CVS Shopping 101

First Things First

To shop at CVS and take advantage mof the deals, you will need a CVS ExtraCare Card. There are 2 ways to do this. First, you can stop by your nearest CVS and apply for one. By doing this, you will get your card right away and start saving immediately. The other option is to sign up for the card online. With option #2, you won’t get your card for a couple of weeks.

If you already have a CVS ExtraCare Card, go here to update your account info and they will email you a coupon for $4 off a $20 purchase! Doing this will also ensure you are on their mailing list. I've received some really great coupons via mail!

Make sure to have the cashier scan your card before checking out. You can only take advantage of savings after your card is scanned.

About ExtraCare Rewards

The ExtraCare Rewards program is a way for CVS to bring in business. ExtraCare Bucks (ECBs) are free money to CVS on MOST things in the store. You can earn ECBs on items featured in the weekly sales circulars and the monthly Extra Value Book. This is where you can really start building up your ECBs and coming home with a whole cart-full of stuff for just a few dollamanrs.

Here’s how it works. You will essentially pay the advertised prices. Your ECBs will print out on your receipt following your purchase. These ECBs are redeemable in-store only. The ECB is basically free money you can use the next time you shop. Example – Colgate toothpaste is advertised for $2.39, with $2 ECB. You will pay $2.39, then a coupon for $2 will print out on the bottom of your receipt. It’s like paying $0.39, after ECBs. Now you have $2 to spend the next time you shop at CVS.

There are a couple of other ways to save at CVS. You will earn 2% back on actual cash spent out of pocket (OOP). This does not include any ECBs redeemed, coupons used, or gift cards used. These points are applied to your account, and every 3 months they are available for you to use. They will print on a coupon on the bottom of your receipt, and you can use it for your next purchase. You can also go to CVS's website to print them off at home, then take them to the store to use. You also earn 1 ECB for every 2 prescriptions purchased in-store or online.

There are exclusions for the ExtraCare Rewards program. They are as follows: alcohol, tobacco, lottery, gift cards, money orders, postage stamps, pre-paid cards, prescriptions and special order Home Health Care items, including footwear.

When you first start out, it might seem hard to get in on the deals and seem hard to make it worth while. Just hang in there for a few months, and you’ll see how worth while it is! We all start out small and work our way up. CVS does a lot of “Free after ECB” deals, and this is where you can really build up your ECB coupons. Really makes it worth while in the end.

Coupons, Coupons, and More Coupons!

The Sunday paper is an easy place to start accumulating coupons. I’ve heard the Chicago Tribune tends to have more/better coupons than the South Bend Tribune. Someone gave me a coupon code and I was able to get the Chicago Tribune for $1 a week (Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sunday papers)!

When you clip coupons out of your weekly circulars, there are several ways you could do this and keep them organized. Here’s how I do it. I go through the coupons, I clip the ones that I know I will use (diapers, Tide, Cascade, Lysol, toilet paper, etc), and I keep them in a pencil box. I save ALL OTHER coupons (not clipped, but still in the booklet form), staple them together and mark the circular date on the front. It’s handy to thumb through once a week to see if there are any coupons that I could be using, but I don’t have thousands of loose coupons that I probably won’t use mixed in with the ones I will use. Also, don’t throw ANY coupons away…even if you don’t use the products. You never know when an item will come on sale, and with that coupon, you could actually make money by purchasing it. Example – before I really got into CVSing and coupons, occasionally I would cut out a few I would use, toss the rest in the trash. Well, in February there was a diabetes monitor on sale for $19.99, with $19.99 ECB (free after ECB), plus in November’s coupon circular, there was a $9.99 coupon. So, had I saved that coupon, I would have made $9.99. I won't use the monitor, but as another mom mentioned, it would be a great donation to the JDF! In fact, that mom had collected 30 of them and was looking for somewhere to donate them. Moral of the story – keep all current coupons, even if it’s something you won’t use!

There are also lots of websites that offer instant printable coupons. These sites have put in a lot of work in locating tons of coupons offers and listing them in one centralized location. Usually you have to give your email address or other info, and then it allows you to print a coupon. I try to only print them as I need them, after all it costs money for ink and paper, but I have found plenty that were worth the paper and ink to print. There is a list of my favorites, and some that other mom’s have suggested here. If you know of any others you find helpful, you can PM (private message) it to jessica and I’ll add it to the list.

CVS also puts out $/$$ coupons. For example, the coupon would be $4 off $20 purchase ($/$$ coupons). I’ve seen $2/$10, $4/20, $5/$30, and so on. What’s nice about these coupons is, let’s say your total is $32, you can use 2 coupons – a $2/$10 and $4/$20! Plus, you can use them right along with any CVS offers and MCs (manufacturer's coupons). AND you get $4 off a $20 purchase before your other coupons! I will do my best to post any $/$$ coupons I come across here on the site. These are great for a little extra savings! And don’t forget to update your account info at CVS.com, and you will automatically get a $4/$20 coupon.

There are also additional offers that occasionally print out on your CVS store receipt, like $10 off $50 online purchase, $2 off Excedrin or Cheerios, $/$$ coupons, etc. These are CVS coupons, so you can even stack them with MCs of the same items, saving you even more! Again, all CVS printable coupons are listed here.

Start Shopping…But Start Small!

Now down to saving some cash at CVS! To use CVS savings to the fullest, you will need to take a little time each week to think over the deals and organize your coupons in order to pay as little OOP (out of pocket) as possible. Once you really get into it and feel more comfortable, you can just fly by the seat of your pants and recognize the deals once you are in the store.

Make your first few purchases small, so it's not overwhelming and less confusing. Once you master it, then you can move into stacking coupons to maximize your savings. Here was my first CVS transaction:

Buy $20 worth of Pepsi products, get $10 ECBs. Now remember, my first transaction was completely OOP. Honestly, what I got for $20 wasn’t that great of a deal, but when you consider that I have $10 ECB coming my way (free money for the next time I shop), it’s not such a bad deal after all. Plus, my total was just over $20, so I also used a $4/$20 CVS coupon. So I paid $16 and some change OOP, and got back $10 ECB (so $6 after ECBs). Not bad for five 12 packs of Pepsi and 2 bags of Doritos.

So, after the Pepsi deal, now I have $10 ECBs. The key here is to use your ECBs during your next trip on items that will also pay you ECBs back, at least the same amount or more.

Keep Shopping and Save More!

My second week CVSing, 250 ct. Excedrin was on sale for $13.99, with $10 ECB. Also, Colgate toothpaste was $2.39, with $2 ECB (I bought 3 to bring my total over $20 because I had a $4/$20 coupon). So:

$13.99 Excedrin
$7.17 Colgate (3 @ $2.39 each)
$21.16 Total

Coupons:
$4/$20 coupon
$1 off Excedrin (CVS register coupon from my last transaction)
$2 off Excedrin (MC)
$3 off Colgate (total of 3 printable MCs)
$1.16 total after coupons

I paid with $10 ECB (from Pepsi transaction), so my OOP is $1.16 (plus tax).
And I got back $10 ECB for Excedrin, and $6 ECB from the Colgate.

So you can see, I went in with only $10 ECB, paid $1.16 OOP, and left with $16 ECB. So next time I shop, I need to use my ECBs to pay for items that will pay me more ECBs. See how quickly this can add up? And once you have a nice stash of ECBs, you can use them to buy other items you use, like milk. Milk isn’t cheap these days, so use your ECBs and cut milk out of your monthly grocery budget. But remember not to stash your ECBs too long because they are only good for a month!

Another way to really rack up the ECBs is to watch for “FREE after ECB” deals. For example, those Precision monitors I already mentioned, those are $19.99, with $19.99 ECBs. Also stacking a $/$$ coupon and a MC with this deal, you would profit on it! You won’t actually make money in the sense that CVS will give you cash for your overage, but you can use your overage to buy some other items you need. Also remember you must use the entire ECB coupon in ONE transaction because you cannot get credit back on partially used ECBs.

A Few More Rules To The Game

Watch for the limits of items you can buy per card. Usually there is a limit between 1 and 5, and it will be noted in the weekly circular or monthly Extra Value Book.

Be aware of the ECB deals in the weekly sales ads. Some of them may be monthly deals recycled into weekly deals. You cannot take advantage of these deals for both the weekly ad and the monthly Extra Value Book. Watch the “limit” number in fine print to make sure you don’t overbuy and miss out on ECBs.

One big rule with CVS shopping is NO SUPER-STACKING! An example of super-stacking - you purchase some items and your total is $34.01. You have some printable $/$$ coupons with you (1 for $5/$30; 3 for $4$20; 1 for $3/$15, and 3 for $2/$10) and the cashier accepts them all. After running those coupons, your total is already down to $8.01, before any other coupons are used. Your ExtraCare Card could be flagged by Loss Prevention and show super-stacking. The problem is only the $8.01 is taxable. Everything before that was deducted using a CVS coupon, which is tax-free, and so are the ECBs.

Don’t get frustrated if you go to CVS and they are out of something you need to make your deal work. It happens to the best of us. Remain calm think of something else that could give ECBs and try to work that into your trip. If you panic, you are likely to mess up your deals. Actually, it’s not a bad idea to have a back up plan in case they are out of items you needed to make your deal work. Sometimes you will have the printable $/$$ coupons, so you will need $20 worth of items to get the $ off. Don’t just make a list of $20 worth of items and assume it will all be in stock. Have your “preferred” list of items, then take another “backup” list of items, with coordinating coupons so you can at least make the deal work, take advantage of some deals, and earn some ECBs.

Also, don’t panic if you do a deal wrong and your ECBs don’t print out at the end. Lets say you miscalculated, and only bought $28.75 worth of P&G products (you needed to spend $30), and you didn’t get your ECBs. You aren’t out of the deal. Actually, CVS’s register receipts are very detailed, so check the bottom of your receipt and it will tell you how much money you need to spend on qualifying items before you can receive your ECBs for that deal. It will also tell you if you have reached your limit for a deal, or how many more you can buy before you reach your limit.

Be Organized!

Last, but not least, be organized when you go to check out! Have your coupons in order, your CVS ExtraCare Card out, you ECBs and other payments ready. It makes for a much smoother transaction when you are organized. Not that checking out is difficult, but sometimes if you aren’t completely organized, people in line behind you feel like you are holding them up. If you are organized and look like a pro, most of the time they are so amazed by your savings that they don’t realize it’s taking a bit longer for you to check out. Same with the cashiers – some may get annoyed, while other really get into all the money you are saving! Some cashiers are coupon-user haters, some are coupon-user lovers, and some just do their jobs and don’t care.

Being organized also ensures your coupons deduct correctly. The register can get “confused” sometimes if you are checking out with too many coupons, etc. I’ve found that it really makes things easiest if you break your items down and run 2 or 3 separate transactions if you have to. Example – Lets say you buy $30 worth of Proctor & Gamble products, and get $15 ECBs back, plus you have $/$$ and lots of other coupons. Not to mention, you may have 10 other items in your shopping cart. Run the P&G products first, use your coupons, pay your balance, and start a new transaction for your other items. It really will save time and be less confusing if you run 3 transactions, rather than trying to keep track of everything in one transaction. Plus, your ECBs will print at the bottom of your receipt after the P&G transaction, so you can use the $15 toward your next transaction if you need to!

To make your check-out smooth, I’ve found you need to present your coupons to the cashier in a certain order. First, make sure the cashier scans your ExtraCare Card, then rings up all your items (watch and make sure everything comes up at the right prices). Give the cashier any $/$$ coupons you have, then give any CVS register receipt coupons, then all MCs. You will then know the amount you owe, so pay with your ECBs, then have your payment method ready for your balance (if any!).

Happy Shopping!

Most importantly, have fun! I used to hate coupons and trying to match it up with the sale items. But after I started shopping and saving at CVS, there is just something about coming home with 3 packs of diapers, toilet paper, shampoo, a few tubes of toothpaste, some Excedrin, body lotion, cereal, and only spending a few dollars! My husband says it has become an obsession. He’s probably right, but there is nothing wrong with a hobby that is saving my family so much money! Get into a routine, find a system that works for you, keep at it for a couple of months, and you will soon have a new hobby (or obsession) too.

By Jessica
Also thanks to MommyKitty for submitting her ideas on saving at CVS! If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please PM them to Jessica.