I Am a Beauty Product Junkie!

I never used to be too particular about the beauty products I used. It didn't matter to me which deodorant I had (as long as it wasn't for a guy, of course), or what brand of soap or shampoo was in my shower. Makeup didn't really interest me, and face care products were not even a thought--why did I need a special soap or cleanser just for my face? And a razor was a razor--as long as it took the hair off of my legs and shaved my underarms without too many nicks and cuts, it was OK in my book. Yeah, I was a tomboy for quite a long time.

Well, I must have gotten a whole lot more girly in the last several years, because now I absolutely love shopping for beauty products! Anything and everything--shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments, all kinds of makeup, nail polish and nail care products, razors, body washes, soaps...if it has to do with personal care, I'm there. Nail polish alone takes up three entire drawers in my vanity--and yet I still continue to purchase more (I just bought two more bottles of Sally Hansen nail polish yesterday). My linen closet does not have much room for towels because there are so many shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and body washes in there. And don't even get me started on face care products--I have several decorative tins filled with different creams and serums on my bedstand.

As I'm sure you realize, none of these beauty products come too cheaply--especially since I feel compelled to buy each new beauty product that comes out on the market. Of course, soaps aren't all that expensive, but razors can cost up to $10 or so, and face creams and serums can cost $15-$20, or even more. So, how can I afford to indulge my beauty-buying habit without breaking the bank?

First, I set limits for myself. No purchasing beauty products from department stores was the most important one. Yes, I would love to try a lot of the products available at those types of stores (such as Clinique and Estee Lauder, for example), but I realized that those are just way out of my budget since those types of stores do not offer good enough sales. And occasionally I get lucky to get some of those products as gifts from friends and family, so that is enough for me. Another limit I set on myself is to only occasionally purchase beauty products online. I only shop online for products that can't be found elsewhere (Avon's Skin So Soft products which are great for keeping mosquitos away is only available from Avon, so I go online for that) or for really great sales (Ulta.com has in the past offered $5 off a $10 purchase with free shipping--I don't pass it up when that sale comes around).

Next, what I do is to peruse the sales ads for drugstores where beauty products are sold. Why drugstores? Drugstores tend to offer excellent sales, coupons, and rebates for new products that come to market. Walgreens has their EasySaver Catalog every month, and all you have to do is purchase the products on rebate, send in your store receipt with the catalog form, and you get the rebate. You can choose to get a check in the mail or you can get a Walgreens gift card--and, if you choose the gift card, you get a bonus 10% on top of your rebate total. They often have the newest beauty products on the market in their EasySaver Catalog (especially hair care products, razors, body washes, and soaps), so that is an excellent money-saver for me. Usually Walgreens has the products in their EasySaver Catalog on sale at some point during the month as well. Walgreens also has clerks working in the beauty departments of their stores--and if you get friendly with these clerks, they will often give you coupons to use on the beauty products.

Rite Aid is another drugstore with an easy rebate program--theirs is called Single Check Rebate. Like Walgreens, they usually have the latest beauty products on their monthly rebate (and on sale as well). With Rite Aid, though, submitting the rebate is even simpler. All you have to do is go to their website and enter the information from your store receipt to submit the rebate. Then, you will get a check in the mail.

CVS is a great store to go for beauty products because of their ExtraCare program. It is kind of like getting an instant rebate on the products you are purchasing. Every week CVS has many products in their sales ad which can earn you Extra Bucks. All you have to do is purchase those products, and then after you pay for them, the register will pop out a Extra Buck for the amount the ad said. CVS often has Extra Buck offers on makeup, hair care products, body washes, face care products--pretty much any new beauty care product that comes out on the market will likely be in the CVS ad with an Extra Buck offer on it. Sometimes CVS will offer, say, $5 Extra Bucks when you purchase $15 of a certain brand, or they may offer the full purchase price back of a product (which means you get the product free!).

Aside from the store rebate programs, I also save money by keeping an eye out for manufacturer rebates on beauty products. These are often on tearpads near new products, or they may be stickers placed directly on the new product, or they can be in the newspaper coupon inserts. Sometimes manufacturers even offer printable forms online that you can send in for a rebate. With these types of rebate, you usually have to send in your receipt, the form, and sometimes the UPC from the product package. It may not seem worth the trouble to send in for a $3 rebate on shampoo, for example, but since I continually find this type of rebate and try to send in at least a few each week, it does add up to significant savings.

And, of course,I cannot forget to mention coupons. When new beauty products come out, you can usually find coupons for these products in the newspaper coupon inserts. You can also sometimes find coupons on the products themselves or on tearpads near the products. Each of the stores that I mentioned above accepts coupons, so I try to find as many coupons as I can to use. Each of those stores also have 'store' coupons, meaning that those coupons are only valid at that particular store--usually you can use one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon on each product, which definitely maximizes your savings. I have friends and family save coupons for me, and sometimes I trade for more coupons with friends online. Coupons are just like another form of cash to me, and not using them would be like throwing money into the wind.

Let me give you a few concrete examples here, in case you are a little skeptical that this type of beauty product shopping can actually work.

--This month at Walgreens, I bought an Almay Hydracolor Lipstick. It was on sale for $5.99, and I had a coupon for $2.00 off, so I paid $3.99. In their monthly rebate catalog, they are offering a $5.99 rebate on this product, so I will actually make a $2 profit on this lipstick.

--Walgreens was also offering a $10 gift card with the purchase of $20 in participating Proctor & Gamble products. I bought one Herbal Essences shampoo and one conditioner ($3.99 each, and I had a $3.00 off two Herbal Essences coupon). I also bought two Pantene conditioners ($3.99 each, and I had a $3.00 off two Pantene coupon). Then, I purchased two Crest Glide Floss Picks that were on clearance for $2.42 each. So, my total was $20.80 and I had $6.00 worth of coupons, so I paid $14.80. I will be getting a $10 gift card, so that brings my net total down to $4.80 for all of those products. Not too shabby, huh?

--CVS this month had the new Softsoap Body Washes (the Nutra Oil and the Cashmere types) on sale for $4.49 each, and they were offering a $4.49 Extra Buck for each one purchased. The limit for purchasing was five. I also had five $1.00 off coupons on these. So, I paid $3.49 for each of my five body washes, and got five $4.49 Extra Bucks back.

--CVS had a similar deal with the Oral-B Pulsar Pro-Health Pulsar toothbrushes this month. No sale on these, but you could buy five of them at $5.97 and get a $5.97 Extra Buck for each one that you bought. These are really nice, and to get them for free was great!

Those above are just a few of the more recent beauty product bargains I have found--I shop like this all the time, so I am constantly finding great deals like this on all of the new beauty products that come out on the market. Using all of these strategies together allows me to feed my beauty product junkie habit quite well. My husband just shakes his head at me when he sees me walking in the door with another bag of face products and makeup from CVS or another bag of shampoos and body washes from Walgreens--he can't get upset at this type of shopping habit since I am hardly spending any money!