Shop CVS? Give It A Try!

CVS has the ExtraCare program. Extra Bucks (also known as ExtraCare Bucks, or ECBs) are coupons that print at the end of your receipt after qualifying purchases. ECBs can be used like cash on future purchases, except you will not change back if you spend less than the total face value. They typically expire about 4 weeks after they are issued. You will need an Extra Care card to participate in this program. You can get one at your store or here. It's easier to pick one up at your local CVS and then you can use it right away. It looks just like a credit/debit card.

First, get a $5 off $25 CVS purchase ($25 is before manufacturer’s coupons and Extra Care Bucks) here. Simply watch the video, take a short survey and print your coupon. Use that alongside this weeks sales and you’ll likely make money at CVS this week. If your store is out of the hottest deals, be sure to request a rain check so you can pick them up next week.

The key to big savings is using coupons and rewards programs together. Websites like www.thegrocerygame.com can help you do this by compiling shopping lists. For instance, let’s say CVS offered a deal of free-after-ECB L’Oreal Revitalift Anti-Wrinkle Serum. it’s advertised that if you buy one at $11.99, you get $11.99 back in ECBs. But wait! If you use a $2 off $10 purchase coupon that was available online at the same time, and a $3 off L’Oreal Revitalift Anti-Wrinkle product coupon from a previous Sunday newspaper, you will only pay $6.99 and still get $11.99 back in ECBs. In other words, you’d “make” $5 to spend at CVS on things you’d be buying anyway, like food or diapers or toilet paper.

The strategy at the check out is to split your order so that you pay for the items with ECB attached separately. That way you can use the ECBs from the first order to help pay for the second order, etc. That way your out-of-pocket cost is much less. Once you get in the hang of how CVS works its ECB program you can look at the CVS weekly circular (which arrives at my house on during the week with the paper) and eyeball the deals based on what you know you have in coupons.