My purpose in CVSing...

I've been doing CVS deals for almost 9 months now. I've saved literally hundreds of dollars and have a great stockpile of toiletries and cleaning products that will last us for months. However, this week, I really had to rethink my purpose in shopping at CVS. Last week, I had a wonderful trip and made a great profit in ECB's (extra care bucks). I had lots of ecb's to spend this week to help make my OOP (out of pocket) as low as possible. However, I got frustrated when I had to purchase items that I wouldn't receive any ecb's back on so I essentially "lost" ecb's this week.

I had to really rethink my thought process on this because I wasn't looking at what I WAS able to purchase. I was merely focused on what I "lost" out on. I WAS able to purchase the Sunday paper double edition (which has frustratingly risen in price to $5!), some much needed contact solution that is expensive to begin with, tylenol products, and school supplies for only $0.11 OOP! AND, I still have $14 left in ecb's for next week.

When I was able to get over my ridiculous thought process, then I was able to see that God truly did bless me this week with my purchases and mere cents in spending. I had to remind myself that my purpose in shopping at CVS is to make enough ecb's to buy things we really need without having to spend cash on them. It's not about raking in the ecb's and bronzing them all over the house. :)

I think we are this way in real life too. We easily get caught up in moping about what we've lost in our lives, that we don't see what we've gained through God's perfect design on our life. For example, I can easily get into a wayward thinking funk by considering all that I'm "losing" out on by being a stay-at-home-mom: not interacting with adults regularly, being surrounded by child talk all day long, feeling like my "job" never gets completed because it just starts all over again tomorrow, being looked down upon by others who "work" for a living...and the list could go on and on. However, when I start clouding my vision with that kind of thinking, then I miss out on the wonderful blessings of being home with my children. In fact, when I focus my heart on loving being home, God shows me all kinds of things that I would truly be losing out on if I wasn't exactly where He wants me to be.

I know this post delved away from CVS shopping and deal finding, which is how it started out, so thank you for hanging in there. I had to go to two different CVS's to get all the items I wanted. Here's my transaction rundown for CVS:

5 pocket folders
1 Twin pack of Clear Care contact solution
2 spiral notebooks
3 Tylenol products
1 Sunday paper double edition
2 packages of pens
1 glue

Used $8 in coupons and $30 in ecb's
My OOP was $0.11
Have $14 in ecb's remaining for next week!

Ciao,
J