Couponing 101 (CVS)

To continue my posts for beginners in couponing, I wanted to talk about CVS. This is one of my favorite stores to shop at for several reasons, which I will be highlighting below.



To start getting all the great deals at CVS, the first thing you need to do it sign up for the Extra Care card. You can fill out a paper at the store and they'll give you a card and one to put on your keyring. Always give it to the cashier whenver you check out. They always ask for it at my store.



My favorite thing about the extra care card is that you earn 2% in extra bucks on ALL your purchases at CVS! They print out quarterly but it's so nice to get a little something back for items you were going to buy anyway! For example, if you spend $50 in one quarter, at the end of that quarter a $1 ECB would print with your receipt.



Another neat thing about CVS is their coupon machines in the stores. You can scan your Extra Care card and it will print out some coupons for you. Sometimes you get good ones, sometimes not!







Now, more about Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) Whenever you look at the weekly ad for CVS you will see items that are on sale and that give you ECBs.

Here's an example. This Gillette razor is on sale for $9.99. You get a $6 ECB, so they say, it's like paying $3.99. But it gets better. You can use a coupon for the razor. So let's say you have a $4 Gillette razor coupon, like the one in the 2/7 P & G insert.

Razor=$9.99

Use $4 Q, pay $5.99

Get back=$6 ECB

So you pay $5.99 out of pocket and then your $6 ECB prints with your receipt. It's like they're giving you what you paid back to use next time you shop!

But it gets even better!! You can use your ECB that you earn to pay for things that will print more ECB! This is my favorite trick for shopping at CVS.

Let's say you buy the razor as described above and earn the $6 ECB

On your next trip to CVS, you are buying the simply saline you see in the ad above. It's $7.99 and you get $7.99 ECB back!

Let's say you have a $1 coupon for the saline, too.

So, you buy the saline, $7.99

Use your $1 Q=$6.99

Use your $6 ECB you got from buying the razor

You pay=$0.99!! AND you get $7.99 ECB for buying the saline! Save it to "roll" on your next cvs trip! I aim to spend about the same amount of ECB that I will get in return for buying items. That way I always keep a good amount of ECB on hand.

All of the ECB deals have limits on them, usually just 1. You can buy as many as you want, of course, but only 1 ECB will print. Or if the limit is 2, then 2 ECB will print when you buy 2 of that item.

Sometimes, there is an ECB deal that requires you to purchase a certain amount in order to get the ECB. For example, purchase $20 of Huggies products get $5 ECB. You don't have to purchase the whole $20 at once, just before the sale is over. Once you have reached that dollar amount, your ECB will print.

Now, CVS has a green bag tag. It's a little tag that you can attach to any reuseable shopping bag (doesn't have to be a cvs one). Each time you use your bag, the cashier will scan your green bag tag. After it's been scanned four times, you get $1 ECB! I believe the limit on this is one scan per day. It's a neat way to earn ECB without paying anything!

Sometimes, CVS will have coupons to print from their site for $4 off $20 purchase or $5 off $30 purchase, etc. These are great to combine with the sales, all your other coupons and ECB's to give you a really low OOP!

Once you get started shopping at CVS, it's lots of fun! Whenver I see a great sale for an item we use I get it and keep a stockpile in my closet, so we never run out of toothpaste, shampoo, razors, etc.

Hope this post helps beginners at CVS. If you have any questions or know another great tip for CVS, feel free to share it! Thanks!