2010-09-14 -- $0.83 + $1.20 = $2.03

I began with 10.00ECB on Card2 for Household2.

Regular Prices:
6.29 Nivea Men Body Wash
4.29 AirWick AquaMist
4.29 AirWick AquaMist
4.29 AirWick AquaMist
4.29 AirWick AquaMist
0.99 Halloween Mix

24.44 TOTAL Regular Prices

Sale Prices:
4.99 Nivea Men Body Wash
2.50 AirWick AquaMist
2.50 AirWick AquaMist
2.50 AirWick AquaMist
2.50 AirWick AquaMist
0.99 Halloween Mix

15.98 TOTAL Sale Prices

Coupons and Discounts Applied:
5.00 STORE Coupon "$5 Off $15+ Purchase"
2.50 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Buy 1 AquaMist, Get 1 Free"
2.50 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Buy 1 AquaMist, Get 1 Free"
1.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Nivea Men"
5.00 ExtraBuck

16.00 TOTAL Coupons and Discounts

Yup, I went negative.  Always scary, but also rewarding. The tax of $0.85 put me back into positive territory.  I paid $0.83 total.  I had started with 10.00ECB, spent 5.00ECB, an earned back 11.98ECB (5.00ECB for AirWick, 4.99ECB for Nivea, 1.00ECB for the fourth use of my cloth bag, and 0.99ECB for the Halloween Mix).  That brought the total for Card2 to 16.98ECB.

Card2 also generated TWO "$4 Off $20+ Purchase" coupons, so I made a second transaction to use that coupon.

Regular Prices:
8.99 Nivea Body Lotion
8.99 Nivea Body Lotion
2.49 CVS Charm
1.99 Golden Oreos
1.99 Lorna Doone cookies
1.00 Emerald Nuts

25.45 TOTAL Regular Prices

Sale Prices:
8.99 Nivea Body Lotion
8.99 Nivea Body Lotion
2.49 CVS Charm
1.00 Golden Oreos
1.00 Lorna Doone Cookies
1.00 Emerald Nuts

23.47 TOTAL Sale Prices

Coupons and Discounts Applied:
4.00 STORE Coupon "$4 Off $20+ Purchase"
2.49 STORE Coupon "Free CVS Charm"
2.00 STORE Coupon "Any Lotion"
4.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Any Two Nivea"
1.00 MANUFACTURER Coupon "Emerald Nuts"
5.00 ExtraBuck
5.00 ExtraBuck

23.49 TOTAL Coupons and Discounts

BOOM. Yup, a second negative transaction.  For this transaction, the tax came to $1.22, making my grand total $1.20.

I began this transaction with 16.98ECB, spent 10.00ECB, and earned back only 5.00ECB. Card2 for Household2 now has 11.98ECB.

Once again, I spent barely two dollars in actual real cash ($0.83+$1.20=$2.03) and increased my in-store credit total from 10.00ECB to 11.98ECB.  So, in effect, it cost me one nickel to buy a dozen items.