let's see what's on sale..." after you've already "passed over" the sales this week.  I'll let you in on a little secret: if you check your ExtraCare account on Monday, you'll see any extra coupons for that week, but you don't have to use them that week.  Just note the expiration date--this is your "print by" date, and you'll still be able use that coupon the following Sunday or Monday.  I don't know where my head was this week, but I decided that $5/$30 is the same as "thus saith the Lord."  Never mind the fact that I was planning on getting a lot of stuff next week and could have really used that coupon!  So, I wrote down all the "great deals" people were talking about and used some cherished rain checks (from Thanksgiving) to bump my total up to $30...when all I really wanted was nail polish and jellybeans...  So, here's what I got:

(2) Softsoap body wash $7 (like I need more body wash...and it wasn't even free...)
(1) Olay facial cleanser $4.49 (full-price and probably the best purchase of the trip...)
(1) Olay body wash $6.99
-B1G1 FREE body wash wyb an Olay facial cleanser (even though the cleanser cost less)
(1) CVS jelly beans $0.99
(2) Revlon nail polish (for my little niece--she's gonna be 1 soon!) $9.58
-(2) $1/1 Revlon color cosmetic (yes, this counts)
(1) Softlips vanilla $2 (rain check)
+tax
=$18.63 (my oop is so high b/c I didn't have any ECBs to roll into my transaction, but that doesn't really bother me ECBs=cash in my mind)

ECBs recieved: 15.99 (from the olay body wash, softsoap, jelly beans....everything except the facial cleanser)

So, it's like I paid $2.64 for all of it, or $0.33 each...it's not like it cost that much...but this is how people end up with 24 bottles of mustard.  The goal is to have what you'll need until the next sale, while keeping clutter to a bare minimum.  I'm not going to use 3 bottles of body wash in the next year, and they're bound to be free before then.  I've already promised away 2 bottles, and watered down body wash works really great in your puffy soap dispensers, so, hopefully I can minimize the damage of my shopping spree gone wrong.