Rite-Aid vs. CVS! And the Winner Is...

Woot!  This morning I got up extra early (for a Sunday) and got dressed, then headed to the drug stores before church, leaving everyone still asleep in their beds. Chris is so good to me...I appreciate his willingness to get up with the kids and get them dressed and ready for church so I could go do my drug store shopping early in the morning.  He's awesome. :)

So anyway, I got up and left the house @ 7:45 am and headed out to Rite-Aid.  Armed with my +UP rewards, Rite-Aid coupons, and matching manufacturer coupons, I was ready to save some cash!  Here's what I bought:

4 Glade Candles (to be used as gifts): $2.50 each
2 Glade Aerosol Air Fresheners: $2.50 each
1 Febreze Set & Refresh Air Freshener: $2.50
1 Febreze Air Effects Air Freshener: $2.50
2 bottles of Windex: $2.50 each
2 packs of Dixie paper plates: $3.99 (B1G1 free)
1 box of Ziploc Slider bags: $2.50
Total before coupons: $31.49

I had $5 +UP rewards from my last visit, and I had $15 in coupons (both Rite-Aid coupons, from the adperk website, AND manufacturer coupons -- I matched them up with the help of Jenny from Southern Savers, of course!), so my grand total (including tax) was $13.68.  (That's like saying I paid $1.06 for each item!)  I got $10 +UP rewards for spending $30 (before coupons) on household items, so its kinda like I got all that stuff for only $3.68.

Oh!  And on the bottom of my receipt, there's a code to go the the Rite-Aid website, take a survey about their customer service, and get $3 off my next purchase of $15 or more.  SWEET.  I am *so* doing that.

After leaving Rite-Aid, I stopped at my favorite little gas station (the only one I know of that carries my beloved double coupon edition of the paper) and picked one up.  Today the regular paper has double coupons, so the double coupon paper has FOUR inserts!  WOOHOO!!

Ok, so after that little stop, I headed on down to CVS.  I didn't do as well as I had hoped at CVS today because one of my coupons (a $5 off $40 purchase) didn't scan...It came up that it had already been used, which was weird.  Turned out, it was actually expired.  Grrr. I hate when that happens.  So anyway, I had piled all my stuff into one big transaction so I could use the $5 off a $40 purchase coupon and then didn't get to use it.  Oh well.  Anyway, I think I still did okay. Here's what I got at CVS:

2 tubes of Maybelline mascara: $5.89 each
1 bag of Easter basket grass: $0.99
1 PAAS Easter egg decorating kit: $1.99
1 CVS Green bag tag: $0.99
1 GE Energy Smart light bulb: $2.99
18 rolls of Cottonelle TP: $8.99
CVS Training Pants: $10.99
Total before ECB and coupons: $38.63

I had $10 ECB from last week, and I had $10.50 in coupons, so my grand total with sales tax was $19.40. That's really not too bad, considering nearly $11 of that was training pants that were not on sale!  I also got back $16 worth of ECB, so its kind of like I paid $3.40 for all of this.  Not too shabby, eh?

*I know you see Dr. Pepper and Sprite in that picture.  Here's what happened.  I was running low on time...I had planned to take advantage of the Coke products deal...Apparently it didn't include Dr. P or Sprite.  I paid $4.99 for each of those 12-packs!  No way is that gonna happen.  Those bad boys are going back to the store this afternoon and I'm getting my $20 bucks back!

So...what do you think?  Which store won today -- Rite-Aid or CVS?  Where did I get the better deals?  Let me know if you got some good deals somewhere else!  I always love hearing other peoples' success stories, so please share! :)

ETA: I returned the Dr. Pepper & Sprite, so I got my $20 back, and I went ahead and got the Coke products.  I got 4 12-packs for $13.  I used ECB to pay for them, so I ended up only paying $0.27 for them.  Woohoo!  I also got $3  ECB in return, so I now have $6 ECB for next week.  Nice. :)