Lesson for today: Always do the math!

Just got back from my weekly run to CVS. Scored some good deals, but here's something I learned (rather, got reinforced). Always do the math!

Banana Boat suncare products are on sale this week. You buy 2 and you get $7 in ECB. There are coupons you can use to get $2 off extra. So I had planned to get that deal because we needed some baby and spray sunscreen. When I got there, I realized that the baby stuff wasn't included in the sale. I still needed the spray so I grabbed two and put in my basket. The Banana Boat products were $10.79 each. After the ECB's and my coupons, they came down to around $6.50 each. Sounds good huh?

Only then did I notice the price of the Coppertone! It was on sale this week for $7.99 (which included the baby stuff I needed). I had several $1 off coupons for those, making them $6.99.

So, I quickly put the Banana Boat back and grabbed the Coppertone. I would rather pay $1 more in total now then have to worry with the ECB's. It brought my out of pocket for the trip waaay down.

The cashier even stopped me to make sure I knew about the Banana Boat promotion. I told her I had done the math and all was well.

So there ya go. Take the little seed of knowledge and chew on it for awhile. Always do the math!